Rope on a Boat

[Andre Shawnson]

Great sunrise turned something pretty simple into this...thanks for looking

[donlfaulkner]

The depth of field seems too shallow to me. My eye is drawn to the sunrise which is out of focus. Just my inexperienced opinion.

[Andre Shawnson]

really appreciate your opinion....the subject is the rope not the sunrise though....the sunrise just makes for nice lighting and a nice backdrop....

[ronocnikral]

i'm not so bothered by the DOF, rather where the focus is. I would have shot with focus in bottom left around knot and allowed the OOF to drift off into the sunset. I find my eyes squinting on the arera where the knot is at the left, hoping for it come into focus.

I actually like this concept, for whatever that is worth.

Thanks for sharing.

[Andre Shawnson]

thanks ron.....thats the thing that bothered me about this one too....i actually have one that takes the knot out of the picture all together which i almost like better now because of the exact same reason you brought up....thanks again!

[Stargazer77517]

First of all. I like the idea of thinking outside the box, very creative, But also have to agree with the comments that have been made so far.
Very creative idea, just needs a bit of tweeking. Keep up the creative thinking.

[txBarta]

Shots like this keep me inspired and pushes my intuition/creativity. Something so simple yet so elegant..

[Andre Shawnson]

Thank you very much Fred and Barta! It really means a lot!

[thumper]

Great simple/complex shot. Yeah, DOF (bokeh) could be different, but the photo "speaks" without words. Isn't that desired result?

[Andre Shawnson]

Thanks Thumper!! So heres the story on the shallow DOF. This is a 5 shot handheld HDR. On a rocking boat with low light, thats not the easiest thing to accomplish without having a fast enough shutter speed. Unfortunately when shooting an HDR you cant really bump the ISO too much without having the end product look like a noisey mess even with the D700's good noise control and noise reduction in photomatix, so the only option for me was to shoot it wide open at F2.8. Anyway, I wanted the shallow depth of field to start and it would have worked better had I just not missed the focus on the front of the knot instead of the back. So heres the real question that matters to me the most....Could you tell it was HDR and does that downplay the quality of the image knowing that it is? I really enjoy shooting HDR lately, but I feel like for some reason good photographers look at it like its taboo or a crutch for actually taking a quality image in one shot. Thanks again for all your opinions and for helping me to constantly improve and grow with my hobby.
Shawn

[ronocnikral]

your image undoubetly reeks of HDR.

to which, I care little as long as the HDR doesn't become the focus of the image.

[auddii]

I'd have to agree, although I'd say it screams instead of reeks, but I'm sure you get what we mean. The over vibrant colors, the kind of cartoony feel, and the haloing around the rope that hangs down at the back, it all says HDR. I'm not a huge fan of HDR unless it's pretty subtle, but it might be interesting to see a single image of what you shot for comparison. Perhaps HDR helps the image, but personally, I have a feeling it doesn't dramatically add to the photo.

However, this is just my opinion, and I'm sure that there are plenty of other people who love HDR. Please take what I say with a grain of salt.