Interesting or not?

tjones8611 · Nov 8, 2009

This pond is across the street from my daughter's school. Every morning when I take her, Ive noticed the fog across the top during the cool morning hours. It seemed very picturesque driven by, but after taken the taking the photo this morning, not so much. Any recommendations to improve the shot?

Felix0890 · Nov 8, 2009

I like it but the water line's angle being askew is a bit distracting. You can fix it easily in photoshop.

TylerF · Nov 8, 2009

maybe backing up to get more in. and it seems like the whole picture is tilting. and the colors seem a bit dull.

brad89300 · Nov 8, 2009

possibly rotate he image slightly(counter clockwise) to straighten the horizontal line??? I do agree with you that the landscape is picturesque, but I can't figure out how either....may be a lower shot to capture more of the forest and eliminating the uninteresting grass portion??? just my 2 cents

Buckster · Nov 8, 2009

On this one, I'd start by leveling it

Instead though, I'd go back to the location and shoot it level, and with less foreground grass and more background, putting the far bank at around the bottom 1/3 (rule of thirds), and including the tree top of the willow if possible. Even better, the whole willow, I think, if you've got the room to back up or the lens to work it.

RancerDS · Nov 8, 2009

Things you could try are cropping the bottom 20% out of the shot, maybe 10% off the right, maybe try to increase brightness in photo-editing software and play with the contrast +5/-5 percent. You may even find a Gaussian blur would increase the feel of the fogginess. And maybe as a last resort decrease the amount of red in the RGB scale by a tad.

LarryD · Nov 8, 2009

The shot has some great potential.... but you have to decide what the subject matter is..

If it's just the fog, then get in closer and don't worry about getting the whole structure on the left in, or the tree..

If the structure is your aim, you can still get it in closer and more of it in your frame..

If it's the fog and great background, tilt up for less of the foreground and more of the background...

.... The pond, fence, tree, and greens is very photographic and this one is worth spending some time on exposure and composition......

fokker · Nov 8, 2009

I'd like to try an edit on this when I get home from work, if you don't mind.

Felix0890 · Nov 8, 2009

If you're going to get closer to the fog as Larry mentioned, make sure to protect your gear with a ziplock bag (assuming your gear is not weather-sealed).

UUilliam · Nov 8, 2009

tjones8611 · Nov 8, 2009

I played around with cropping it, but it was to hard to decide on wha tnot to keep. I liked the gazebo, the fog, the fence line, the willow tree, and the background. I could never decide on wha to crop out. I pulled off of the road for the shot, tripod against the propert line fence. I could have zoomed in a little more, but not sure on what to leave out. I tool several at different exposure levels, but the morning light was not working in my favor. Any later in the morning and the fog would have been gone.

I missed the leveling, to much attention on everything else. Gotta stop that!