Portsmouth Harbour

Took these today in Portsmouth Harbour

You have made good use of the light to draw you in. Like it

Very nice lighting and a good exposure give us crisp details and plenty to explore.

I think the composition would be strengthened with about 1/3rd of the sky cropped off giving a more panoramic shape, plus it looks like it needs an anticlockwise rotation to level.

I like the composition and the light.
Big sky is a feature of Portsmouth harbour, this has captured the feel of the place to me.

I think you'll find the level is spot on. I wondered about the horizon but all the masts are right and the water is level. The hill to the left, in the distance, just fools the eye.

Don't you think though that a photograph needs to stand on its own two feet? I mean, it's all very well relating the big sky to personal memories of the place, but there are big skies everywhere ... It's not a unique selling point of Portsmouth Harbour.

If its to have the most impact and strength it must speak directly through its own attributes. To the remote viewer on a computer screen, or in a gallery, that's all there is to see. The image has SO much going for it, it only needs the polishing touches .... And one of those, surely, must be the strengthening effect of the classic rule of thirds. ... ?

Regarding the straightening, I'm sure you're right, but again, it's the impression created that matters most, and many viewers will see the slanted effect with the risk that it is seen as a fault. I wonder if in fact there is a bit of barrel distortion going on that's slightly pushing the impression? It would be easy to fix and might help without having to tilt the upright masts in the middle .....

Upright masts are no guarantee of a straight photo. It could be barrel distortion of course, but it does have the impression of tilt.

I like the light, but like Nigel I am not so happy with the composition. Either show more of the "big sky", which is an interesting sky and worth showing, or more of the foreground, possibly by cropping the left-hand side somewhat. The barge on the right appears to be sailing out of the frame. I know it is moored, and perhaps showing that would help "anchor" it (sorry!) in the photo.

I think it's one of those images where the naked eye sees more than the camera can capture easily. You want to show both lots of sky (which is interesting, as Gwyn says) and lots of foreground (which has interesting cloud reflections in the still water.) The strip in the middle, where the light is falling, loses out a bit. I go with Gwyn in the end and say either show more sky or more foreground and crop, maybe 16x9 ratio, to make the central highlights a bit more prominent. But I like the idea of capturing that lovely light very much.

The light is really attractive in this image. I agree with a crop of the sky - in fact, it looks good to me when the horizon is near the top third line (i.e. about half the sky removed). The image does need levelling - the water line where the boats are should be horizontal.

Cheers.
Philip