Looking for some critique on this photo

[Coreysaysyo]

Thanks for any input

DSC02390 by Corey Mathery, on Flickr

 

[jcdeboever]

Straighten horizon

 

[tirediron]

Agree, the horizon definitely needs to be leveled, but the main issue is: What's it a photo of? In other words, the image lacks a definite subject. It's sort like a gourmet meal where there's all kinds of appetizers, salads, desserts, etc, but no main course. The sand of the beach makes a wonderful leading line, but it leads the eye to.... nothing. On the technical side, the only issues I see are that the white balance seems very slightly blue to me, and I think perhaps a 1/3 stop exposure increase wouldn't go amiss...

 

[dxqcanada1]

I agree with Iron ... I think you should have concentrated on the beach ... like:

 

[Coreysaysyo]

Straighten horizon

Agree, the horizon definitely needs to be leveled, but the main issue is: What's it a photo of? In other words, the image lacks a definite subject. It's sort like a gourmet meal where there's all kinds of appetizers, salads, desserts, etc, but no main course. The sand of the beach makes a wonderful leading line, but it leads the eye to.... nothing. On the technical side, the only issues I see are that the white balance seems very slightly blue to me, and I think perhaps a 1/3 stop exposure increase wouldn't go amiss...

I see definitely what you guys mean about the horizon. I was riding a ferris wheel while taking this picture, so that might have thrown my composition off.

Plus I see what you mean about the subject of the photo, I might have been trying to include too much in the picture. I can see where the photo really doesn't have one specific subject, I suppose I was going for the overall theme of the beach and boardwalk together.

I agree with Iron ... I think you should have concentrated on the beach ... like:

View attachment 123658

I actually like the way that looks, of course its too late now, but maybe the next time I am at the beach I can try to get both shots

Thanks to you all, I really do appreciate this. This will really help my shooting and knowing what to look for. Love having a forum to hop on and get critiques like this.

 

[PropilotBW]

What beach is this?

 

[Trever1t]

1) Straighten
2) Place the horizon on either the top or bottom 1/3 of the frame.
3) fix exposure. Sky and sea are melting together.

 

[Coreysaysyo]

What beach is this?

This is Ocean City, Maryland. Fantastic beach and boardwalk if you ever have the chance to go you should!

1) Straighten
2) Place the horizon on either the top or bottom 1/3 of the frame.
3) fix exposure. Sky and sea are melting together.

Noted, Thank you for the input. Exposure is something I really need to start working on.

 

[Ysarex88 82]

What beach is this?

This is Ocean City, Maryland. Fantastic beach and boardwalk if you ever have the chance to go you should!

1) Straighten
2) Place the horizon on either the top or bottom 1/3 of the frame.
3) fix exposure. Sky and sea are melting together.

Noted, Thank you for the input. Exposure is something I really need to start working on.

Your file indicates some kind of processing using Raw Therapee. Did you process an ARW file from your camera or a JPEG file?

Joe

 

[Coreysaysyo]

Your file indicates some kind of processing using Raw Therapee. Did you process an ARW file from your camera or a JPEG file?

Joe

Yes I have been using Raw Therapee. Plus it was a RAW file. I am still kind of new to it, and trying to learn it. Could be the problem with my photos. Would you like me to post the original photo, and you could maybe tell me what I did wrong in RT? Thanks

 

[Coreysaysyo]

Oh boy lol, I was trying to edit my photos too quick. I must have let the auto levels take place...

Original
DSC02390 by Corey Mathery, on Flickr

Edited, The one at the top of this thread.
DSC02390 by Corey Mathery, on Flickr

 

[Ysarex88 82]

What beach is this?

This is Ocean City, Maryland. Fantastic beach and boardwalk if you ever have the chance to go you should!

1) Straighten
2) Place the horizon on either the top or bottom 1/3 of the frame.
3) fix exposure. Sky and sea are melting together.

Noted, Thank you for the input. Exposure is something I really need to start working on.

Your file indicates some kind of processing using Raw Therapee. Did you process an ARW file from your camera or a JPEG file?

Joe

Your file indicates some kind of processing using Raw Therapee. Did you process an ARW file from your camera or a JPEG file?

Joe

Yes I have been using Raw Therapee. Plus it was a RAW file. I am still kind of new to it, and trying to learn it. Could be the problem with my photos. Would you like me to post the original photo, and you could maybe tell me what I did wrong in RT? Thanks

If your original is a raw file it will have an .ARW extension. It would be too big to post here. But if you put it on Dropbox and place a link here I'd be happy to help.

Joe

 

[Designer]

I grabbed the JPG and came up with this:

Straightened, adjusted WB, exposure, curves, and a better crop.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Yeah, being on a ferris wheel could have affected getting the camera straight, so you did pretty well considering you were in a moving bucket.

The more you take pictures the better you'll probably get. If you can, get 2-3 shots. You could have done something like Dennis (DXQ)'s edit, or a view of what was to the left. Maybe try a vertical shot too, depending on what else was there it could have made for an interesting shot of that left side.

I'd try a longer lens too if you can eventually get a used short telephoto. That would bring you in closer to a subject and might help sometimes eliminate extra space in photos where there's nothing interesting going on.

If you can get accurate exposures I've found that's key. You may not have to do a lot of editing if you get a good photo to start with.

I'm a longtime photographer and shoot film, Polaroids, etc. and have done sports and events. With whatever I'm doing I find it's going to be more efficient use of my time to get a proper exposure so to need less adjustment. I've sometimes been able to crank out prints in the darkroom from the same roll with little adjustment once I determined exposure time in the enlarger. Same shooting digital, I can sometimes print what I see after I open it in photoshop directly from opening the media card with little adjustment/post processing.

I also learned to frame shots as accurately as possible and to go for a 'clean' composition.

You've gotten some ideas and suggestions here. I'd say to try some crops yourself too and decide what you like best, what best shows viewers what you saw and want others to see. Keep at it!

 

[Coreysaysyo]

Link to the original file

Have at it if you guys want to

Dropbox - DSC02390.ARW