Is this photo OK?

I'm very inexperienced but I really like photography and I'm trying hard to learn more and get better. I'm going to try to submit some photos to Alamy or another stock company this week and I'm trying to decide what photos to submit. In my opinion, most of my better photos are wildlife photos but I want to try to send one photo from 4 different genres in my initial submission (wildlife, macro, landscape and I'm not sure about the 4th, maybe another wildlife photo, maybe a sports photo, etc.).

I took a few photos today and I rather like them but I don't have a practiced eye and I'm curious if these are OK, specifically the technical aspects. Are they in focus, is the exposure right? What about the artistic, how's the composition? For what it's worth, these are as they were taken, they haven't had any post processing done to them. Is it OK to process before submitting? I'm assuming that the answer is "of course". If so, what would you all suggest that I work on before submitting them. Is one clearly better than the other (I have a guess but I'm not going to say yet) and if so, which one.

Thanks in advance.

My opinion: there are too many branches in #1. The whole lower left is too busy and overpowering the photo. The leaves in the lower left of #2 are blown out. Have you been to Ricketts Glen Park in Pennsylvania?

I don't know Alamy's requirements so I don't know how much processing you can do. They probably don't want a lot. Their website should tell you what's allowed.

The images appear flat to me, tonally. Beyond that I'd agree with what goldboughtrue says. Don't be afraid to put on your rubber pants and get out in the water.

Thank you. I agree about the messy branches in #1 (I also agree about the lower left being blown out and I honestly don't know if that could be adequately corrected in PP). I love the big green log in #1though. In fact, if I were so inclined, I'd go back, clean up all the litter and try again in the same spot.

I've been to Rickett's Glen but it was many years ago. The truth is that there are countless small mountain streams like this in the county where I live, maybe I just need to spend some time, think more about the lighting and get it right.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #14542249
The images appear flat to me, tonally. Beyond that I'd agree with what goldboughtrue says. Don't be afraid to put on your rubber pants and get out in the water.

Thank you. Aside from actually getting in the water, I'm curious if there's anything else you would suggest to cure the "flatness". I like the big green log in #1 because it does tend to project depth, at least that's what I thought.

At what time of day were these taken? More interesting angles and composition is needed and I think the overall colors look washed out.

Curing the "flatness" is partly an issue with the light/time of day and partly an issue of processing. Adjusting the tone curve and the black point would change the images quite a bit. Knowing what software you're using would help.
One of the issues here however is that you have blown highlights scattered throughout the frame due to the strong light finding it's way through the trees. Shooting later in the day, taking multiple exposures, or exposing for the highlights and bringing up the rest of the frame, would help alleviate this.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #14542301
Curing the "flatness" is partly an issue with the light/time of day and partly an issue of processing. Adjusting the tone curve and the black point would change the images quite a bit. Knowing what software you're using would help.
One of the issues here however is that you have blown highlights scattered throughout the frame due to the strong light finding it's way through the trees. Shooting later in the day, taking multiple exposures, or exposing for the highlights and bringing up the rest of the frame, would help alleviate this.

Thank you very much,that's helpful. In answer to a few questions, the pictures were taken at high noon and yes, I see the blown highlights that you refer to quite obviously. I have Photoshop Elements 8 but as I said, I hadn't done any processing to these photos at all yet as I wanted to know what I was doing wrong in the field. Thanks again, very helpful.

OK, I'm very unfamiliar with my PE 8 software and I've obviously got to learn to use it, buy a book, watch some tutorials or something. I very quickly slapped one of the above photos in PE 8 and tried to work it a little. Is it any better? At this point I fully understand the constructive criticism offered and I'm not trying to put lipstick on a pig but I'm using this as a learning experience for myself. The next time that I go out, I'll have some things to think about.

Any better at all?

Or this one?

I would suggest cropping it because right now there is just too much going on in the picture...crop so that the water is in focus in a good spot and there is some green brush maybe framing it on the side...but not taking up so much of the photo. You definitely need to learn how to edit pictures...it takes a lot of practice you will get it eventually. As for these you are getting that smooth water down but are you using a neutral density filter? Using a filter you could get the effect you are trying for in the water while not over exposing the other parts of the picture.

You are at a disadvantage really with this location because its too busy with all the leaves, rocks, branches etc...i know it can be tough though to find good locations so you got to work with what you got.

Thanks for the suggestion to crop. I'll play around with it in PS a bit and see what I can come up with. I only have a UV filter for the lens that I was playing with when I took the pictures but I thought about trying another lens with a circular polarizer to see if it wasn't a bit nicer on the water with the high sun.

Yes, thank you very much. I chose this one and cropped it very quickly and I like it much better. It doesn't have some of the exposure issues like the others did, it's not as cluttered or dirty looking and it seems to be framed quite a bit better, at least to my eye. I'm learning a lot about photography very quickly and I'm proud of the improvements that I've made but I realize that I have light years to go. A few of you helped me a great deal with your quick comments. I know that it's probably tough at times to deal with newbies always asking for critique or advice but I really appreciate it and will work on my technique and my knowledge of the technical because of it.

Much better after the crop. Good job.

Thank you Mechanic.

IMO, that area just isn't photogenic. There is too much 'rubbish' around what is an otherwise lovely little stream.

Maybe go back in Spring or Summer?