Looking for some feedback....

[tacos3]

I did a day trip to Yosemite on Friday and took some shots that I'd like critique'd. Got there early so the water was very still but the sky was a bit hazy....

Feedback is appredicated.

http://dtphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/886291

Thanks,

Darren

[Radtech1]

They look nice, but 8 shots is a bit much to critique. Pick out the 2 good ones and post them seperately.

Rad

[Croasdail]

Honestly they are all fine shots, but none jump out and say wow - no weather, color of leaves, particularly interesting lighing - they are good but ordinary. Don't get me wrong - I took a trip to the rockies this last summer and have tons of ordinary shots. Nothing to be ashamed of at all... technically they are fine.

[Robert_Lay]

Dear tacos3,

First, I think you are handicapping yourself by posting pictures from Yosemite, or from anywhere the Ansel Adams "wrote the book on". You put yourself in the position of having to better the master.

Second, the pictures are good - not great like in outstanding - but very good and pleasing.

Third, I would caution you in one respect that I see in two of the shots - I see evidence that you are either not level or pointed the camera slightly upwards. When you do both it gets difficult to decide what you've done, but my point is (and I may be seeing things that aren't there) that in shots of landscapes - especially of well-know areas - you MUST keep your horizon level and you MUST not tilt up or down (rarely does anyone tilt down), because the resulting distortion is noticed.

Otherwise, I think your exposures were right on and your composition was very good. Remember, it's very difficult to compete with Ansel Adams unless you get a time of year and a time of day and and a perspective or vantage point that he somehow missed.

[tacos3]

Thanks for the feedback. When I left and processed these, there wasn't one that came out and grabbed me. I shoulda just left it that way. Each of these shots has probably been shot a bazillion time before anyway and I really hadn't thought about the fact that these might be an insult to Ansel himself.

Darren

[Robert_Lay]

Don't think of it as an insult to Ansel Adams. No way would he admonish anyone for trying to emulate his work.

It's just that you have to consider with whom you are competing in certain arenas. With today's technology we still cannot compete with the artistry of Ansel Adams, but in the world of flash photography we can certainly compete with Dr. Egerton.

The answer here is to find the genre that suits you - rather than putting your tripod into the same three holes that everone else has been using.