just learning....

[Rasamus]

Hi All,

I'm fairly new to photography, I captured this by chance one morning on my way to work, shot it in B&W with no processing, would be intrested in receiving feedback from any experienced photographers about its composition, changes or tips for future photos.....




Many thanks

[MiniChris]

I rotated the image so the horizon line (red) is parallel to the bottom of the frame, then did a reset of your black and white points. From the crop grid, you might want to consider a 16:9 crop ratio. This is just a start but I found the absolute blacks too heavy and absolute whites too stark against a wonderful set of grays.

I would likely crop out the grass at the bottom of the frame, either by crop or clone before I set the 16 x 9 crop.

[Rasamus]

Hi MiniChris,

thank you for your feedback, is that CS5 your using? I haven't got a processing software as yet. I've made some change re you suggestion below, any better?



Thanks

[Mark von Kanel]

Ian nice image well composed, yes the grass needed to go but with this edit youve muted it too much i preferred the hard contrast of the as shot version, this edit take the emphasis of the lake leading the eye to the distance away. and in my opinion ruins what was a very good picture, well done on the capture.

[Rasamus]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your comments. i've returned it to its original state - minus the grass! I do like the contrast of the starker colours.....

[MiniChris]

It is CS5...without editing software it stand up pretty good onits own, but would greatly benefit not to have those blacks so dense. You should have first done a crop edit which removed the grass, then recropped to the 16/9. I think it has too much sky in this version.

You can download GIMP for free.

[rob marshall]

Where do you work that gives you a view like this on the way to it?

[Rasamus]

Its just as I leave my Village in North Wales, after here its just the mundane A55 dual carriageway.......

[rob marshall]

...after here its just the mundane A55 dual carriageway.......

Ah, yes, but think of all those high-rolling English trippers that it brings in from the urban wastes of the North.

I do like the shot. It has a good feel of tranquility, and we all need tranquility.

[Steve S]

Beautiful shot and conversion , ian. I like the crop much better .

Have you considered taking a 2 shot pano and include a little more of the right side. This would give some stronger leading lines into the frame (the way the hills are angled on the right side) and move the focal point out of the center of the frame.

[MGH]

A very nice view, well done. I am going to disagree with everyone and say I think it´s a much stronger composition with the forground grass left in. Just crop a bit off the top there´s too much sky.

[Rasamus]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your comments, here it is with sky cropped and the grass back in, I included it originally to give a better feel for the lake, but too much of it does nothing for the photo!

[Rasamus]

Hi Steve,

I haven't actually, but that's a good suggestion as I can never quite fit in what I want! How would you do that with an DSLR, would you have to take two seperate pics and knit them together?

Many thanks

[MGH]

Hi Steve...A bit too much I think it feels a bit cramped, I would have liked a bit more for ground but something like this works best for me.

[Steve S]

Hi Steve,

I haven't actually, but that's a good suggestion as I can never quite fit in what I want! How would you do that with an DSLR, would you have to take two seperate pics and knit them together?

Many thanks

It's best to use a tripod, but you don't have to. You can take as many frames as you want, just overlap them by 1/3 of a frame. Then load them into photoshop and stitch them together. Go to file---automate---photomerge---choose the files you want to merge and click ok. It will do the rest.

[Rasamus]

Hi Steve...A bit too much I think it feels a bit cramped, I would have liked a bit more for ground but something like this works best for me.

Hi Mark,

yes I can see the difference it makes by cropping some of the sky away.

thanks