Critque please

Critque please

Neither photo has anything interesting to draw me in. Both were taken at the wrong time of day, IMO. I don't care for the composition on either, but the second one bothers me more. I don't care for the left side. The leaves bother me on the left.

Why did you take them?

I agree with Mike. Not a compelling composition, and mid-day light is too harsh. It looks like a location that could have potential though.

Thank you for your comments..actually taken around 5:30 in late afternoon......perhaps a half stop over exposed ...I understand the objection to the leaves on the left side in the second photo...

a polarizer might have changed the look a bit as well, early AM or late PM would be sweet. Stitch together some long exposure stars in there as well..

It looks like a nice location. I would re-visit this in the early morning or late afternoon. I would try to include the water for reflections.

Hikin Mike wrote in post #17022057
Neither photo has anything interesting to draw me in. Both were taken at the wrong time of day, IMO. I don't care for the composition on either, but the second one bothers me more. I don't care for the left side. The leaves bother me on the left.

Why did you take them?

Why did I take them? I was drawn in by the combination of the blue sky, clouds, reflections of the water on the first one, i thought the combination made for a nice landscape over all..nothing specific in the picture. The second on again was the combination of all, greens, blues, water, clouds..I agree that the leaves on the left should have been cropped out. After your comments I went back in and cropped out the leaves on the left in the second one and dropped the exposure on both half a stop which seemed to me to improve overall picture

I would take them at a different time of day and either have more sky, or more foreground. That 50/50 split of sky/foreground makes this image a little boring. Maybe wait for a more dynamic sky and get 2/3 of the sky in the frame. Try to get something interesting in the foreground like a rock, or something else.

Heya,

The overall color and light is fairly flat to me, for lack of a better word. The first one I think could be nice if it were early morning or much later in the evening with a warmer light, and a lot less of the harsh high sun light. If done with a long exposure to smooth the water, it could be made into an interesting image perhaps. The second one has two big problems, and that's the foreground foliage just sort of looks random, and the horizon is crooked which is distracting to me. The clouds lack definition, maybe a CPL would have really helped them, a bit more contrast there could help. Overall over-exposed in areas. I think both could have been really interesting with a blended sky/foreground approach to be able to control two separate exposures.

Very best,

DarenM wrote in post #17023711
Why did I take them? I was drawn in by the combination of the blue sky, clouds, reflections of the water on the first one, i thought the combination made for a nice landscape over all..nothing specific in the picture. The second on again was the combination of all, greens, blues, water, clouds..I agree that the leaves on the left should have been cropped out. After your comments I went back in and cropped out the leaves on the left in the second one and dropped the exposure on both half a stop which seemed to me to improve overall picture

Post your re-edits so we can see the difference please. Sometimes a little processing can help a photo immensely, but I agree also with the more sky less foreground or vice versa.

Changed crop, reduced exposure, slightly more contrast, lowered temp.

Now your sensor dirt particle / moisture droplet effect is showing up on edited image.

As said several times above, both initial images are fine only you need a Focal Point of Interest to give the other dimension missing in your pictures. Eg a canoe a bird or like wise in the water. Otherwise if you are interested for the images due to a personal reason or any other reason that is not known to me as viewer, your initial images or edited versions are OK and should serve the purpose only remove (Clone) the sensor dirt.

Thanks to all of you for your comments...fyi..my attraction to the shots was the general serenity of both scenes.... I appreciate and agree with most comments.