 Floating Element
Gareth Cox, St. Augustine, FL
The Problem: Actually, we don’t think there is a problem with this picture; it’s a nicely done dramatic silhouette. But, noodges that we are, we couldn’t help noting that the plainly visible shore works against the impression that the boat is floating in a vast open sea. We also thought that the stark black-and-white—while highly effective—gave an icy feel to the picture. We also wanted to see how it looked with the large black areas to the sides eliminated.
What now? We cropped out the shore, and further cropped the picture to a vertical, reducing it to very basic elements. We did some sharpening on the figures in the boat, as they were slightly fuzzy on close examination. Then we added color—the equivalent of a number 85 heavy warming filter. We think the sunset color makes the picture more inviting and satisfying—do you agree?
 Next Time: Don’t forget to take a vertical after you take a horizontal—you never know when a Pop Photo editor might look at your pictures. Take cropping variations on the foreground—sometimes less is more.
Tech info: Nikon F5 with 28–80 f/3.5–4.5 Rokinon macro zoom. Exposure not recorded; aperture probably f/8 or f/11.
Film: Kodak T-Max 100.
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