pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

I’ve been working on getting better depth into my photos and this scene seemed to be the perfect opportunity. Comments and revisions are welcome. But please, no lines.
Pete

(Download)

Paul J. Svetlik Loc: Colorado

Interesting framing, pmorin.
I like it.
Although I could not find, where was your camera focused? In the download everything is out of focus.
I would say, for this picture you would need to focus at least on three (or more) planes and then merge them together?
Let us see, what other people might suggest?

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

What was your f/stop?

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

You do have several layers of interest that draw me in. The foreground object is a little overpowering with its bulk and the amount of the frame it fills, so I'm curious if a little less foreground and more distant background would have worked.

Focus or motion blur, I'm never sure which is which or how to tell. But the settings are troublesome: 1/60 s ƒ/32 ISO100.

Why f/32? If you research lens diffraction (you can browse through my main forum topic, but might want to quit after a couple of pages, before the big egos invade ), you will find that a wider aperture will give you better image quality. But even leaving at f/32, you could have used ISO 200 or 400 and raised your shutter speed. I understand that you may have had little to no time to change the settings, especially if you were in a rubber raft

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Mike, do you happen to use Chrome browser? You can install an exif extension that's quick and easy. When you have the photo on the second page (clicking download in UHH), you right-click your mouse over the pic and there will be a choice to view exif.

I believe there are similar extensions for other browsers.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

As always, Linda, you da man (in a generic sense only)!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

🤣

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bleirer

To me the proboscis in front does not belong. I'd rather see the flat expanse of the foreground, especially with the hidden reflection, lead my eye to the middle, which is appealing, and I'd like to see the mountain peaks in the back with a touch of sky. It evokes a nice mood and sense of place.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If you want depth you are right in thinking that you need foreground interest as well as more distant stuff. However, it seems to me that the best foregrounds lead the eye into the shot, and the techniques for doing that are well documented. Leading lines, natural framing and channels are the obvious ones. In your shot the foreground interest presents itself as more of an obstacle than an invitation for the eye to move into the shot. It's not a shot killer because the background interest is so strong that the eye gets drawn in despite the fact that your foreground interest is something of a distraction. But the transition from foreground to background isn't a smooth one. As I said, not a shot killer, but I suspect that it could be better. As bleirer suggested, perhaps some clear space to draw the eye into the shot may have worked. Hard to tell without being there and seeing what the foreground options were.

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

The focus point was centered, 1/3 up from the bottom and to the right of the first iceberg. There was time for only a single shot as we were in transit amongst the ice.
I knew it would be soft, but I didn’t want only a foreground or background focus.

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

The f-stop setting was an anomaly. I had on gloves and I would often take a shot only to find the settings had changed. So I make do with what I got.

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

I know that everyone has certain things they want to see in a photo, and I think I can come close for them and still hold to what my brain sees. See the attached. It also is focused approx 1/3 up and center to achieve the look I wanted. Stacking or HDR wasn’t viable because of the way everything moves. The ice doesn’t sit still. It moves around with the wind and you have to take the shot you see at the moment. Most of the photos I took were hand held so perfect focus in a 10 knot wind wasn’t happening either.
For me, the large foreground object could have been the whole photo, but something about the background also drew me in so I included it in the frame. It makes me remember how I felt as we traversed this ice crowded channel.

(Download)

R.G. Loc: Scotland

It's a case of deciding what the subject is going to be. If you want a scene shot then the whole scene is going to be the subject. If you want a feature shot then your chosen feature will be the subject. If you don't make a clear-cut choice then you'll end up with a wishy-washy in between sort of photo.

I'm not suggesting that the only viable option is to have a foreground that leads the eye into the shot. It's one of many possibilities, but if it isn't part of your arsenal, it should be. I would describe it as one of the main possibilities and it's what I look for first and foremost in a landscape shot. Doing that will pretty well guarantee that your shot will have a good sense of depth. Ideally the foreground would lead your eye towards whatever your chosen subject is. In the case of a scene shot there doesn't have to be a specific subject since the whole scene is the subject.

If you haven't done so already I would recommend that you try to develop a feel for what sort of composition is going to lead the eye into the shot. It's one of the things that can lift a shot to a whole new level.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

"Could have been the whole photo" but IMO the wider view of this second photo has far more impact. The light and the weather add to the beauty, and it's really nice you caught all the shadow of the closest burg (chunk o' ice). Gorgeous!

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I really like the 2nd image. It seems to have better focus. I like seeing the subject in its environment. The first is more abstract, and I like abstracts. However the foreground subject over dominates the scene.