The River Bank

[ananda]

From the banks of the Ganges river in rural Bengal. Critics pls :)

[Iguanasan]

Hi, Ananda,

This looks like a great shot. I'll give it a go and hopefully others can fill in the bits I'm sure to miss.

First it looks a little soft, however, that may be due to uploading to the forum. If your image was larger than 250KB before uploading the forum will resize it causing it to lose some sharpness.

The water in the bottom right leads your eye nicely across the image to what looks like a building with people in red shirts. Makes you wonder what the building is and what the people are doing. Also, along this "journey" with the eyes the cloud formation that's all lit up with sunlight keep stealing attention as well. Lots to look at in this image.

The horizon looks nice and straight and even though it's in the middle of the photo instead of a third this is one of the times where it seems to work as there is interesting stuff happening on both sides of the horizon.

Overall, I think it's a great image.

[Fortytwo]

You've got the horizon dead in the middle. It's something we tend to do naturally, but it makes boring shots usually. In this case, it's a hard choise, because both foreground and sky are really beautifull, but pick one and show more of it. And place the horizon at just a third of the frame. Putting one beautiful element in a picture and removing distractions makes for a better shot than a picture filled with lots of beautiful things... ;)

Exposure is really nice though. And I like the scene itself, so it is really something to look into. Cropping can be your friend. Don't be scared of it... ;)

[Greg_Nuspel]

I like the way the leading lines work in this image your eye is being pulled around the image. You could crop off some of the sky but not too much the highlighted cloud is needed. I don't think I'd put the horizon on the rule of thirds line because that is too high for me. A little higher would break up the centered dividing line of the horizon. Overall a very good image with lots of drama.

[tirediron]

A very nice image. I agree that it is generally better to displace the horizon from the center of the image, but as Greg said, probably only a little. I think what I would do here is just crop a bit of the top off of the image. That would serve to elevate the horizon and produce an (I think) stronger image. The one thing that this screams for is a graduated ND filter. A one stop G-ND would have taken the sky here from good to great. Keep up the nice work!

[scorpio_e]

Print it and hang it on the wall:)
Maybe just a tad dodging on the left. Well done :)

[AcadieLibre]

I like it, and the horizon is not centered, the horizoN is 4/7 at the bottom and 3/7 at the top approximately. It is not centered you all need glasses lmaoo, jk ...

[Bambi]

I like it, and the horizon is not centered, the horizoN is 4/7 at the bottom and 3/7 at the top approximately. It is not centered you all need glasses lmaoo, jk ...

must be the painkillers.... :cool:

I really like this picture. when I play with the viewing of it, cropping off some of the sky does increase it's beauty but it truly is a lovely image (I won't repeat Iggy's comments because I think that he was spot on).

:1st: good work

[Mad Aussie]

I'm with AL ... the horison isn't dead centre ... but it's not a big thing in this case.

Ananda, this is a beautiful shot (I'm going to nominate this one), easily the best of the couple I've seen from you so far.
Iggy summed up most obvious points very well I think and I agree with 42's observation of the horison being centered (top to bottom) but in this case that being the right way to go due to the gorgeous sky.

I like the composition and leading lines you've created.

I'd dodge (lighten) that darker structure on the left of frame at the horison a little and then be happy with it. The pastel nature of the whole photo is very nice to my eyes.

[Mars Observer]

Nice photo Ananda! Realism with just a touch of a dreamy, surreal mood.

It's not your 'typical' landscape photo (re: composition) which I find interesting, and appealing.

While it's very subjective, I personally _do_ like the (non-typical) placement of the horizon in this photo. To me, the heavier saturation in the lower portions of the image seems to 'anchor' the soft, pastel sky. I like the resulting balance :)

[ananda]

thanks to everyone for pitching in with their comments and points of views...

hmmmmmm.....the horizon was indeed a tricky choice in this case....being well aware of the rule-of-thirds i was tempted to comply to it, especially while doing my pp....but in the end my heart ruled over my head :D both the sky and the fields of Kans grass looked too tempting to crop!

[Marko]

Very striking image - well done. I agree about the dodge on the left side.
I also agree BIG time with T.I about the grad filter for this shot.

The bright cloud on the top right is stealing a bit of this shot's glory, It looks clipped to me so i'm not sure it can be burned in effectively...but i would try. Our eye tend to hang out around the brighter elements in the shot. If this were my shot I'd reduce the cloud's brightness so the viewer's eye would not be too focused on that cloud. Hope that helps - Marko

[jlabel]

I do not see any softness to this picture, for me its crisp and beautiful, a great shot