2 Photos for C&C

Ballistics · Oct 5, 2011

1)

Sunset by Compressed Memories, on Flickr

2)

Patchogue by Compressed Memories, on Flickr

These shots are pretty generic, but these are photoshop exercises more than anything.

dalex100 · Oct 5, 2011

Nice shots! First one is better IMO.

Ballistics · Oct 5, 2011

dalex100 said:
Nice shots! First one is better IMO.

Thanks. It's funny too, because I was sure that the first one would receive complaints lol.

Ballistics · Oct 5, 2011

Forum's dead tonight huh?

SituationNormal · Oct 5, 2011

Great shots! Are they cropped or panoramas?

Second shot though... It looks dark on the left edge of the photo as well as the cloud in the top right. Anyway to lighten them?

Ballistics · Oct 5, 2011

These are cropped. The darkness is from the rain clouds on each side. I could try to lighten them up though. I'll give it a shot, thanks for looking.

Ballistics · Oct 5, 2011

Yeah I can't lighten it without it looking unnatural.

Ballistics · Oct 6, 2011

RidgewayPortraits · Oct 6, 2011

Ya, the only complaints I have about these photos are the lighting. They're both really dark.

Ballistics · Oct 6, 2011

That's what I was going for. The bottom picture is dark because very large storm clouds are closing in. The top I darkened to put emphasis on the sunset. I'll brighten them up and post them.

Ballistics · Oct 6, 2011

SunsetPrint by Compressed Memories, on Flickr

brighten by Compressed Memories, on Flickr

Postman158 · Oct 6, 2011

Love them! What lens did you shoot with?

Ballistics · Oct 6, 2011

Postman158 said:
Love them! What lens did you shoot with?

Both were shot with the 18-105 kit lens.

Compaq · Oct 6, 2011

Here are my opinions:

#1
For me, the panoramic crop does not work. Too much space on both side of the sun. A vertical orientation with more of the reflection would be more interesting, I think. As it is now, there is too much uninteresting stuff going on. The black horizon line can just be so interesting. The interesting part in this image, the sun and its reflection and its rays, take up very little space here, and when my eyes wander to the edges, I don't see anything.

#2
I agree that it should be brightened. Boost the curves a bit, and exposure wise it would be OK. I'm not fond of the composition. The pier is a horizontal line which obstructs the horizon line, and so their (possible) interaction isn't happening for me. As of now, the pier does not work as a great leading line, because it's parallel to the horizon which means it's not leading into the picture. Leading lines can be powerful, but often they add a depth to your image. In this case, it just make the image seem very 2D. Having the pier diagonally into the frame would be better. Based on mentioned points, I don't think the panoramic crop works here as well.

I'm not sure if you wanted C&C on the photos or on your post processing.