Another Photo From My Blog

Here is another picture I did for my blog A Journey in Photography and my first attempt at doing moving water. What do you think?

We've got a retention pond with fountains at my neighborhood, so this is a shot I've tried to do similarly myself.

For me, it doesn't look like it was a good day to shoot. The sky is blown out, consequently the reflection of the sky on the water is also distracting.

With the aperture closed down so much and ISO still at 100, were you going for the long shutter time effect without using any filters?

Nice try Jeff, maybe try again on a sunny day to get the contrast of the blue sky, and a little more editing to really bring the colours out.

Yea the sky was very gray that day I was just killing time between classes and decided to try and shoot the fountain with long shutter. Yes I was trying to do it without any filters. What should I use for a filter in this type of shooting?

The fountain is a bit too far and way to the left. Also using a circular polarizing filter would have cut down on some of the reflections.

Although following the rules of thirds is a good thing, but not in this case.
Sometimes things just look better in the middle of the frame.

Since you have image editing enabled, I took the liberty of doing a little re-touching.
Not many pixels to work with. I couldn't get the fountain in the middle without doing a big major crop.
i did however got rid of the distracting house on the left and added some needed color and tried to soften some of the reflections.

View attachment 125427

Lets try it a little smaller.

I was looking at this today and I realized there is a better background at the other side of the pond and I bought a new lens so I can get closer. If you dont mind me asking when do you feel the 'correct' time to break the rule of thirds is?

Jeff-S said:

If you dont mind me asking when do you feel the 'correct' time to break the rule of thirds is?

Click to expand...

Never...
Or whenever you want

But you would ideally 'break' the rule of thirds if you have a lot of detail in the foreground & background..
For example if you have shout a mountain in front of a lake & the reflection of the mountain is clearly visible in the water..

I've always thought of the "rule" as a guideline. I wont crop a photo just to fit the rule, and if there is room to crop, I tend to try a couple of different crops to see what looks more pleasing or powerful to MY eye (as I am taking photos for my pleasure - not being paid etc)

The rules of composition aren't always hard and fast, but as Tracey says they are guides that help make your pictures more appealing and draw the eyes to the part of picture you want the viewer to notice...

One thing I do notice, especially when looking at the crop @Blacktop made, is that none of the shot is sharp - The water is intentional, but the trees and the leafs in the water are all blurred. This type of shot with a slow shutter speed really does need a tripod, and even then, the trees can still be blurred as the slightest breeze will move the branches and leafs, but even then the trunk should still be sharp. If you get the static objects pin sharp, that will enhance the appearance of movement in the water which what the shot is all about.

Awesome, thank you everyone!