C&C? Landscape content.

maybeshewill · Mar 11, 2012

Hi all!

Pretty excited. Got back from my first real "photography outing". Anxcious to see the fruits of my labor, I popped in the camera, chose a picture and did a little editing. This was the result:

Goodnight.. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I would love any comments, be it postive or negative in relation to my shot.

Unfortunately my graduated ND filter set is yet to arrive, so this was shot without filters, otherwise I would have had a longer exposure to get the water a bit smoother.

480sparky · Mar 11, 2012

Most here aren't going to wade through a Flickr account for C&C. Pick 3 or 4 and post 'em here.

maybeshewill · Mar 11, 2012

Oh sorry, it's only one photo. Forgot to direct link it here.

maybeshewill · Mar 11, 2012

That bad huh?

Trever1t · Mar 11, 2012

Here's my thoughts..I can't tell but if the right side wasn't obstructed I'd want to shoot so that the sky was 66% and the view shifted right so that the man-made structure was not in the frame. I do love the reeds, and the water, sky is pleasant.

cgipson1 · Mar 11, 2012

F20, 3.2 ISO 100

Don't need to shoot shots like this at F20.... or 3.2 seconds......

I would have shot it at F8 to F11... and metered the shutter to underexpose it about .5 to 1 stop. Underexposing sunsets will give more intense color, plus it reduces the blown out areas a bit.

Your shot has very little color in in.. and the foreground is distracting from the sunset, which I assume was subject? If you had shot this from the very end of the jetty, it would have been nicer.

Even dropping exposure in PP and increasing saturation / hue doesn't save it.. as you have those huge blown out areas that distract.

maybeshewill · Mar 11, 2012

Thanks for the tips guys. I do agree that the structure is a bit of an eye-sore. It would have been much nicer were it a wooden jetty instead of a concrete path I would have imagined. I wish I would have thought to go to the end of the jetty.. ah well. You live and you learn. This is five minutes up the road, so hopefully next weekend I can get a nice sunset again.

The reason I had it at f20 was solely to allow me to get a longer shutter speed, as I wanted a smooth looking lake. Unfortunately my grad ND filters haven't arrived yet so I wasn't able to use them, otherwise I would have had a shot with probably around 2-3 second exposure, and only at f8 or so.

I appreciate the feedback!

Majeed Badizadegan · Mar 11, 2012

2/3 sunset here. Because the sunset is the subject and the foreground is much less interesting.

maybeshewill · Mar 11, 2012

Rotanimod said:
2/3 sunset here. Because the sunset is the subject and the foreground is much less interesting.

Totally agree, might give it another shot tonight if weather/sunset permits

Might even try trek to the wooden jetty further on.

Overall, ignoring the boring concrete jetty, have I done an OK job with the technicalities of the photo?

Also what do you think of the PP? There was bird crap all over the structure I had to clean up, and the reids were a bit dark.