Windmills, opinions wanted.

If you were entering either of these in a county fair photo contest, which would you choose? Or should I just burn both of them? I like the first one for the fence in the fore ground and the clouds in the back ground, but I like the second for the desolation feel of it.

I prefer the second. It has good framing with the twigs on the right. (My preference would be to have less of the framing though; crop it tighter)

I feel the first lacks focus....where should I look? The windmill is lost. And the number of trees on the right add no value; they neither frame the subject nor do they have any detail of their own to add value.

Thank you.

Trees are interfering with the subject in both of those shots. Do you have any other shots?

These two are other images of the one in the second picture above. Looking at this first picture I see what you mean about the trees interfering. Has a much more desolate feel. In the second photo the blurry foreground limbs are distracting.

These are the only others I have of windmills. First one I shouldn't have cut off the bottom so much, so the entire house would be visible. Also I don't like the cell tower over on the right, but that's an easy fix.
Second picture I just don't like. If it didn't have all the power lines I would love it. I really like the double windmills, the double stacked concrete water tanks, and the ladder. But the whole thing just doesn't work for me. I just stopped on the side of a highway to take it. Private property so I wouldn't walk around for better angles. I reckon I ought to go back and see if the landowner would give me permission.
Kind of a personal thing for me, but I will not enter other people's land without permission.

I really appreciate both of y'all taking the time to give me advice.

I see issues with all of them, some of which have been pointed out. I'd suggest for future shooting to try to get separation of the elements in the photo. That is, in your second set, moving a little bit to get the windmill tower separated from the tree instead of being in front of it would have worked better. Some scenes just don't work out either - you position yourself to get certain things in place and you introduce some other unwanted element, try to get that out and some other thing pops into the frame. Maybe that's this scene.

I looked again, that tree is so close to the tower it probably wasn't possible to position yourself to separate it from the tower, but still, something to be aware of. (I mention it because I do this all the time, only see it later, on the computer)

Terry McDaniel wrote in post #18909690

Hosted photo: posted by Terry McDaniel in
./showthread.php?p=189​09690&i=i245298609
forum: Nature & Landscapes

I think this image has potential, but needs a reshoot to get the windmill framed without interference, get the highlights under control and add some foreground interest. FWIW, here's how I would approach that setting:

Back up and get more barbed wire in the shot to add some foreground interest
Wide angle at f14 of f16 to get it all in focus
Bracket +/- 1 stop should be enough
Gentle HDR to get the clouds working for you and shadows working for you
I can see why you did it, but there's too much tree on the right side
Oh, and you need sunset or sunrise light because the trees will look too hot otherwise

I have way mucked-up similar scenes, but I'd do the same thing at f4 or so to get the barbed wire in focus and f4 again to defocus the barbed wire and nail the windmill. Then I'd see if there's a way to angle the camera and run the barbed wire across the entire image -- which probably would make a terrible shot but I would try it because I would. And what the heck, at that point I'd probably make some double exposures. My original plan is likely the best for winning, but I personally would chose creativity over winning.