I'm not happy with this photo. Need you tear up my technical issues...

[chrisfoxdesign]

Okay, shot this yesterday morning doing my "365" or shooting every day this year. Don't worry, not going to post every day, but this one struck me as a photo opportunity that I did not capture. I want to get better, so I want you to rip this shot up and tell me why it's not good.



This is Crystal Springs reservoir in San Mateo county. The fog appears over it every cold morning in the winter, so it's an easy shot to replicate. Things I think are bad:

• Lack of something interesting in the foreground
• No detail in the fog.
• Lack of overall image sharpness
• Lack of detail in the clouds

The one thing I think is OK is the overall composition, the shapes make sense to me.

So what do you think is wrong? More importantly, how do I fix these problems?

Am I asking too much? Thanks!!!

 

[tirediron]

I think you've nailed most of the key issues I see with the image. I will also add that it seems rather too contrasty for my taste; I would prefer more mid-tones. Ideally a monochrome should go from pure black to pure white by way of all shades of gray, but you seem to have lots of black, lots of white, and little gray...

 

[Mully]

You have discovered why it is not working LOL what many do when the photo does not work is make an HDR out of and say you wanted it that way

 

[pic_chick]

^^ what Tirediron said But I would crop out most of the grass in the foreground. It seems to take a lot away from the image.

 

[Derrel]

I bet it would have rendered well in a horizontal composition...there are a lot of horizontal lines and elements in the scene, but they have been cut into a tall, narrow slice of the scene by the vertical camera orientation. The foreground shadows across the grass; the ground fog stretching left to right across the scene; the distant hill, running across the scene; the power lines and poles...all of those visual elements went left-to-right...by composing in a vertical orientation, you are fundamentally orienting the camera is a discordant manner...