VT & ME shots C & C please

[Nikoncs4]

Hello all, I was just curious what some of you thought of these two particular images I took. Yes they are very different, but I'm not looking for any comparisons, just overall opinions. Please ignore the signature on the bottom, they where for a school assignment.

The first one:
Taken in Willmington, VT at 5:30 A.M. is an HDR shot composed of 8 exposures!

The Second One:
Bar Harbor, ME
I was going for a more under exposed look with this image.

 

[Doug Solis]

Let me talk about your second image. I really like it. I'm going to assume you were intending to portray the old battered crab basket as your subject and the view out to the bay as a place where this basket must have seen better days. You must have been using a wide open lens f2.8 or so as your depth of field is very shallow which works very well. Focus begins to fall off around the log. I'm just wondering if you would have been better served with a second photo that places the water and sky in good exposure as they both look overexposed to me and blended them together.

I think most people would have taken this shot using f22 to keep the image sharp from foreground to background, but I find your technique to be very refreshing.

I also like your first shot. very nice tones both warm and cool. Nice curve in the road which adds interest, I'm not sure the building on the left adds to the photo so i might crop it out. I also like your low perspective to the road. I think technically a good shot

 

[Nikoncs4]

Thanks for the response Doug! I agree with you about the sky being over exposed. I literally was laying down on the rocks for 3 seconds before fire ants completely swarmed my body. So I was only able to capture 2 images ha. I agree with everything you said!