Good? Opinions? Go easy! Newbie. Thanks.

[jim1019]

Any comments welcome. Just upgraded from the original Rebel to the 40D. Wow, what a nice camera! Now I just have to learn how to use it! Thanks for the comments.

[Thechef]

Right - don't trust anything I say.... but - I reckon this has real potential. I assume the image, bar the grass(?) has been desaturated (and its not just black sand) if this is the case i'd be tempted to include some colour - whilst you've got the two layers (B&W and original) play around with the opacity of the B&W layer to 'let' a little colour through - but keep the full green of the grass. I'd also have a play with the clone tool and see if some (not all) of the sand can be 'fixed' so theres more emphisis on the sand ripples.

The aboves what i'd try - not saying it'll be any good but it might return some nice results

[jim1019]

Right - don't trust anything I say.... but - I reckon this has real potential. I assume the image, bar the grass(?) has been desaturated (and its not just black sand) if this is the case i'd be tempted to include some colour - whilst you've got the two layers (B&W and original) play around with the opacity of the B&W layer to 'let' a little colour through - but keep the full green of the grass. I'd also have a play with the clone tool and see if some (not all) of the sand can be 'fixed' so theres more emphisis on the sand ripples.

The aboves what i'd try - not saying it'll be any good but it might return some nice results

I like the idea. BTW it's just the jpeg version that looks like the sand it desaturated. It's actually not. The RAW version looks much better. I'll try the cloning and get the sand color in there better tonight and repost. Thank you for the suggestions!

[CheetaPita]

i really like it - as is. Its very peaceful

[S.Horton]

Did you post-process this?

(Interesting texture)

[rammy]

I like the idea. BTW it's just the jpeg version that looks like the sand it desaturated. It's actually not. The RAW version looks much better. I'll try the cloning and get the sand color in there better tonight and repost. Thank you for the suggestions!

Looks to me like a classic underexposure/metering issue. Yep looking at your pictures histogram, it is confirmed:

206844

Make some in-camera adjustments at time of taking or adjust your levels PP.

[mrbeagle]

no offense but if you want real critiques you don't want people to go easy on you. you'll only learn with real criticism.

[jim1019]

No offense taken mrbeagle! Just a fragile ego maybe. Well here's my second attempt. All thoughts welcome.

[jim1019]

Looking at it posted, it almost looks too bright to me now! Oh well, I'll just keep working.

[Glenn NK]

Critique? OK. These are my very personal opinions - keep that in mind:

1. I like the striking simplicity of the image - that makes it powerful IMO.

2. However, I would like to see no footprints at all, just ripples. Why? to keep the simplicity.

3. I would also attempt to remove the one lone piece of grass in the lower right foreground - for the same reason - simplify and to remove distractions.

4. I don't know the focal length your lens was at - no EXIF data in jpeg. But, again my personal choice would have been to maximize the DOF. This would require a short focal length which (admittedly) might have destroyed the perspective which I think is good as is. Others may like the "fading" focus toward the upper (more distant) part of the image - this is likely a very personal thing. Shallow DOF seems to be "in" these days - I'm old school where large DOF was the thing.

5. Because the image is so simple, one might even boost saturation in this basically two colour scheme to increase the dramatic effect.

[kevindar]

The composition is ok. You need more contrast. there is just not enough interest in the picture. Here is one edit

[Gamut]

I like the revisions. They're an improvement.

[jim1019]

I like the revisions. They're an improvement.
Which one? Mine or kevindar's?

[Gamut]

Both are an improvement, but I think I'm partial to Jim's. Sorry Kevin. Yours might be a tad dark — although it's much smaller which will contribute to that.

[Bill Boehme]

No offense taken mrbeagle! Just a fragile ego maybe. Well here's my second attempt. All thoughts welcome.

Your second version looks much better, but for such a simple subject, I think that an even tighter crop would be better.

[SHULTSIE!!!]

It's definitely got some potential. I think getting lower on the subject would look better... establish some sort of a horizon in the background.