Solid and Serene

In this article, I’ll describe what went into my photograph “Solid and Serene,” which you can see below.

I took this image on an early September morning in St Joseph, Michigan. Walking back towards the shore from the end of the pier, I spotted the handle at the top of one of the ladders that are integrated into the pier itself. What really stood out to me was the reflection of the handle in the wet concrete. Next, I needed to work out how to highlight that subject in the photo while giving it some context as well. 

Very quickly, I decided to get my camera low and close to the metal handle. This position gave me two aspects I was looking for:

• It made the handle larger and more prominent in the frame, and
• It decreased the amount of visible water between the edge of the pier and the distant shoreline

Both of these aspects helped focus my composition on the subject itself. How low did I have to go? Here’s a phone shot showing my final tripod setup and camera position:

The phone photo shows another challenge presented by this scene. On this morning, the water of Lake Michigan was pretty choppy, with the occasional wave crashing up onto the pier. The conditions generated a lot of texture in the water. That texture took away from my subject, with the metal handle getting a bit lost in the busy background. I also felt it didn’t match the calm sunrise sky…or how I felt standing out on the pier.

To solve the issue of the busy water, there was an obvious answer: smooth it out with a longer exposure. I know not everyone likes flattening out water in their photos. Fortunately for me, I love it! Popping on one of my (Kase magnetic) ND filters, I lengthened my shutter speed to 50 seconds. 

The last element of the photograph I considered while composing was the aspect ratio. I’m a fan of 4×5,  but in this case a 1×1 was the better choice. It focused the composition on my subject by excluding too much empty sky, or an unnecessary expanse of water. And since square crops provide a sense of balance and harmony, it matched the calmer feel I was creating with the other aspects of my composition.

After taking the image, I accentuated the colour in the sky and the reflection of the handle in post-processing. With that, I had “Solid and Serene” finished.