Photo Critique

Friday Photo Critique #22

on Mar 5th 2010 with 12 comments

Friday Photo Critique is our weekly community project, where we publish a photograph submitted by one of our wonderful readers, then ask you all to offer constructive feedback on the image.

It’s a great way to learn more about photography, express your viewpoint, and have your own image critiqued. Your response will also be displayed with a link to your website or portfolio, so be sure to enter it correctly when submitting a comment!

Quick Ground Rules

  1. Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen photographs that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
  2. Feel free to offer any type of advice – composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
  3. You can also link to photographs that you feel offer a great example of this type of image shot exceptionally well.

Without further ado, here is this week’s candidate for Friday Photo Critique!

The Photograph

Photo Critique

Photographer: Adrian Spencer

Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached the scene or taken the photo differently? A massive thank you to everyone who commented last week.

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site, and you’ll also be given priority to feature your own work in a future Friday Photo Critique!.

David Appleyard is davidappleyard on Themeforest
 
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David Appleyard is a designer and writer based in the UK. He manages Tuts+, along with having founded several design websites including Design Shack and PixelsDaily.  

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  • http://www.neillahaise.com Neil LaHaise

    I really like the crop and and angle of the shot and I think there is the potential for some great colours in it. But right now it is way to dark, and needs for light dark contrast in the shadows.

    I do like it the way it is but do think that it could have benefited from a boat being rowed or some sort of foreground subject matter. But over all this photo can be taken to the next level with a little photoshop of lightroom post-production work to make things pop.

  • Dan Heffernan

    Most images aren’t loading for me with this new layout. Including the Friday Photo.

    Win XP Pro
    FF 3.5.8

  • http://michealbphoto.com Micheal B

    I also like the panoramic cropping, but rightly said Neil. This photo is simply under exposed by 3-4 stops in the areas along the river. Even after any attempt to bring out detail in the shadow areas you will be looking at plenty of noise in those areas. When the dynamic range in a scene is as wide as is found in a location like this, take two exposures if possible. One for the shadows, and another to capture the highlights (without blowing them out), and merge.

  • Nujy

    As was said before, I liked the advantage point and the crop of the image.
    However, I noticed a little bit of exposure errors on this photo, the sides are too dark and the center, to my mind, is a little too bright.
    Maybe taking this shot in another time of day would be better due to the better quality of light, I would suggest taking this picture early in the mourning or in the afternoon.
    I hope this helps!!!

  • Luc Boyer

    Cannot load the picture…

  • Ross Williams

    This scene has too much dynamic range for your camera to take it all in. Waiting till late in the day will lower the range to a level where your sensor can capture all of it. To gain a foreground subject either use the bow of you boat or the porch on the right.
    If you can’t wait, the flower on the right look like a good shot. Not including the sky will cut down on range, and there are good shadows.
    Your gear is also showing a lot of noise in the shadows, and there is a good amount of chromatic aberration. Shooting this at night using the light strings would be great, but your gear might not be able to handle the shadows.
    If you insist on shooting this scene, shoot from the corner, pull your boat up to the side. Put your camera just above the water and avoid shooting the sky. Then you might only have the far shack in full view, but the eye will follow a path to see it.

  • http://web.me.com/jtwilson77/Thomas-Photography/Thomas_Photography.html Thomas

    The composition of the shot is very nice with the off center angle on the canal, and the reflection off of the water. I do, however think that it does not achieve the full potential.

    I agree with the light issues suggested by the other critiques. It could have been post processed to bring more out of the shadows, but if your like me you like to get the show with as little post processing as possible. I think that although there probably was not much choice, the time of day was not adequate to capture the full amount of light and color in the scene. In this case (or in the case of most scenic shots) within 2 hours of sunrise or sunset there is a better source of natural light. Too much darkness could be a problem however, given the amount of movement that takes place on a boat, and the fact that a night shot would require a longer shutter speed.

  • http://www.adrianspencerphotography.com Adrian Spencer

    Thank you one and all for this incredible feedback. The photo is one I have revised several times and although I felt the composition was strong I was never entirely happy with it. I really appreciate the help and guidance offered here. It has helped me look at it in a new way.

  • http://phillipjacobsphotography.com Phillip Jacobs

    First of all the photo is very nice. It has a lot of potential. I agree with several others who said it was under exposed. Bring some highlights back in to those shadows to the left and right of the canal. I would mask the sky and replace it with some blue and clouds. If it were mine I would finish it off with Topaz Adjust because it would pop the color really well.

  • http://tobeatornottobeat.wordpress.com/ Ale

    maybe it’s a bit dark but i really like how it is composed..the focal point is at about 2/3 of the canvas and it has some nice red details.

  • BVBeckman

    The very first thing that it seriously needs is to have all that noise and artifacting removed. I’d say that the level of original exposure was far too low to be salvaged. Hopefully you bracketed and shot this at longer exposures as well, because your composition and subject are spot on.

  • Kevin

    I agree with what’s been said already, but I would also suggest using a polarizer, This would really help pull out the colors and add some blue to the sky, Personally I wouldn’t use it at max effect, just to mostly remove, but not completely eliminate, the reflection on the water because I feel like that adds some extra depth to the image and draws the eye in.