Sunsets and ice.

[Mel23]

A few more pictures to get your opinions. These are my favorite pictures that I've taken so far. Just wondering what you all think of them :)

[Mel23]

I know theres quite a few, but you don't have to comment on all of them. Maybe just pick your favorite and tell me why and how I can make them better?

[Iguanasan]

Hey, Mel. First off, sorry we missed these. I find some do slip by from time to time so don't give up.

Secondly, for the critique thread it is often much easier to look at one at a time but I'll see what I can do.

1) I love the colour of the sunset, however, the sky is very dark and there is an awful lot of it. Cutting off the top 1/3 of the image might make this one more enjoyable. I also kind of wish the silhouette of the fence was in focus - the edges seem a little blurry. In fact the whole thing seems kind of soft. Slow shutter speed while hand holding?

2) I see you are shooting a bit of ice here but I can't really figure out why as the subject seems "missing".

3) I like the mood and the composition here but the noise is really high and it's much too dark for my tastes.

4) This is a very pretty sunset and the clouds are very nice. Again, it might be a little nicer with a little less sky in it.

5) Looks like some interesting icicles and I like the drops falling off them but the focal point seems lost.

I'm thinking that these low light situations is causing you to have a very soft focus on most of these shots. Also, generally, it looks like you have a bit of an eye for what would make a good image but you need to work on composition a bit. Start with the "Rule of Thirds" as it's a great guideline.

I hope this helps!!

[Mel23]

Thanks! It helps a lot. I am having trouble trying to find my cameras sweet spot with regards to focus. It seems a LOT of my pictures come out blurry. Its very frustrating. And, yes, I am guilty of liking too much sky. Thanks again!

[Andrew]

1. Nice colours but it looks like the grass is on fire. A photo from higher that got the sun in the picture and a longer exposure would have appealed to me more.
2. Good to show yourself an example of DOF but doesn't do anything for me.
3. The shadowed top half and the black area at the forehead interupts the total outline of the silhouette.
4. Nice shot from the trees up. A longer exposure just to add even a little bit of ambient light in the foreground would have looked better for me.
5. Zoom in and recompose. To me the photo is about the drips. The blurry ones don't add to this particular picture.

[Marko]

Here's my take on it
1 - The top 3rd looks almost pure black to my eye and it's not adding anything to the image except empty space, personally I think a hard crop off the top would add more drama to the image.
2 - The focal point was missed here in my opinion. The sharpest element should be one of the points of ice that stick out to the right side.Again much of the background is too dark for my eye and there are bright elements in the background that are distractions.
3 - The person isn't adding anything to this image imo. Without the person and a bit of curves work this could be an interesting landscape.
4 - awesome sky! but almost no detail in the foreground. This compromises the shot for me.
5 - I like the icicles on the left but half the shot is pure white..the blurry icicle on the right is a distraction for me.

Hope that helps and just remember this is just an opinion...
best - Marko