Standedge Cutting near Marsden

[NorthStone]

I'd be grateful for some constructive criticism for this photo. I've not posted anything taken with my Sony A33 as yet as I'm waiting for the right opportunity to use it (not very many before Xmas) but this was taken using my old point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot.

[Iguanasan]

I like the way the road curves away and disappears around the bend, it helps lead your eye through the photo. The problem for me is that it doesn't lead your eye to anything in particular, that is, the image seems to be lacking a subject. It kinda works as a minimalist type shot and might be good with the right caption "Mysteries around the bend" or something ;)

From a technical standpoint it seems a little soft but since it is that big and only 79KB and 1023 pixels wide I'm guessing it was more than 250KB which is the other restraint that will get it resized so maybe the original is a little sharper. Also, the snow is kind of blue so the white balance seems to be off a bit.

[Marko]

Iggy gives good critique here and I agree with all of it.

[NorthStone]

Hi Iguanasan,

Thanks for your comments. I was thinking along the lines of minimalism and liked how the various lines worked within the picture. With the emphasis predominantly on landscape might a subject take the focus away from the nature elements or enhance it? I'm glad you included your caption as that raises another point, does a piece necessarily have to have a title as words can influence the viewpoint. Still your caption was good as it's inviting the observer to question what's beyond. I think that's my lit crit background coming through :)

The photo was actually taken just after sunset so maybe that played a factor in the softness of the piece probably that and the fact that it was taken using a point-and-shoot camera without the aid of a tripod. The original file size was bigger at 2816 x 2112 and 2.51mb. I'm assuming the colour cast problem could be fixed using Photoshop.

I'm still learning about touching up techniques etc and there's a lot to consider but obviously there are more options on a pro camera in terms of settings to than a point-and-shoot. I would guess that maybe optimizing the settings on the camera itself would generally makes the chances of getting a successful shot very high and leaving less work to do in terms of photo-editing.

NorthStone

[Iguanasan]

You're welcome. I continue to struggle when taking an image of a "scene" to understand the role of the subject. I think for an image to make an impact there has to be some kind of anchor if you will. When I've seen awesome landscape shots they generally have something that pops out be it a tree, some flowers, a river, something. In your image all of the elements seem to have an equal weight if that makes any sense and so I feel like there is something missing.

As for the title thing, I've had that conversation before: http://www.photography.ca/Forums/f3/rose-any-other-name-8234.html and I'm not sure I'm any less confused about it :)

I can't tell what the settings were so it's difficult to say for sure where the sharpness issue arises. Can you put the full size image up somewhere and provide a link to it so the board won't "smoosh" it? Or just double check how you are resizing it to make sure you are getting the largest, most detailed image the board can handle. Less than 250KB and less than 1024 pixels wide. Try and make it 240KB :)

Colour adjustments can be made in Photoshop or Gimp or a myriad of other tools but you are right, getting it right in camera is the best solution since every time you tweak it in an editor you are potentially reducing the quality of the image.

While I will totally agree that with better tools you can do better work, don't dismiss the opportunities to make good images with a point and shoot. I've taken a few good shots and I've seen a lot of other people's amazing shots taken with 3 and 4 megapixel point and shoots.

[NorthStone]

I think the same scene would look pretty good with an anchor of some point as this would invite attention. There aren't many trees in the 'Dark Peak' area of the Peak District which is an area of land sitting high up on the spine of England between the big cities of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, so in a sense barrenness is part of the feature. There are lots of rocks though and lots bright purple heather in the summer. I have some more pictures from the same shoot offering different scenes.

I see what you mean re: 'A rose by another name'. It's like the music score behind the Nick Kamen Levi jeans launderette advert. The original music was pants (scuse the pun) and when they changed it the advert was dynamite. I suppose choosing a title would be like choosing a frame and how these additional elements can make or break a photograph.

I'll try and upload the original to my profile if it lets me. I resized it in Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Is this a good program to use for resizing or should I do it via Photoshop?

I'll have a play at adjusting this pic in Photoshop. I recently found out about Gimp, that's the free open source program.

I definitely agree with you about the point-and-shoot cameras. Every day mine's stowed in my bag as it's light and easy to carry. Having the right tool doesn't make the end product any better, it's how the tool's used. Now where've I heard that before.