Can't decide which photo is better...

I need some help deciding which of the two photos below is better. I like them both just about equally but I need to choose between one of the two so I'm asking for everyone's opinion about the two photos. And of course, any comments or critique is welcome!

I like the 2nd photo. Reasons:

1) The sky's gradation is subtle; ending in an orange-red cast
2) The clouds form lead lines toward the distant island
3) The triangular shadow originating from the top left rock towards the island also form lead lines
4) The well lit foreground contrasts against the darker background

I wish there was some interesting foreground element though but maybe there was none. I'm not a landscape photographer but I do appreciate pretty landscape photos like this. So serene.

Good job!

Second one by far for my tastes...

Carlomontoya: Thanks for the comments! There really wasn't much going on the in the foreground other than the little "pond" and even then it was a bit bland since there wasn't any wave action to create motion with it but it was the best that I could find in that area.

Onurrus: Thanks for picking one!

doubleo6point9 wrote in post #8597567
Carlomontoya: Thanks for the comments! There really wasn't much going on the in the foreground other than the little "pond" and even then it was a bit bland since there wasn't any wave action to create motion with it but it was the best that I could find in that area.

Onurrus: Thanks for picking one!

My pleasure

#2.
shows the details of the mossy pond and nice orange-red colour sky.

onurrus wrote in post #8597555
Second one by far for my tastes...

I agree. Seems to jump out at you more so than the 1st.
Stuart

#2 for similar reasons as mentioned

The second for me;
Has more dynamic range, foreground is better lit and there is more colour in the sky.
There is also a little more cloud which adds to the picture.
Nice picture

I like the sky in the second shot but i dont like the rocks- did you use fill flash?

The 2nd one is the best of the two. Couple of things to point out is the wierd purple color and the yellow color cast in the foreground. I would fix that and your gtg.

Thanks for the comment everyone. I actually didn't use fill flash at all. Someone had setup an automatic flood light in their backyard up on the hills above the cove so that flood light actually became a fill light for the rocks in the foreground. Only downside was that it gave the rocks in the foreground a yellow color cast. I did some WB correction on in so that's why the sky is a bit purple vs blue/red. I might have correct the WB in two separate photos for both the sky and the foreground then merge two later in photoshop.

Ok so I went ahead and corrected the color cast on both the foreground and the background a bit. How does this look compared to the other two?

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Looks good (but hey like I said I'm no landscape photographer so I'm just trusting my eyes rather than know-how or experience shooting landscapes which I'm afraid are both nil).

I prefer the 2nd shot, it just works.