Overflowing dam

After the recent bad weather we have had i decided to shoot a pic of the local water dam,usually just a trickle of water coming over the top,mucked about in ps a bit ie Levels,saturation,what do you think, i am open to critisism and would be grateful of any comments as on how to improve.

Thanks...Andy

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Huh.... well.... There are a lot of things done right about this shot. I think the exposure was about right, great vailing from the water. I also like the different layers to the water. If I were perhaps someone looking for shots of local features or interesting places, I think this would fit nicely - someone who knows the context of the location.

But... and you know there is always one of those, it has a few things going against it keeping it from being a really compelling shot by itself. The lack of sky hurts it.I know that is hard to deal with in your parts - I lived in Seattle and had to deal with this problem about 200 days a year as well. Then there is the framing. For what ever reason, its just not working. It is also a little center heavy too. A slightly different angle might have helped. Not that it is a bad shot. Most of the non-photographer types (most of the world) would love it. Be we tend to nit pick things. Little issues like the dead sprig of plant dead center just doesn't help. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it... its a good shot, I just think on the right day from the right angle, it could be better.


Cheers and keep on clicking....

Thanks for the reply,will take it on board and try doing it a bit different next time,

Thanks...Andy

Can't add much to Mark's feedback, but will mention the guideline re "foreground, mid-ground and background interest": try to make sure a picture has all three. In this case, you've got pretty close to the bushes in the foreground, but because there's no specific element there to grab the eye they don't register much in the viewer's consciousness. Similarly, there's nothing beyond the dam to look at - that's where the sky becomes important. Cheers, Tony

I took some pics recently with a similar burned out sky look. A nd grad filter for the sky will help esp. in a longer exposure shot involving the blurring of water.

I would've liked to see the entire water fall and dam, and maybe less of the trees/shrub, but I do like the pic.