A stone from the Southern Linland island (240 34' E, 590 59' N)

Canon EOS 10, Canon EF 20-35mm f2.8L (at or near 20mm), Polarizer, Kodak EPN, daylight / before sunset, hand held.
Scanned with Nikon LS-20 Coolscan II.

My first attempt at this - let me know if it should remain the only one. :-)

-- Janne Korkkula (jk@hut.fi), August 18, 1998

Answers

No, it shouldn't be your last attempt - at posting or at photographing this subject. Are you left eyed? The horizon looks tilted with the right side being lower than the left. Maybe it's an illusion or maybe my head's crooked. Neither the land nor the sky dominates because the horizon is close to dead center. I'd try a vertical with more sky - but then it will never look exactly like this again, will it? Pete

-- Pete Dickson (dickson.pn@pg.com), August 18, 1998.

I agree with Pete. Vertical shot, same foreground more sky. I really like the colors, nice clouds. The stones in the foreground are very well positioned.

-- Fredrik Mvrk (fmork@yahoo.com), August 18, 1998.

I like the balance between earth and sky. While the ground takes up half of the image, the sky seems so vast and much larger. I wouldn't change a thing except maybe the tilt.

-- Gary Dickerson (garyd@altus.net), August 18, 1998.

I think the horizontal format is fine. But, I would try a lower perspective to reduce the amount of middle-ground. I think the rock against the sky would make a simpler, stronger statement. The waterbody and ridge in the middle-ground don't add anything to the image. The horizontal frame gives the clouds the oppurtunity to stream out of the center of the image, emphasizing their diagonal orientation.

-- Joe Boyd (boydjw@traveller.com), August 18, 1998.

Nice Clouds, Beautiful Stone -> beautiful Image. I agree with Joe.

-- jan van bodegraven (janvnbdg@mandic.com.br), August 18, 1998.

This pic is one that I could watch for several minutes. My eyes felt comfortable on it. Maybe it's the X shape supported by both colors and lines that adds and incerdible perspective. Maybe it's the harmonic color balance. I don't know, but the feeling of an early morning is in this shot. I'd be proud to have one like this in my collection.

-- G. Avasi (avasig@hotmail.com), August 19, 1998.

Very nice. Sometimes you just have to break the rules. This works for me.

The horizon can easily be straightened by a tiny amount of cropping, but it's not that far off. It's mostly an illusion casued by the slope of the land. Try cropping by scrolling this web page in your browser and you'll see. :> The horizon line (the water) is almost exactly flat.

Keith

-- Keith Clark (ClarkPhotography@spiritone.com), August 19, 1998.

First of all, thanks to everyone for the comments and ideas, I'll keep them in mind! About the horizon - it is slightly tilted (0.45 degrees), annoyingly the illusion mentioned above multiplies the angle in viewers' eyes. I'm right eyed, but after a long day of rough seas I was still swaying tens of times the tilt. Regrettably this is the only shot I took; would have been nice to see all the might-have-beens suggested... :-)

-- Janne Korkkula (jk@hut.fi), August 19, 1998.

I like the image. My only suggestions would be to have cut back a bit on the polarizer. There is some pretty heavy "P" burn in the sky and on the water that bothers me just a little bit, and I feel like I want a bit more space to the left of the rock. Definitely keep it up Janne!

-- Don Carter (carter-graphics@pobox.com), August 19, 1998.

I like the photo just as is . I think the vertical shot of the subject couldn't catch the clouds as this one did. Also I think that "horizon line is tilted" isn't a deadly sin :-)

-- Adrian Sorescu (guide@dial.roknet.ro), August 24, 1998.