Wooden Piers

A photograph depicting two wooden piers with the glare of the sun on the sea serving as the background.

Making a photo with the glare of the sun on water as a dominant element is a bit tricky. The glare by itself is not something interesting. It can also overpower any other element in the composition making subject separation difficult. So, you have to make many attempts, with various subjects, before creating something that is really worth while. I have made such photos before but there is always room for improvements.

The location of the photo is a small port at the entrance of a marshland. The boats on this port are small fishing boats, so they don’t require much space or infrastructure for mooring. Hence, these wooden piers are small as they serve small boats. I was always looking at them at previous visits, but I was never eager to make a photo out of them.

The Composition

The good thing about repeatedly visiting a place, is that over time you begin finding smaller, interesting details that evade attention on a single visit. Another thing is that you see things in different conditions. This alters how things appear and how they interact with their enviroment. This is the latter situation. The backlight of the glare of the sun made a more interesting composition. As the details are hidden in the shadow, what remains are the lines, the shapes and the general form of the objects. Also the backlight makes the separation of the layers of the composition more apparent, which adds more depth in the scene. And of course there is the glare of the sun, which masks the background and makes the foreground stand out more to the eye.

These are the major elements which make me like this photo. It is good to know why a photo clicks for you years after its creation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.