Newbie - pic with new camera

[suzyq77]

Hi there,
I am new to this forum, and so far am learning heaps. I thought I would put up a photo I took yesterday. I have an Olympus E-500 and am still learning to work it.

 

[PrimaryCanary]

Have a version in color? I think the elements are too far away to convey any direct feeling. There isn't enough water to portray vastness or emptiness and the walls are too far away. Maybe a different agle. Try a shot closer to the walls looking out at sea?

The clouds look like they were beautiful or were they the washed out grey kind? Maybe a color version will have a different feel.

 

[suzyq77]

Thanks for the comments. I do think it is lacking in something. I don't have it in colour, it was taken in Sepia from the camera.
I have cropped the sky and I think it looks a bit better.

 

[LaFoto]

That sky as such isn't bad since puffy clouds always add to a picture, but the first frame feels not quite so well balanced. Even though your horizon in that one is not dead centre, it still is too near to the centre to convey either the vastness of the sea, or the vastness of the sky. For the first it would need to be higher, for the second it would need to be considerably much lower.

I do agree that a no-horizon pic like your cropped version helps your photo overall.
The original (after upping the contrasts just a tad, maybe?) offers you plenty of opportunities to test out crops with one and the same picture, just for play and for yourself only, to find out when and how it feels best balanced to you.

Oh, and before I forget:

Welcome to ThePhotoForum!

 

[Cheyenne]

I think the walls made for a really interesting subject

I like the cropped version, very nice

 

[rmh159]

Yes the cropped version looks good and draws your attention right into the wood.

If you wanted to try to work on the shot with the clouds maybe add a touch of contrast into the sky. The way I'd recommend is in Photoshop (or another program) cut and paste the sky into it's own Layer and run Levels on it.

Another bit of advice... I would always shoot in color and then change the pic to sepia / B&W with software. That way your original still has that color data. Once you shoot in sepia / B&W in camera you've lost that color data and can't recreate it.

 

[suzyq77]

Thanks everyone, I will work on it.