Is this Sunset too Dark?

I am just curious to everyone's thoughts as to whether this sunset picture is too dark or not. I like the color of the sky, but the water in the left hand is a bit dark. Thanks for your thoughts.

It was taken with Canon 30D + 17-40L @ ISO: 200; 1/50 sec; F/8 @ 17mm

For me, yes, a little too dark but them I'm viewing it on a regular Sony TV. I'm afraid I can't offer much advice on how (if possible) to correct it. I've only just got started with PS (feels like a mountain to climb). I do like the sky, not just the colour but also the left-of-centre clouds which add a nice element to the composition.

Nice one.

Brhum

Great colors and an almost abstract picture. The water is quite dark and isn't really adding anything to the photo. If you brightened it you might lose the mood and color in the sky so... what about a tighter panorama crop of just a bit of water and mostly sky? I think it'd work out as a nice peice.

It's a very good picture, though a little too dark. The sky and its reflection in the water are beautiful...I had the same problem. When I tried to adjust it with photoshop, the dark part turned into grey.

Dorman wrote in post #2349594
Great colors and an almost abstract picture. The water is quite dark and isn't really adding anything to the photo. If you brightened it you might lose the mood and color in the sky so... what about a tighter panorama crop of just a bit of water and mostly sky? I think it'd work out as a nice peice.

I agree. Try applying the old rule of thirds here, make it 2/3 sky, 1/3 water. Also play around with cropping a little off the right. That sky is absolutely gorgous. You can crop a darn good shot out of this.

I played with this one for about a 1/2 hour. Can't get it any lighter without totally ruining the red in the sky, which is beautiful. I straightened it because it looked like the water was running off the right side of the picture. Cropped off some of the water at the bottom. I have no idea what I'm doing when I play with PS.....

Cleo199 wrote in post #2350728
I played with this one for about a 1/2 hour. Can't get it any lighter without totally ruining the red in the sky, which is beautiful. I straightened it because it looked like the water was running off the right side of the picture. Cropped off some of the water at the bottom. I have no idea what I'm doing when I play with PS.....

Did you select the entire photo or just the water when you made the changes.
This took about 60 second, selecting only the water and adjusting levels and contrast. Also straightened the horizon. Consequently had to crop a little.

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Had a quick fiddle with the second photo. Same thing, adjusted levels and contrast

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Much prefer the original, but I would crop the RHS to where the bridge is (removing the brightest part and restoring balance to te shot)!

Thanks guys. I will have to play with it some more. Unfortunately, I only have Corel's Paint Shop Pro X at the moment (no PSC2) so I am a bit more limited in what I can do. Hopefully in the near future I will be able to pick up the Adobe masterpiece.

I also was unable to shoot this in raw due to not having a big enough CF card. It was only 128mb! I should be getting my 4Gig this week.

These shots are from my first day out with my new 30D - my FIRST DSLR or SLR of any kind. Big step up from my P&S.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Here's my take on it:

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It is a beautiful sunset and hope you don't mind me having a go, this was done using Hu & Sat. and Levels Layer Masks in photoshop but the same edits can be done in paint shop pro., you just gotta have a go - nothing to loose as long as you work on copies of the original.
Kind regards Alan.
OOps forgot to level horizon!

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Briancd wrote in post #2350855
Did you select the entire photo or just the water when you made the changes.

I selected the water and the hills and buildings and lightened them up, sharpened them up, used the unsharp mask, played with this button, that button, undid a bunch of stuff. That's why it took so long. Then I selected the sky and did something with that, but can't really remember what I did...... I just took my time as I've never taken a ps class and just push buttons.