Photo Critique

Friday Photo Critique #8

on Nov 27th 2009 with 18 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.

After a few days, I’ll update the post to feature the most helpful and insightful comments. You will also be credited 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: Jeff Love

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 post will shortly be updated with some of the most insightful comments.

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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  • Nic Simons

    Love the reflection in the lake, but i dont think there is enough depth to the picture

  • Richard Browne

    Beautiful capture of a nice scene. Nice colours and a nice reflection. However it doesn’t really feel like anything is the subject here – there’s no one thing which really leaps out about it. Also, could perhaps use something with a polarizer or a little contrast added to really ramp up the colours.

  • http://www.fredericsune.com Frederic Sune

    The idea is good with the reflection but:
    - The horizon is not strait
    - Need more colors contrast and
    - Change your POV or Photoshop the electrical line.

    Keep photograph.
    Frederic

    • http://www.agitez.fr Gildas R

      I’m agree whith that !

    • http://www.antonagestam.se/ Anton Agestam

      How could the horizon be straight if you’re photographing mountains?

  • Anthony

    I might crop the image in half left to right and eliminate most of the sky as well. There is great detail in this pic when you bring up the zoom. As everything is very ‘earthy’ in color, when I zoomed it in to full size and the approximate crop described; I really felt like I was looking at a different picture.
    A touch more contrasty might also help this picture pop.

    Great shot though!

  • http://www.behance.net/insalaco vincenzo

    the water is awesome. Ned it more contrast .. maybe hit it whit nik efex. (great pro contrast)

  • http://www.flickr.com/Tyrone_michael Tyrone Avnit

    Opened large, the photograph does not seem sharp. Thats critical in a landscape photograph.

    The colors do not pop enough for me, even though I enjoy the reflection from the water. The bush on the right seems quite distracting as it lacks color and details in the shadows.

    A technique that always works when it comes to landscape photos is to have a foreground, a middle-ground, and a background. You could argue that this photo has that, but there is no depth or lines between each segment that helps draw you in.

  • Gabriela

    I think that there’s not much happening in this picture. Besides from the symmetry of the reflection in the water and the actual hills, there’s nothing else catching my eye.
    It would help if you played around with other angles to find some interesting composition in the frame.

  • http://www.youtube.com/drekw2 André

    Great photo, and I love the reflection on the like. However I think the photo needs a little bit more color and probably a little bit of more contrast!
    Good work! :)

  • http://web.me.com/jtwilson77/www.Thomas_Domain.com/About_Me.html Thomas

    Given the fact that is is a very dull scene to start off with, I would have suggested getting the picture on a morning or evening with clear solid blue skies. I would also have probably focused more on the left side of the image and maybe showed more of the color and fence that seems to appear on that left hill. the reflexion is nice and smooth but given a different lighting situation, you could have probably gotten a lot more color and contrast out of the scene.

  • Thomas

    There are a few things going on in this photo that could be improved.

    First of all, it’s very high-key, high-contrast and has low color saturation. It looks like you took it at noon on a sunny day, which is not optimal for landscapes. You’ll want to shoot in the early hours of the morning or from sunset to about an hour after sunset for great-looking shadows, low contrast and dramatic skies. Cloudy, overcast days can be good, too, since they diffuse the light. A circular polarizing filter, about $20, will also bring out the blues in your skies.

    There’s also no clear subject in your photo, which could be solved by finding something in the foreground just to add depth to it.

    Also, it looks like you used a fairly wide aperture, based on the depth of field. Especially on a bright sunny day, you’ll want to go up around f16 or so. Phototuts had a great article explaining hyperfocal distance which can help improve this.

    Keep shooting!

  • enin

    you have a good start here
    i’d recommend the following adjustments:

    crop the photo proportionally from the left
    enough to get rid of the darkest (triangle) part on the right

    then i’d add a curves adjustment layer to bump the colors and contrast

    then maybe a selective burn and dodge layer to add more umph

    you have a strong starting point
    time to just tighten it up a bit

  • http://www.behance.net/insalaco vincenzo

    So, i tried to show you the result with a polarizaion filtre and a bit of post production (tonal mapping, a little fake hdr .. not much)

    of course is not stealing your work, it’s just to learn a lesson and see the improvment:

    http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4782/landscapeprova.jpg

  • Ionut Cirja

    Not enough depth, not enough sky, the little pole from the right bothers my eye…

  • http://www.bimaltailor.co.uk/blog/ Bim

    First of all – good eye for a photo!

    Second – I think the colours could stand out a bit more with some levels or contrast adjustment.

    Thirdly – I quite like the electrial energy tower in the background – adds a bit more interest to the photo.

    Keep shooting – the more you shoot – the better photographer you’ll become but only if one can accept constructive criticism.

  • Meg

    Great warm hues bouncing off the cooler blues – there is definitely something here in the photograph to capture interest, it just needs to be emphasized to draw in a viewer’s gaze.

    Being so close to the hills by choking up on the lake seems to diminish the size of the hills, creating a very horizontal pull to the photo (the cropping adds to this feeling as well) which also seems to shrink what could otherwise present a true mood to the image, which is essential to captivating photos.

    There also seems to be no clear subject to the scene. The warm earthy tones juxtaposed against the blues could become the subject if they were drawn out more – as they stand currently the hues are understated.

    One thing you might want to consider would be to take the image either in the morning or later afternoon – this seems to be around noontime when the shadows are directly below the objects and that doesn’t provide as dramatic of an effect. Having more dramatic shadows might also help to draw forth/highlight the color from the hillside.

    Often times when taking a shot such as this a dramatic sky helps to create visual interest, but with all the earthy tones and shrubbery strewn about, I think you did an excellent job of paring down to a blank sky, it acts like a visual respite for the eye and keeps the photograph from becoming too busy.

  • BVBeckman

    This photo has tons of potential. First lets PS out all the background clutter. Then bring out some good hue and contrast. There’s a lot of feeling in it if you look at it in B&W with a strong red filter. I think middle right side is too dark – all detail is lost. So lets blend from a good strong warm happy color on the left to dark and eerie B&W on the right…. It also makes good use of the natural slope of the landscape.

    http://www.zumodrive.com/share/2uQENTBiZj