Mud?

Hey folks. I'm very new to photography, and am hoping to learn... please don't assume anything, because I really don't know much. Here's a few pictures I took a couple days ago:

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Great shots and welcome to the forum. I like #1 & 2.

Images do not suggest an inexperienced photographer took them... I hate to frown upon something or someone - but I can pretty much tell if the picture has been taken by someone who just bought a camera and is all triggerhappy about it and finally makes a shot that makes him all happy - and it's not a good shot. Well, I guess you're the exception right there.

It's a bit unclear what the subject is in the first photo, it's difficult to make sense of the background any further than - a part of some farm. Okay, I've just changed my mind. A reflection of the clouds and sky on the surface of the clear water in the 'hole' in the mud can give some wind to the imagination's wings in other words, it is an interesting photo.

Since you're new, here's what I keep asking myself sometimes when taking or preparing to take a photo: would I hang this picture on my wall? Would some cool bar owner want it to hang there? Would a gallery want to exhibit it?

Second one should be darker.

The third needs some post processing - maybe some more saturation, maybe a game of channel mixer, and it should come out awesome.

Hey bewaretheblur, I really like the composition on #3.Cool angle. And a BIG WELCOME to the forum. I'm a newbie too.
PeACe,
Jenny

Thanks folks!

Then I have tricked you! Success!

I totally understand your feelings on #1...

#2, when you say darker, do you mean simply to drag the brightness bar to the left, or are you saying something else? Do I need to bring down the images in the foreground to accent the color in the background?

#3... I agree that it should be saturated more... I can't shoot RAW so everything starts to clip if I go too far. I'm not sure what you mean about "channel mixer"... can you elaborate?

Thanks in advance.. I appreciate your counsel.

I mean what you see below. I doubled the layers again, overlay this time (50% opacity), deleted the sky.

Image - adjustments - channel mixer. Instead/in addition to I really like using Harry's filters 3.0

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Welcome to the forum!

Other than a slightly wonky horizon in pic#1 (unlesss you meant it to be that way) you did very well. I can understand why Pic#1 could have been slightly tilted -- You didn't want to get mud on your clothes or on your camera!

I tried playing around with straightening the pic but I would end up cropping much of the foreground...

I find the #1 balanced. The balance is not just about the horizon...

I had a go, the horizon was bugging me a bit
The more I look at this pic the more I like it, I will have to stick some old pants on and get into the mud

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windshadow wrote:
I had a go, the horizon was bugging me a bit
The more I look at this pic the more I like it, I will have to stick some old pants on and get into the mud

When composing the pic, I actually was going for a bit of a tilt, trying to give the feeling of an uneven, muddy walk... the perspective of a shoelace, if you will. The picture speaks "a challenging, mucky, yet beautiful journey." I suppose I didn't tilt enough to give off the effect though... I need to be more deliberate.

It's funny, now that the horizon is fixed, I feel like it's leaning to the right after looking at it so many times.