Waiting for the light

To get that perfect landscape image requires several different elements being in place when the shutter is pressed. The quality of light is one such element, something that is pretty much out of your hands. As is the wind, which needs to be gentle at best if you're chasing reflections in water like the example below. Some subjects don't move so you only need to concentrate on the two elements mentioned above, while others like boats can of course move so this may need to be taken into consideration too. Shooting at the start or end of the day can give you a fighting chance, the sun, if out, will be low and cast beautiful warm light that can give great depth to your scene. Wind is normally light at these times too so it's a great time to shoot. This image below was really just a grab shot but it gives you some idea as to why this image is okay but not great as not all the elements were in place.

Fuji X100. ISO 200, 1/100 sec @ F5.6 +1.3 E.V.    

I wanted to capture a tranquil scene from the quay at Wells-Next-The-Sea and rather than just take a picture with static boats, I waited until a fisherman appeared in his small boat to liven the scene up a bit. I waited for him to move towards the right of the scene so the viewers eye would follow him on his travels up and out of frame to the right. Most teachers and books will tell you that objects should enter a picture with space for them to move into, but I've never followed tradition in this regard and tend to like things leaving frame, it just works for me. I pressed the shutter a bit too soon in this case, I would have preferred him slightly more to the right, but never mind. The lack of wind was perfect, it was a really tranquil evening, reflections from the boats were fantastic, just the ripples from the moving boat visible in the water.  What lets this image down for me is the flat lighting, it had become a steely grey, and the resulting image looks too cold, lacks emotion and for me is pretty much unsaleable. I had waited 8 days for the wind to drop sufficiently. It had been blowing a gale for a week even though the sun had been out, but as soon as the wind dropped the sun disappeared. Typical... Everything eventually came together on my last day at the coast, and I finally managed to get the shot I wanted and had envisaged for several days. And what was the final element that allowed me to capture the image? Patience.