Sunrise Eclipse ( partial): Overcast morning, Very rare event, Partial solar eclipse at sunrise. I ask for ideas on how to improve this shot. Seems like a lot of elements come...

Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

Overcast morning, Very rare event, Partial solar eclipse at sunrise.

I ask for ideas on how to improve this shot. Seems like a lot of elements come together. But I am doubtful if I do this shot justice.
Ideas on how to improve image quality are appreciated.

I feel like the elements are all present to make a great shot, but the image is bland and lacklustere.

sunrise eclipse Sunday 11-3-13

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Bruce with a Canon wrote:

Overcast morning, Very rare event, Partial solar eclipse at sunrise.

I ask for ideas on how to improve this shot. Seems like a lot of elements come together. But I am doubtful if I do this shot justice.
Ideas on how to improve image quality are appreciated.

I feel like the elements are all present to make a great shot, but the image is bland and lacklustere.

You captured the eclipse! There is certainly a good photo there. Might I suggest first straightening the horizon, and cropping to focus attention on your subject? If you place the sun at the top right intersection in the rule-of-thirds grid, that gives a good place for cropping. It might also look good to brighten the sun's reflection in the water, as well. I'm sure you will get many more knowledgeable deas, but this is what I would do.

djtravels Loc: Georgia boy now

Is that the Montauk Point lighthouse? And were you in a boat? Some angle wasn't right for the sun's reflection to really pop. Nice comp.

Photoman74 Loc: Conroe Tx

Portrait orientation - crop for sun in upper right corner - select water lighten exposure - increase saturation and vibrancy - good capture

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I like the suggestion to try a portrait orientation & see if it's possible to get a little more out of the reflection in the water. I think there's a lot more you can do with it too, hope you got it in RAW so you'll have lots of choices and can beat it up as much as you'd like. It doesn't seem completely sharp, but that might be just from downsizing and web display - blow it up and you'll be able to tell. Whichever direction you go, I think you should pare it down to a rule of thirds composition with more emphasis on your main subjects, the lighthouse and the eclipsing sun. I fiddled in a different approach with a landscape version, cropped from all sides but more from top to place the lighthouse and the sun on rule of thirds lines/intersections, and in topaz clarity actually accentuated the silhouette aspect to create more of a graphic look (mostly oranges and blacks with a bit of purply cloud and the yellow sun and cloud linings. Nice shot, early rising pays off!

Treepusher Loc: Kingston, Massachusetts

It's actually a nice shot, Bruce. I'd agree, it needs to be cropped, but the image is large enough to support that. It's your own photo, so I won't tell you where to make the cuts, that's your call, but I'd really chop this down to leave mainly the sun at upper right and the lighthouse at lower left. Maybe add a touch of saturation, play with your levels a bit, but again, your photo, your taste.

GaryS1964 Loc: Northern California

Here is my take on the image. Not better. Just different.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

A portrait crop seems a popular suggestion, but I was going to suggest a horizontal crop to get the bright horizon filling more of the frame. I think the dark sky is OK - there's just a bit too much of it.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Ther is a lot to like in this but I think there is too much black at the top and too much water at the bottom. I like the elements of the sun, reflection and the industrial stacks. My poor rendition would be as follows.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Another thing I was going to suggest - it would be easy to select just the water, so do that and turn up the contrast for that selection. That would make the dark darker and would also bring out the shimmer of the reflected sunlight.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Bruce with a Canon wrote:

Overcast morning, Very rare event, Partial solar eclipse at sunrise.

I ask for ideas on how to improve this shot. Seems like a lot of elements come together. But I am doubtful if I do this shot justice.
Ideas on how to improve image quality are appreciated.

I feel like the elements are all present to make a great shot, but the image is bland and lacklustere.

Here's another slightly changed version.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

You're off-line at the moment, but you did enable the Download option, so I'll be presumptuous and post my edit. I did what I suggested previously. The selection of the lower dark area below the horizon is a bit crude, but not noticeable unless you zoom in.

[EDIT I also straightened the horizon].

Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

Heirloom Tomato wrote:

You captured the eclipse! There is certainly a good photo there. Might I suggest first straightening the horizon, and cropping to focus attention on your subject? If you place the sun at the top right intersection in the rule-of-thirds grid, that gives a good place for cropping. It might also look good to brighten the sun's reflection in the water, as well. I'm sure you will get many more knowledgeable deas, but this is what I would do.

Thank you for your time and advice. I am going to play with Elements and see what I can do with this.
Appreciate your help@!

Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

djtravels wrote:

Is that the Montauk Point lighthouse? And were you in a boat? Some angle wasn't right for the sun's reflection to really pop. Nice comp.

I took this at Captree Basin, The light house is Robert Moses lighthouse on Fire Island.
I was in the parking lot.

Overcast early flat light is tough.
Thanks for the comment and visit.

Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

R.G. wrote:

You're off-line at the moment, but you did enable the Download option, so I'll be presumptuous and post my edit. I did what I suggested previously. The selection of the lower dark area below the horizon is a bit crude, but not noticeable unless you zoom in.

[EDIT I also straightened the horizon].

Thanks for the time and effort to make something from this image.

I will post my effort and see if it has improved the shot.

1st edit attempt