The Setting Sun’s Palette of Color
Christine McCarty-the Outer Banks at Duck
The colors of a setting sun and the NC coast have provided photographers with countless opportunities to test their skills in composition and exposure since the first camera was brought to the area. The above was captured on the sound side of the Outer Banks at Duck at 7:40 in the early evening while the light remained strong and the colors vivid, deepened and saturated by the reflection in the water. The strong vertical pilings, the horizontal floor support beams and the oblique railings leads the eye on a pleasant journey deep into the scene. The reflected trees add a gentle interest to the overall composition. This image easily passes the test for excellent composition and exposure.
Christine used a Canon EOS XTi fitted with the 18-55 mm lens zoomed to the maximum focal length, a shutter speed of 1/800 sec and an aperture of f/5.6.
This shot is so well done…the color is great but the “composition” is the key thing that pulls you into this photograph. Reflection shots are always a visual feast as light is diffracted by the water and that does magical things to what our eyes detect.
Christine….
This is an incredible image. I love how it draws you in and gives you little room to dangle at the end of the peir and yet not throw you off the deep end. What fantastic contrasting colors….. You nailed it all the way around. Bravo! Bravo!
It’s a beautiful picture !!!! Christine .
Fascinating! It challenged me, when I first saw the photograph, due to the relationship between the active ‘zones’ and the space offered up by the peaceful blue area of water to the right. I wondered whether it would have benefitted cropping just to the right of the orange, or whether one of my orange buoys would have helped in the bottom right area.
But upon reflection, it has grown on me, left just as it is. This and recent images have demonstrated the strength that comes through the interaction of complementary colours. A factor that can’t be emphasized enough when capturing and framing compositions.
I like the image because it requires figuring out why it is so appealing. It reminds me of how light is invisible until it affects a surface in its travels. We are merely observing an interaction and response to that surface – the effect of the quality of light filtered by dense atmosphere, interacting with the immediate surface it touches. Quite an enigma.
Also, we see the strong characteristics expressed in the lines. Angled lines give us direction, horizontal lines stability, while vertical lines give us strength – here we have all three! In this case the vertical prevents the strong angles flying off into the distance.
I like the play between the verticals above the water and their reflections in the surface. That surface comes into appearance where it is gently evident in the foreground where some debris is overlapping between the orange and blue. I would have been sorely tempted to throw a pebble into the blue zone to create some ripples – the danger would have been to lose the power and abstraction in this image, draining to an obvious Kincaidian device.
Thank you Christine – a fitting reminder for the current assignment on “Reflections”