Sunset

[Maxis]

Sunset IV on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
From Kuortane, Finland.
First time testing Lightroom, please tell me what could be better.

 

[ann]

don't put the horizon right in the middle of the frame , that cuts the photo in half.
either have more sky and less ground, or more ground and less sky.

 

[Peano]

That's a beautiful image. Exposure and color are right on the mark. I would only suggest reframing it, perhaps extending the canvas at the top and cropping a little off the bottom, as here.

 

[UUilliam]

i personally would have more water / less sky

 

[henrycooke]

as has been said, colours and light are great but i would move the horizon to either the 1/3 mark or the 2/3 mark.

 

[skieur]

As a vertical, no matter how you frame it, there is too much dead space at top or bottom: blue and more blue. A horizontal shot with the horizon toward the bottom of the image would be better and at the same time have less dead blue space.

skieur

 

[Peano]

The moral of this story: Don't get hung up on "rules," including the "rule of thirds." There are no rules.

Some prefer the horizon as it is, right in the middle. Some prefer more sky and less water. Some prefer more water and less sky. Some say a vertical composition can't work at all with this image.

Use your own judgment and follow your own instincts. If you continually question both, both will improve.

 

[JamieR]

I think a horizontal version works better.

 

[Maxis]

I thought cropping it to 1/3 or 2/3 but it didn't work as well as this one (that's my oppinion) and I like to "brake" rules and test something new. But I might post to flickr same photo but with 1/3 or 2/3 crop.

EDIT: And thanks for all of these great tips

 

[dwol]

I actually think with this image to have it right smack in the middle is better. Again, everyone has different opinions lol

 

[skieur]

The moral of this story: Don't get hung up on "rules," including the "rule of thirds." There are no rules.

Some prefer the horizon as it is, right in the middle. Some prefer more sky and less water. Some prefer more water and less sky. Some say a vertical composition can't work at all with this image.

Use your own judgment and follow your own instincts. If you continually question both, both will improve.

That is not the moral at all. There are rules and they are worth paying attention to.

Photography involves selecting and emphasizing the centre of interest and related elements in a scene or image. Basic to the elements of design used in photographic composition is that a balanced photo with the horizon in the centre has NO emphasis and NO centre of interest. The eye of the viewer wonders around the image. There is NO visual impact.

By the way, if you have no artistic talent or background, no visual skills, and no attention to detail, then you probably have NO instincts to follow. Far better to follow the rules of composition and learn how to compose photos.

skieur

 

[KmH]

The moral of this story: Don't get hung up on "rules," including the "rule of thirds." There are no rules.

Oh yes, there are 'rules'. They can be bent and even broken, but never ignored.

After several hundreds of years of art appreciation by humans, it has emerged that there are many 'rules' or guidelines that make works of art pleasant to look at. Much more often than not, works of art that ignore these many 'rules/guidelines' founder in obscurity because they look like sh!t. ;-)

 

[skieur]

The moral of this story: Much more often than not, works of art that ignore these many 'rules/guidelines' founder in obscurity because they look like sh!t. ;-)

Well, that is certainly the more direct way of putting it, Keith. :thumbup:

skieur

 

[Dagwood56]

In rare cases the horizon in the center could work, but only if there were some definite subject like houses or trees. In this case where the horizon is so distant and appears as a black line, I feel it should be in the lower third of the photo. I like the shot, but keep getting the impression its going to fold over in the middle.