Critique for a 'newbie' please

NickChurch · Dec 28, 2014

Hi,

I'm Nick, from Bristol, UK.

I am new to 'more serious' photography (late bloomer!), having only taken snapshots in the past. I have taken a number of shots of various genres, and am hoping for as much feedback (good or bad) as possible - both on composition and technical elements.

Here is a shot from a series taken while returning from a recent work trip. Kit is an Olympus OM-D E-10, Lumix 20mm f1.7 lens.

Thanks in advance...

Nick

Logician · Dec 28, 2014

I liked your photo, IMO it pretty good and solid especially considering you classified it as " newbie photo". Maybe you can share its EXIF information (like ISO, aperture, shutter speed) etc. to get a little detailed critique, even if I downloaded the full size photo, its EXIF is deleted so I couldn't see it.

Regarding composition I guess you could place the sun just a little more right according to 2/3 rule. I don't know you prefer to play with colors in pre or post production but if you do I guess shooting in vivid or sunset mode or increasing saturation a little more in the post production can also make it a little more punchy. But as a general I liked it, congratulations.

teotsi · Dec 28, 2014

Is the picture edited? That's a great shot anyway

Raj_55555 · Dec 28, 2014

This is a gorgeous shot.. I'll offer my critique when I can take pics like these :lol:

dxqcanada · Dec 28, 2014

Good shot. Exposure is good. Subjects work together.
Did you take more than one, showing more cloud less sky?
Remember to take shots of multiple views so to reduce cropping later ... also this lets you see how just positioning subject/objects can really affect the final image.

SCraig · Dec 28, 2014

Few things are prettier than popping through a cloud deck and flying "VFR On Top". Nice shot, brings back a lot of memories.

Rick58 · Dec 28, 2014

Beautiful shot. If I had to nitpick, it would be that the sun is just slightly off center. I would either center it completely, or move it into the thirds. Like I said, beautiful shot regardless.

NickChurch · Dec 28, 2014

Rick58 said:
Beautiful shot. If I had to nitpick, it would be that the sun is just slightly off center. I would either center it completely, or move it into the thirds. Like I said, beautiful shot regardless.

Wow! Thanks for all the comments, these are really helpful. (sorry in advance for the further questions below!!). BTW - all were shot at 1/125, ISO800 and f8.0

There has been significant editing of the 'raw' in Lightroom, mostly to bring out the clouds, improve contrast taken away by the aircraft window, and all the while control the noise and blue cast to the image. The fact that it does not too processed would tell me I've got that about right, as I want my images to reproduce the colours I saw as much as possible. Do you think I should push the reds a bit higher?

Good points about the framing, I did try to crop by putting sun in middle or 2/3 over, but in both cases, I was not 100% convinced the loss in resolution was worth the marginal improvement - do you think I should do it anyway?

I did shoot several, including the one below. This one has the sun central at least, but no less sky I'm afraid. Same question, shall I re-crop do you think?