This shot reminds me of David Hurn’s wonderful work showing Brits enjoying the beaches of Wales. The composition is great: our eye travels up the legs of the lighthouse, down the steps and towards the group of three ladies seated in a semi-circle. It’s a study of lines and shapes, which makes it ideal for a black & white conversion. A touch more contrast and it’s got everything I could ask for.
Aside from the technical issues here, there’s a point to be made about composition. When we’re presented with two similar shape/size objects in the frame we struggle to know which to look at first so our eyes dart from one object to the other, often falling down the middle where there is no point of interest. In these instances, it’s often better to choose one of the objects and home in on that. (Here, for example, you could turn the camera on its side and create a shot of the lighthouse on the right with layers of seals, sea, rocks and sky.)
Sometimes, trying to get a reflection can feel a little forced, but here it feels natural and well balanced. Both the subject and its mirror image are full of colour and detail, and the lines in the rock guide us through the picture perfectly. The top of the lighthouse and adjacent buildings are clear of the rocks in the reflection, which is a big plus point.
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**This contest is open to photographers ranked between 251 and 1000 in this week’s <a href="https://www.photocrowd.com/photographer-community/">Leaderboard</a>.** There are more than 250 lighthouses in the UK, and at their peak in the USA there were 850 in operation. It’s the combination of their unique design – such feats of engineering – and their solitude, set against some of our wildest coastal landscapes, that makes them such a compelling subject for photographers. You might choose to shoot one during blue hour, when the artificial illumination is set against the natural light of the sky. Or why not fit a 10-stop filter and go for a long exposure that reflects the passing of time and the scudding clouds above? Then, of course, there’s the option of including crashing waves on the rocks below the lighthouse, demonstrating their strength against the wildest of elements.
