Padstow lifeboat station at dawn

Here's the uncropped version for info. I just found the foreground rock a bit overbearing

Hi Simon, looks like you had a productive holiday!

I like the f/g rocks though I agree with you about them being quite dominating. Have you tried a vertical 10x8 crop? I think that just losing a strip off the bottom would improve, they will still provide a valuable lead in and I like the contrasting texture against the silky water.

I hope you dont mind me saying but the square crop looks unbalanced, it might look better like pegelli said and going landscape and cropping more of that amazing sky.

I agree 100% with Pieter - he put into words what I was struggling to articulate. The colors are the most striking feature of both the square crop and the wide (vertical) version. Compositionally, all the elements are competing with one another - huge rock, huge sky, far tiny building - and in a square crop none of them win, and in the original the rock wins.

Put another way: draw a horizontal line a little below the outcropping of rock at the center left -- crop there, and you have a horizontal landscape photo dominated by the sky but in which the boathouse is a significant feature (even more so if you could get it closer to the RoT line on the left). The large foreground rock would not be part of the image. From your location, this would have been better accomplished with a moderate telephoto lens.

If I were the one knocking about on a day like that with an ultrawide lens, I would have taken something like your uncropped photo -- I don't think your instincts were wrong. But to agree with Pieter again, the foreground rocks don't quite give a leading line toward the boathouse -- but it might be the best you could have done if all you had was the ultrawide lens and not time enough to wade out into the ocean to get closer. The colors are fantastic, however, and the texture of the large foreground rock is interesting (in the original), and the lifeboat station is not entirely without some interest. I would keep the vertical shot, and probably delete the square crop, but I would revisit with a telephoto lens someday.

I also find the uncropped version better, but actually in both framings I would have liked to see more of these colourful clouds in the sky.

Huge thank you to you all for taking the time to provide your thoughts, really, really appreciate them all and has helped me see beyond my rose tinted glasses. Unfortunately I don't have landscape version - during this spell of light at least - or any other similar perspectives. In fact, on reflection looking back through the images to find alternatives, I think a lot of my love for this image probably stems more from this being the best I managed to capture the lifeboat house having tried so hard to do it justice. But fundamentally I failed because it doesn't work as a beautiful image at the end of the day, which was my goal. Again, big thanks to everyone for taking the time to critique it, hugely appreciated.

Like some others here I generally prefer sunset and sunrise pictures much darker.
I would also have dropped down a bit to bring the foreground rocks up and reduce the amount of sea. A lot of sea can work if there's some kind of mirror image in the sky, but here there isn't.



To my mind, reducing the sea width brings the near and far rocks together and associates them in a way they weren't before.
As an aside, those of us who grew up with (amateur) film would spend a lot of time trying different viewpoints before we clicked the shutter. Nowadays with pictures essentially cost-free, it's too easy to snap away wihtout exploring the possibilities, and I'm guilty of that too!

Edited by Miranda F - 26 October 2022 at 22:49