Checkerboard Sunrise

I see Layton captured the same sunrise in the same town! Pretty cool! I was a few miles away photographing on the Indian River.

I was so intrigued by the shadow that was cast in the sky and on the water from the rising sun; creating a checkerboard effect. How would you have composed this?
D300
18mm, 7.1, 1/80


Crop per Chris' suggestion: If I understood your direction correctly.

Striking shadow -- having the complementary blue & red right next to each other really grabs my attention. The sailboat creates some additional interest. The way you've framed it emphasizes the checkerboard pattern you saw, by giving nearly (but not quite) equal space to the 4 visual quadrants. For my taste, it may strengthen the composition if you crop from the left and bottom so that the horizon is 1/3 up from the bottom, and the shadow line is 1/3 in from the left. That will also put the sailboat at the lower-right "rule of thirds" position. Either way it's a beautiful scene with lots of interest.

Thanks Chris for this suggestion. On many captures I am strong on composition. This one was challenging to my eye. I will try to capture a full scene with plenty of room for cropping when I just am not seeing it at the time I make the photo.

That's pretty much what I had in mind. Of course the most important thing is always which way do you like it best?

Your point about leaving room to crop is a good one; too often I haven't, and then I'm stuck with the original framing and aspect ratio.

I am very pleased with the crop you suggested. It is what I wanted to portray but I didn't want to lose any of the drama. The boat was giving me an issue. Now the photo shows what I wanted it to. Thanks again

Nothing I can add. I like the crop. A very cool sunrise.

Beautiful image Trish. I like the second composition much better. While the sunrise was cool from Viera, I think you had the best look. Sometimes the best sunrises/sunsets are from over the ocean.

Trish,

What an amazing image. I like the crop suggested for the second image, but to be honest still really liked the first shot too! Great work.

Trish, I love this capture!!!...the boat has much to do in this great composition, to be honest, I agree with the crop decision, & think that even more cropping helps to balance more the image...just as another point of view

Best Regards!!!
Guillermo

Very nice scene, the boat adds a good point of interest as your eye moves around the frame. I do like the second crop better, to me I think the comp in this image works best when the line of the sky is in line with the left hand third of the image so that the darker color makes up that third of the image.

Jason

This is very unique. Love the crop. Nothing else to say.

Trish,

Glad to see your shot of this perfect sunrise were too. Guillermo's proposed crop really works for me. Something you might want to try is a slow (like 15 sec) shutter speed to get a real nice silky look to the water.

Great job visualization this scene.

Wow that is a crazy sunset.

Trish , You added more water and a sailboat and made my sunrise spectacular. Layton