Sunset at Gay Head

[Becca]

I'm new both to digital photography and to this forum. I was out on Martha's Vineyard last weekend trying out my new camera and took this picture. Any feedback on how I could have improved this picture (either at the time it was taken or using Photoshop) would be greatly appreciated!

I took this picture with a shutter speed of 1/60 sec, f 5.60 using my Sigma 28-80 lens with an attached 0.5X digital wide lens attached (I think its called a fisheye).

Thanks for the feedback!

[LisaMarie]

Hi BeccaNH ,

Welcome to the forum !



There are many different ways to help you out with this composition especially at the time it was taken. Eliminating as much of the sky as possible is one of the 1st things I can think of - only because there is not much going on at the moment in the way of color/contrast in the sky. You could also try a hyper focal here. Eliminate the twig sticking up in the bottom. Stopping down would also get a great beam of light if you time it just right coming from that light house.

As far as post processing- I looked at it cropped panoramic- that looked okay. I tried the levels and contrast too but they did not lend any compliment to the original.

Do you go to the Vineyard often?


Lisa

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

I think you could definately work this picture to make it absolutely stunning. It's a very nice picture, but it's sort of dull. Great start though! I like it alot. I'm sure you'll get better and better as time goes on.

[Becca]

Thanks for the feedback. That was sort of my feeling about the photo too... kinda boring. I wasn't sure what I might have done to make it more interesting. Some clouds might have helped, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your view) we had an awesome weekend weatherwise.

Lisa, this was my first trip to Martha's Vineyard, but I would love to go back and spend some more time.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

[flyfisher]

Welcome to the forum Becca,

I aggree with Lisa crop the sky and some of the bottom out of the photo.

[anglext]

Here is just a suggestion for post processing.

[Dimitri_V]

Hi Rebecca
The colours of the picture are superb,looks like it was taken in the late afternoon.
No need for much PP there as it looks fine.
Sharpening...yes,it looks blur,either from camera shake(you don`t state if tripod was used)
or bad focus.
Mistake 1...f5.6,not on a landscape,we are talking from f10 to f16 for landscapes.
Ofcourse to go for these apertures at this time of day you will have s/s of 1/10 - 1/20 in which case tripod is a must,no way you can handhold the camera and get a sharp picture without a tripod.
Mistake 2...when the sky is all blue with no interest,try to get less of it and more fg but make sure you have a focal point on the fg,something like a rock or small tree or something,nothing very big otherwise it will take your eye of the main subect,in this case the lighthouse.
Advice...try to keep the horizon away from the middle of the frame,either higher or lower,dipending on what you are shooting.
In this case (as others said) croping it is essential,here is an example,all i did was crop and sharpen.
Obviously not much i can do with a picture this size.
Also,i`ve included a page of my website where you can find lots of interesting tutorials to learn from.
Here (http://www.dvattika.com/site/index.php?pr=Links_for_Tutorials) it is.

[Becca]

Wow... here's a blast from the past! This was one of the first pictures I posted here (if not the very first!) Amazing what a person can learn in a year! Maybe I should take another trip out to the Vineyard and try it again now that I know a little more!