Working on composition

This photo was made at the Helena reservoir and I really like the golden light on the fence and grass. What do you think? I uploaded the cropped version here Woolburr. What do you think, better or worse?

i like it. Draws your eyes to the mountains. Nicely done. I dislike how bright the vegetation is though. Did you adjust the saturation or something ?

The color is nice. You've got a leading line - the road. The fence post in the foreground creates depth and interest. I wonder if a slightly higher point of view might have added more detail to what is a decidedly flat terrain. Don't reject the idea of standing on your car for a shot.

BrandonPerkins wrote in post #15532706
i like it. Draws your eyes to the mountains. Nicely done. I dislike how bright the vegetation is though. Did you adjust the saturation or something ?

Thank you Brandon and no I didn't adjust the saturation that I remember. I'll take a look and see if I can tone it down a tad.

joedlh wrote in post #15532720
The color is nice. You've got a leading line - the road. The fence post in the foreground creates depth and interest. I wonder if a slightly higher point of view might have added more detail to what is a decidedly flat terrain. Don't reject the idea of standing on your car for a shot.

Thanks for your critique Joe. I tried a higher pov but it was difficult to get past the hills and the fence wasn't interesting using a higher pov. Standing on my car would leave permanent dents, they don't make them like that used to.

no problem. Take my advice with a grain of salt. I'm not really that great at taking pictures yet

Edit::

I ended up pulling your image into photoshop, and adjusted the contrast and a few other settings and was pleasantly surprised to the amount of detail that popped with the JPG. It might be worth it for you to go into lightroom (if you have it) and try to adjust the image. When adjusting the levels on the photo, the sky starts to look pretty awesome and I think with the RAW or this file, it will look even better! Hope you dont mind me messing with your photos

BrandonPerkins wrote in post #15532838
no problem. Take my advice with a grain of salt. I'm not really that great at taking pictures yet

Edit::

I ended up pulling your image into photoshop, and adjusted the contrast and a few other settings and was pleasantly surprised to the amount of detail that popped with the JPG. It might be worth it for you to go into lightroom (if you have it) and try to adjust the image. When adjusting the levels on the photo, the sky starts to look pretty awesome and I think with the RAW or this file, it will look even better! Hope you dont mind me messing with your photos

Thanks for the edit you did on my photo Brandon. I like your version but I think I would prefer somewhere in the middle for processing. My main reason for taking this photo is the golden light and your version has dulled it a little too much.

Well, that being said .. with the right editing software you can get a good balance. Its a very nice image you took!

I think less sky and more ground would be better. The road (although helps lead my eye into the photo) seems out of place. A better comp may be on the other side of the fence using it to lead the eye. My $0.02.

GorgeShooter wrote in post #15533017
I think less sky and more ground would be better. The road (although helps lead my eye into the photo) seems out of place. A better comp may be on the other side of the fence using it to lead the eye. My $0.02.

Thanks for taking the time to give CC GorgeShooter. I'll try that next time I'm out that way.

Anyone else feel like it's tilted to the left? Maybe it's just an optical thing with hill coming down on the right.. I just can't help but feeling like I'd rotate it a bit to the right and see how it looks.

Regardless, you did a good job! How many shots did you take? When I find something like this I'll rip off at least 30-40 with slightly different angles and heights.. Personally, I would've liked to have seen one a bit lower, to cover up the mountains on the right, so it looks like the road leads around the hill, but you can't tell what's behind it.. might be more interesting that way.

I like your original edit the best, though I would try upping the contrast a bit and see how it looks.

BrandonSi wrote in post #15534095
Anyone else feel like it's tilted to the left? Maybe it's just an optical thing with hill coming down on the right.. I just can't help but feeling like I'd rotate it a bit to the right and see how it looks.

Regardless, you did a good job! How many shots did you take? When I find something like this I'll rip off at least 30-40 with slightly different angles and heights.. Personally, I would've liked to have seen one a bit lower, to cover up the mountains on the right, so it looks like the road leads around the hill, but you can't tell what's behind it.. might be more interesting that way.

I like your original edit the best, though I would try upping the contrast a bit and see how it looks.

Thanks for such a great reply Brandon. I only took about 5 shots and didn't take the time to try more than a couple different angles. Tired and cold by the time I took this shot. I used the distant horizon that runs from center left to around the mountains to frame this shot and to ensure it was straight in post processing. That sounds like a great idea for the next time out and I'll definitely give it a try. The filter I used adds quiet a bit of contrast so I'm not sure I can crank it up anymore.

I'd try moving to the left (3, 5, 10, and 15 feet). That would give the fence more of an angle. Right now, the road gives a nice leading line, but I find the fence is too vertical for my liking.

cpam.pix wrote in post #15535390
I'd try moving to the left (3, 5, 10, and 15 feet). That would give the fence more of an angle. Right now, the road gives a nice leading line, but I find the fence is too vertical for my liking.

Agree - what I first thought when I saw this shot. Lower angles and a few steps to the left.

The light and the color in the original image is just fine. The edit is horrible. The problem with the shot is composition. The horizon literally splits the image in half, which tends to lessen the visual impact. An easy solution is to crop the image slightly. Try using a 16x9 overlay....and remove some of the sky. I suggest removing sky instead of foreground, because there really is nothing compelling in the upper portion of the sky that might serve to enhance the image.