Interesting... Moments before, a ferry passed through the straight (see below), however, I wasn't as happy with the lighting on the water nor the wider perspective (a narrower field of view such as the submitted photo might have been overwhelmed by the vessel). I actually prefer the image I submitted vs the one with the boat as I feel the ferry detracts from the image the same way a car might if parked in front of a monument. I like the tranquility, lighting, and layers without the boat, but that's just my taste I suppose.
We're (I'm?) probably over analyzing this (certainly neither photo is outstanding), but I enjoy the discussion. Any further thoughts you or others have are welcome and encouraged.
Submitted photo for reference...
Always happy to over-analyze an image.
I think it's good to get into the habit of critiquing your own images and asking for input about them, even the ones you like, because you might like them even more if they had even stronger pictorial qualities. These two shots of yours have a lot going for them. They have great colors, tones, and textures. They have a good sense of depth with the different layers of middleground and background (and the foreground, though rather vacant, is distinct as well). They're both sharp and well exposed.
gnd put it nicely when he said that sometimes a shot is just 90% there due to circumstances beyond your control. That still leaves you with a pleasing photo, but if you can identify what would make it really 'pop' and hum with visual interest, then maybe you can take that observation forward and make a decision on a subsequent photo that will give it that extra 'wow factor.'
I agree with Keleko about the second shot being stronger, and I agree that it would benefit from a crop. I tried a crop of it myself and will be happy to post it or pm it to you, if you like. I took quite a bit off of the left, some off of the bottom, and some off of the top. This gets us 'closer' to the ferry so that it actually looks like something and makes it land at the intersection of the thirds. When you posted your thumbnails, I couldn't even tell where the boat was. I was looking all over the foreground for it (where I think it would work best), and was unable to find it. I actually thought the ferry was another little blob of an island until I enlarged the image.
Here's the thing about subjects/focal points. They need to be distinct and ideally should land or terminate at a power point in the image. (As with anything in art, there are always exceptions, but they work for very good reasons and inevitably 'prove' the 'rules.') There are four power points in any frame, one at the intersection of each of the thirds. (
Link) For a subject to be distinct, it needs to be legible and to have a good level of separation from the rest of the image. Your ferry boat scores pretty well on the second count. It is picked out against a light patch in the scene, though it would be even better a bit to the left, where the brightest patch is. (They eye is attracted to light in an image, so it helps if the lightest part of the scene is also the focal point.) The ferry is a distinct silhouette as far as ferries go, but nothing beats the legibility of a sailboat or a cruising yacht. In this case, the ferry is also quite close to some much larger dark forms. It doesn't overlap with any of them, which is good, but even more separation would be even better.
What also adds greater interest to the second shot is the more detailed foreground water and the wonderful puffy cloud in the background, hovering low near the shore. In the first shot, that cloud is mostly obscured by fog. Again, a crop gets us in closer to where we can appreciate that cloud more because it then has more presence in the frame.
I've written a lot here, but I think it's good to get these kinds of dialogues going, and this is exactly what these contests are all about. Also, VirtualRain, it's been fun to see you progress. You have a good eye and a really good handle on exposure. My advice may not be the most valuable in the world, but I'm happy to take the time to offer it to someone who really seems to be soaking in a lot and steadily moving forward.
