No one else could have possible stood in that same spot and had the same vantage point at the same time of day, right? Right?! 🙄
It's a basic landscape shot. It looks like millions of others. I would guess there have been many, many people take the (almost) exact same shot you did.
Spoken like someone who knows little if anything about landscape photography. The variables are many:
• time of year (In this case, the peak of autumn, which is a small window of time each year and can be very difficult to predict. You might get one good week of peak color, and if you're not lucky, it will rain that whole week.)
• year-to-year variations (Each year different weather patterns affect foliage differently, especially autumn foliage, which can be great one year and then ruined by bad weather the next. Landscape photography forums are filled with threads each year where people report how well the colors are developing in certain locations; some years are very disappointing and others are phenomenal.)
• time of day (In this case, when the sun is low in the sky and the light has a very warm temperature, making the colors of the scene particularly vibrant. The days are short during the autumn months, and the window of time when the sun is at this angle each day can be very small.)
• cloud cover (It not only affects the appearance of the sky, giving it texture, depth, and color, but it also affects the transmission of light onto the land: no light, scattered light, diffused light, harsh light, etc. Any landscape photographer knows the agony of waiting in vain for clouds to part just enough to let some magic light through at just the right time of day.)
• wind patterns (These are very important when shooting lakes because they affect the reflectance and wind lines/patterns of the water. In Doylem's photo, there is a beautiful wind line cutting across the center of the lake at this moment, which adds visual interest in the variety of textures and reflections, and also heightens the sense of a gusty autumn day.)
• human presence/activity (Getting a solitary boat vs. too many of them takes some serious luck and/or patience. A scene with too many boats or with boats that aren't particularly charming will have a lot less appeal than one where a single sloop is isolated as in this shot.)
• timing of moving elements (Here the boat is caught against a cloud shadow on the water in the background, which gives the boat great presence in the frame. Also, if the boat had reached this point and then luffed (i.e. lost wind in the sail), it wouldn't look nearly as good.)
...and the list goes on...it's a complete package...
If you've never stood behind a tripod for an hour or more waiting for all of the elements to align into a harmonious whole--perhaps making repeated attempts of the same shot for several years in a row--then I can see how you might assume that it's all very easy. Well, landscapes are not studio shots; shooting them requires a unique blend of skill and luck and can provide a lifetime of the occasional triumph amid much frustration.
