From my Kiama trip in September '11

[allenlennon]

OK, so i decided to look through my pics on my laptop. And came across the one below. It was shot in .JPG so i couldnt do as much editing, but this is what i came up with. I know the composition isnt the best, but please tell me anything that would help. Also gave me a chance to practice in photoshop CS5 that a mate gave since she already had one.

As i can remember, this day was one of the only 2 beautiful days i had on my week long holiday there, and it only lasted a half a day. The rest was miserable, with parts windy and rain. But it was a good trip non the less. There is alot more photos that i can edit in pp that would be alright. But this photo is the best. And it took me about 30-40 mins to edit and muck around till i got it to the point where its reasonable.

Again, any advice and C&C's are most welcoming to help me along my journey of photography!

[Donald]

Allen

First reaction? There's too much grass at the bottom. I'd crop it to a 2:1 ratio, the sides and taking a little off the top and more off the bottom, so that the nearest tuft of grass is sitting on the bottom edge of the frame.

[allenlennon]

Thanks, hows the following

1) Just the top and bottem cropped


2) Sides, top and bottem cropped

[Donald]

I was thinking more like .............



Put a Rule of Thirds grid onto it and you'll see how perfectly it lines up.

[allenlennon]

ahh, yes, thanks

[allenlennon]

thanks donald, i always tend to forget the rule of thirds

[Donald]

thanks donald, i always tend to forget the rule of thirds

The thing is Allen, that it shouldn't be treated as a rule, but as a guide. It's fine to not stick to that, but it is helpful reference point/guide to thinking about how you frame an image.

[JohnC]

Improvements have made a much better photo.For me, though, I'd have cropped out that low building on the left too -it's very dark and as much as I tried not to let my gaze go to it, it did. I think it might be the contrast between the white facia and the dark of the building.

[Geoff F]

Allen, I think I would cut the grass a little bit tighter than Donald; but not as much as your cropped examples. Then, as John suggested, you could also crop the left side a little more; but not too much.

And, if required, the right side would probably still work with a tiny bit less and still show sufficient surf.

But deciding exactly where to crop is never an easy decision. Particularly when, like I am doing, it involves holding pieces of card against the screen.

However, we are tending to talk about a few negative points which only require a slight tweak when the overall scene is very good.