tell what you think

[damien]

hi please tell me what you think of this picture,

[damien]

[johnbharle]

I like it. It's well exposed, well composed (for me, anyway). This looks like it was made for something. What was it?

[damien]

hi and thanks for your comments, its a place called virginia waters in the uk, im not so sure what was made for but it a lovely place to go and take some photos, as ive only had the camera for a short while i thought it was a good starting point to learn the camera

[Wirefox]

Damien

The water looks good. Not too fluffy and captures the movement. It is very soft and since it was shot at f/22 there may have been some slight movement of the camera during the 1 second exposure. You didn't shoot with IS switched on by any chance?

The composition is fine but I keep seeing stray foliage creeping into landcape shots just lately but in this case it looks as if you may have been constrained in your view point. The grass at the bottom of the frame can probably be cloned out. Cropping an eighth off the right of the image may help too. You might try using Jiro's work flow here

[Donald]

Damien

That's a good first post. Steve (Wirefox) has given some pretty good advice there that I would agree with.

Some of what he said about what you can do in post-processing may not make a lot of sense to you yet. But as your knowledge ansskills increase, you will be able to make the sorts of adjustments that those of us who've been doing it for a while, make in post-processing.

[Wirefox]

Sorry Damien. I am hopeless at reading the welcome threads so I didn't know how experienced you are. The post processing I recommended could be a little confusing if you are a beginner. Worth baring in mind for the future though.

[damien]

Sorry Damien. I am hopeless at reading the welcome threads so I didn't know how experienced you are. The post processing I recommended could be a little confusing if you are a beginner. Worth baring in mind for the future though.

thats ok mate im here because i want to learn and the only way of doing that is taking on what people say, i have only had the camera 3 weeks and still learning, so i must be honest with you alot of what you said did go straight over my head but im sure i will pick it up in time

[waha]

What a lovely scene, Damien, even if it is (perhaps) man made as you seem to suspect. I'm curious about the reddish patch inside the rock box. It immediately drew my eyes to it and involved me in a distracting guessing game: "What is it? Is it meant to be there? If it's not relevant, can it be edited out..?"

I think the photo attests to your good sense of composition, without which even the most advanced camera equipment is wasted. If you are new to both photography in general and digital photography in particular (with all its postprocessing), you are doing the right thing by familiarizing yourself thoroughly with your new camera. Most digital cameras are quite complex--a fact which can get in the way when you are trying to learn about the basics of exposure, focus, and composition. But, you're well on your way!

[dje]

Hi Damien I think this is a nice shot too. I hope you dont mind but a did a bit of PP on your image to illustrate how you can get a bit more of a lift out of it. I'm sure others could do better. I lightned the shadows, darkened the highlights and added a Colour Burn layer at about 20% opacity.

Cloning out the stray leaves in front would also help as Steve suggested.



Cheers Dave

PS If you left click on the images you get a better view in Lightbox.

[damien]

What a lovely scene, Damien, even if it is (perhaps) man made as you seem to suspect. I'm curious about the reddish patch inside the rock box. It immediately drew my eyes to it and involved me in a distracting guessing game: "What is it? Is it meant to be there? If it's not relevant, can it be edited out..?"

I think the photo attests to your good sense of composition, without which even the most advanced camera equipment is wasted. If you are new to both photography in general and digital photography in particular (with all its postprocessing), you are doing the right thing by familiarizing yourself thoroughly with your new camera. Most digital cameras are quite complex--a fact which can get in the way when you are trying to learn about the basics of exposure, focus, and composition. But, you're well on your way!

wow i didnt even notice the red in the rock before im pressuming its ment to be there i will go back and look at other photos that i have taken to see if it was there thanks you for your comments

[damien]

Hi Damien I think this is a nice shot too. I hope you dont mind but a did a bit of PP on your image to illustrate how you can get a bit more of a lift out of it. I'm sure others could do better. I lightned the shadows, darkened the highlights and added a Colour Burn layer at about 20% opacity.

Cloning out the stray leaves in front would also help as Steve suggested.



Cheers Dave

wow what a diffrence and no i dont mind, im learnign how to use the camera at moment then hoping to learn more on editing photo at a later date i dont want to over cook my brain so i dont remember nothing, what did you use to edit this photo in ?

and thanks

[dje]

No problem Damien. I use Photoshop Elements which is the poor man's version of CS5. But it still has a lot of the features you get with CS5.

Just as a matter of interest, when you use the Reply With Quote feature on this site, make sure that you put your comments after the last [Quote] . That way your comments appear separately to the quote.

Finally a word about Post Processing. I'm a relative newcomer to the more serious side of photgraphy and in the past I have, like you, felt that I should concentrate on the shooting and not take any great interest in post processing. However one thing I have come to realise since joining this site is that pp shouldn't be ignored. Getting the shot right in the first place is of course of paramount importance and you do need to get to know your camera. But I would suggest you get into pp fairly soon.

Cheers Dave

[damien]

No problem Damien. I use Photoshop Elements which is the poor man's version of CS5. But it still has a lot of the features you get with CS5.

Just as a matter of interest, when you use the Reply With Quote feature on this site, make sure that you put your comments after the last Quote. That way your comments appear separately to the quote.

Finally a word about Post Processing. I'm a relative newcomer to the more serious side of photgraphy and in the past I have, like you, felt that I should concentrate on the shooting and not take any great interest in post processing. However one thing I have come to realise since joining this site is that pp shouldn't be ignored. Getting the shot right in the first place is of course of paramount importance and you do need to get to know your camera. But I would suggest you get into pp fairly soon.

Cheers Dave

Thanks for all your help and advice

[dje]

Damien you will notice yor last post is jumbled up with quotes and unquotes. This time it's my fault for putting in that reference in my last post to square brackets and the word "Quote".

[Steve S]

Very nice image damien, and good composition. I agree with the others, you should have moved a step forward or removed the distracting brush. A very pretty place, worthy of a reshoot.

[damien]

Very nice image damien, and good composition. I agree with the others, you should have moved a step forward or removed the distracting brush. A very pretty place, worthy of a reshoot.

ohi will be going back now that i have had these comments trust me, im really impressed with the comments i thought someone would have pointed alot more bad things so i must have been doing something right on the day thats for sure

[damien]

here we go i have croped and and edited the photo tell me if you think this looks better than the original thanks

[Steve S]

here we go i have croped and and edited the photo tell me if you think this looks better than the original thanks

Much better damien.