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This reader makes the most of a chance opportunity

Your images under the microscope

Our reader Steve Brande

Having recently part-exchanged my Nikon D7200 and lenses to dip my toe into the fullframe world, I am now a Nikon D750 user. But on this occasion I hadn’t thought of bringing my camera and only had my Samsung Galaxy S6 phone with me.

We were taking advantage of a rare calm evening at Beadnell Bay in Northumberland. Ivy (the dog) was lagging behind; when we turned to gee her along, we saw this amazing sunset start to appear. I dropped to one knee and started firing away with my phone touching the sand. I was so pleased with the shot that it became a small canvas print soon after.

Our expert Andrew James

It’s amazing how far cameraphones have come: they really are the ‘compact’ cameras we always have with us. What this photo shows Steve, is your excellent eye for great composition, and your ability to react quickly when an opportunity presents itself. The photo is very well balanced: by dropping down low and getting the camera to ground level you’ve captured a really intimate shot. I like how your dog is staring into the space, as it leads our eye from her to the wonderful sky.

There are a couple of minor technical things you could sort out with a post-processing app (such as Snapfish). The highlights in the sky need dampening down, and you should straighten the horizon too. That apart, I can see why you’d want this as a print.