Lovers, Traders and a Sail, a photo from Syracuse, Sicily

Photographer's Note

Back to Sicily. An earlier photo showed the Fonte Aretusa on Siracusa's island of Oritigia. For this one, I was located on the seaward side of the fountain, looking north across the bay to the mainland, industrial part of the city. I took the two walkers for tourists, but probably Italian tourists, as they sauntered along enjoying each other's company and the beautiful late afternoon sunshine.

For some reason the EXIF data will not appear for this photo. For those interested, the focal length was 60mm, shutter 1/400 and aperture f10.

snunney, jhm, danos, tyro, josepmarin has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Matyas (0) 2015-12-21 1:09

Hello Andrew! Fine pair, fine pose and scene. Nice place. Good high POV, very good capture. Superb work. Regards!

Nicou (193806) 2015-12-21 1:27

Hello

avec ces marchands de rue quelle vue ce couple amoureux qui marche superbe le rendu sur le pierres et le bombage de l'autre cфtй le quai et la vue sur le port et la mer splendide.
Bravo et amitiй
Nicou

rbassin (27472) 2015-12-21 1:50

hello Andrew
une jolie promenade,bien ensoleillйe avec de bons contrastes.
Bonne journйe
Roland

snunney (130967) 2015-12-21 1:51

Hello Andrew,
I like the point of view a lot with the wall on the left providing perspective and depth. The two people walking arm in arm are well placed and contribute to the mood. I also like the inclusion of the souvenir stalls on the right. The image is nicely illuminated and has excellent colours and clarity. Very good rendering of the textural detail in that curving wall. There appears to have been a problem with the EXIF data appearing for a while.

jhm (211736) 2015-12-21 3:54

Hello Andrew,

Sicily, a very nice Island with lovely nice places also for lovers.
The colours to the area are pleasant to look at.
Very well composition, nice presentation too.
Nice done, TFS.

Have a nice day,
John.

danos (110407) 2015-12-21 7:43

Hello Andrew,
nice the snapshot from this tranquil and quiet area from the Fonte Aretusa with the warm light as fallen on the scene to makes it even more effective.The couple is placed perfect in the image,with the sailing boat on the backdrop to completes perfect the whole scenery.

Regards,Danos

robmal (2439) 2015-12-21 11:22

Hello Andrew,
An interesting architectural scene with nice composition a well captured daily life scene, sharpness, exposure and natural colors are excellent. Well done.

Best Regards
Robert

Silvio1953 (221781) 2015-12-21 11:52

Ciao Andrew, nice scene with lovely walking couple, wonderful colors, splendid light and excellent clarity, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

Royaldevon (85932) 2015-12-22 2:43

Hello Andrew,,

This is a fine location for contrasts of architecture, sea and transport, and with those square surface tops creating excellent guides and a sense of perspective. The friendly couple offer a great focal point and extra guidance.

I do have a problem with the stall holders, though. I am aware of them but cannot get enough info, they sort of distract me, a little, from the main focus. Maybe, it would have been possible crop them!

Despite that there is much to enjoy.

I wish you a happy Christmas,
Bev :-)

berek (50518) 2015-12-22 21:34

Dear Andrew
this picture as a very successful and clever composition. the separation of the right section for the most part is The castle , I liked this idea . right section which gives the image depth with lovely coast. Congratulations.
Best wishes.
Burak

Ps: My friend first thank you for the constructive criticism you made to the my image note. I could not write for I do not know the name of the building. but to find the name, I will add my note as soon as posible :-)

tyro (30513) 2015-12-23 0:19

Hello Andrew,

Another fine photograph from your trip o Sicily, very finely composed with the street sellers and their wares making an interesting foreground while the loving couple on the curving path lead the eye very nicely to the distant view over the water.

Quite a difficult scene to photograph effectively because it's almost contre jour but you have managed the light remarkably well, the colours are vibrant but true and the details and sharpness, as always, are exquisite.

Beautiful!

Kind Regards,

John.

P.S. Thank you so much for your kind remarks on my recent Greenland photo. I would normally have replied in the usual way but I realise that there seems to be a hitch (amongst many hitches recently on TE) and forum messages don't always get through.

Yes, when my faithful old slide/negative scanner failed to work with my new operating system I felt just a bit stuck. The problem appears to be that drivers for this scanner are now not available or supported for Windows 10. I had done some research and had thought about buying a new scanner but reviews of any scanners around the Ј100 to Ј300 mark were pretty poor. Apparently the very best scanners were made by Nikon but they cost several thousand pounds, are no longer made, still are expensive on the secondhand market and also do not work with newer operating systems either.

So then I found this article about copying slides as well as this one by the same author regarding copying negatives and was quite impressed.

Then I had a think to myself. What is likely to have the better combination of lens quality, sensor quality and general reliability - a "cheap" slide scanner or my own lovely DSLR and lenses? Seemed to me that a DSLR costing over Ј1,000 and a macro lens costing Ј600 would probably win the toss. So I did a little crude experiment as described in my note and was surprised just how good a result I achieved. Of course, there were lots of dust marks to be removed and I did try to correct the colours in Photoshop (they're still not quite right) but I would have had to do the same with a scanned image too.

So that was my logic and that's what I did - if you're interested! I might just have a little play around in the shed and see if I can perhaps design some sort of jig to hold the slides and camera rather than messing around on the dining room table with an old shoe box and paper clips!

Have a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Kindest Regards,

John.

josepmarin (59385) 2015-12-23 4:29

Hi Andrew,
it's a nice scene, with the lovers strolling calmly, under a good sunlight that creates a beautiful shades on the pavement, and with a wonderful view of the bay in background.
The street-sellers adds an interesting bonus on the composition.
A great job.
Best regards,
Josep
Merry Christmas!!

Cricri (176) 2015-12-23 8:24

Hi Andrew
Trиs jolie la composition qui est plus est de ce beau pays qu'est le Sicile, bon POV, lumiиre, un endroit plaisant super bien prйsenter
Joyeux Noel
cricri