Red Square Shots - Quality Help

This is the first time I have ever shot in this kind of weather - About 20 Degrees F with 20 MPH winds snow, cloudy (the exif data is: F5.6; 1/30 sec; ISO 100 and 35 MM - the shot with the Christmas Tree) and the shot of the church is F6.3; ISO 640; 19 mm ; 1/600 sec -- Aperture Priority

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Looks like a hard situation to expose properly!

Nice photos, but I think you could have dropped that ISO off in the second - no need for 1/600th shot. Although - I'm thinking with that sort of aperture, it may have been 1/60th?

Both are lacking a foreground element IMO. The first one is close but the people's bodies are cut off. They both look "snap-shot-ish" to me.

They are snap - shot -ish, the first was with hope for a Christmas Card - However,my desire is to improve, what can I do to improve shots like this, the weather was horrible and maybe my framing was not the best, Please help, I want to improve.

Doctorh --

I've tried to make minor adjustments to both of these. Take a look and see if you think these would be any improvement.

For the church I mostly corrected perspective, which also resulted in cropping the image a bit. That's about all I could think of to do with it.

For Red Square I adjusted white balance and made a very minor perspective correction, and then cropped the right side just a little, which I think improved the composition. There does seem to be a little detail in the sky. You might be able to bring that out a little with some effort. (I didn't try; with a small jpg I was afraid all it would do is posterize.)

I admire you for getting out and fighting the elements! I've hardly taken any pictures the last few weeks, and the weather hasn't been nearly that bad here.

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Here's what I would have done comp-wise.

1st shot: Get lower and compose vertical (to include the foreground people and get a tighter crop of the buildings). The people in the foreground seem out of focus. Using a higher f-number and focusing on them at the hyper focal distance would result in everything in focus. Lower ISO to 100.

2nd shot: Center yourself relative to the entry door, compose vertical, hold the camera level (to avoid distortion) and include more of the steps leading up to the stairs. I would wait for people shoveling snow to leave (people walking up the stairs is fine and adds perspective and interest). Eliminate the ugly building on the left...try and fill the frame with just the main building. Lower ISO (100) and possibly higher f-number.

Post processing:
More contrast (with levels and curves), recovery for the highlights (assuming you shoot RAW), sometimes lowering the luminance of the blue channel brings out details in blown out clouds, add sharpness (but not too much).

Thank you very much for the input, I did shoot in raw, I believe you (GeorgeShooter) are right about the F stop, I honestly thought the F5.6 would do it with the 16-35 lens -- but I think you right right! And Rimmer you improved the church with your PP - Thanks

We were so cold that day, being from Southeast Texas - we are never exposed to weather like what we experienced in Russia and Siberia - all of my outdoor shots are fair to poor - and I think some of it was the lack of experience shooting in that type of weather- when we left Siberia it was -30 C -- Glad to be home!
Thanks again for your input!!