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Photo Critique #143
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Photo Critique #143

on Jun 29th 2012 with 17 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!

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 Details & Inspiration

  • Canon EOS Rebel T2i
  • 25mm
  • f/5.6
  • 1/200
  • ISO 100

This was my the first time shooting a bridge.

Photographer: Mustafa Ihssan

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. Interested in submitting your own photo? You can do so here!

 
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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

I was raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. After high school, I left for Western Kentucky University where I obtained degrees in photojournalism and cultural anthropology. I am currently employed by CityBeat, an arts and entertainment weekly in Cincinnati. The work I am doing here is very rewarding and I suspect it will continue to be. I am available for freelance work in all areas of photography.  

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  • http://www.e-safeguard.pl/ Patryk Hanckowiak

    In my opinion, the foregrund has potential (nice color and lighting) but the background is not that interesting.

  • http://photoncolector.blogspot.com.br ThiGimenes

    Great shot!

    I just loved the framing, how the lines of the bridge conduct the eyes inside the picture in a subtile way.
    I’d just consider 2 little issues and a suggestion to maybe improve your shot:
    - the horizon line isn’t straight. This is very easy to correct on every image editing software and the difference is huge in the final imagem.
    - It’s a bit over sharpened. I don’t know if you applied the filter in post-production or if it’s the in-camera Sharpen. If it’s in-camera, shooting in RAW and applying the filter with more control would help a lot. (My camera always apply too much sharpen, mainly in daylight images, that’s the main reason I’ve moved to RAW).

    The sugestion:
    - I’d try this shot with a Polarizing filter, to reduce the highlights on the reflections in the water.

    Congratulations, and thank you for sharing your work!

  • Harrison

    I agree with Patryk. The bridge provides a nice line to the center of the image, but there’s really nothing interesting once you get there. Love the lighting.

  • http://www.paulvanderheyde.com Paul van der Heyde

    I agree with the first two comments …
    Very nice lighting, but nothing special with the background.

    Maybe go over the bridge and try to get those palm trees in the composition as well?

  • http://yashmatunited.blogspot.com Tom

    That bridge looks awesome. I would have turned up the vibrance and made the sky a bit more blue. or even before that, what it would look like with a circular polarizer to get rid of some of the water reflection.

  • Bedanta Deka

    Nice composition. A CPL would have been helpful in enhancing the color of the sky and also reducing the reflections from the water.

  • http://www.thealdercatcorner.con Kurt

    I think the shot has great potential! I learned to go around the frame with my eye to look for distractions a while back (though I don’t always do so myself), and I would probably count the buildings on the left as an element I might consider cropping out. Either using a filter or in post production a person could try to blue up the sky, and at the horizon on the left it looks like either a loose cloud formation and/or pollution. Perhaps playing a little with it might bring out some colors like orange or purple? The last thing I might fiddle with is to add more contrast, as the shadows under the bridge mixed with the reflected light might make it more dynamic. I like the line of the bridge taking the viewer into the middle of the frame. It’s a pretty cool shot if you ask me!

  • http://naimpressionz.com Noel

    The area seems nice but there’s nothing special happening. Maybe a sunrise or sunset time of day would’ve brought out the potential beauty of the sky. Also, I probable would’ve used a slower shutter speed to blur the water and create that milky sensation.

  • Neil Burton

    I tend to agree with the majority of comments in that the lighting is great! I do like the reflection from the water, and the bridge leading in to the frame, I woudn’t necessarily do anything to the levels, but from looking at the composition, moving to the left may have given the curves of the bridge more impact with the water, loosing some of the background. Nice one.

  • Tor Rasmussen

    I think the image looks OK. Its not bad nor good. The lines in the image are nicely composed but it lacks a point of interest. There is just nothing there.

  • Peter Dahlgren

    I like it. The leading lines are very well done. In my opinion the background tells about the area and I think that’s important in a picture. Just my thoughts.

    Pete

  • http://Travel.daveterry.net dave

    The most interesting aspect of this image is the water in the foreground. Many average pictures can be turned into above average by selective cropping. I would crop out everything above the horizon and keep only the water and a hint of the bridge support. This would make for an abstract but more stronger image.
    …dave

  • Me!

    Overall I like the photo. The thing that bothers me is how similar the sides of the bridge are in color to the sky, which makes them hard to see if youre not looking directly at them. But this could be fixed in post.

  • http://CovingtonPhoto.co.uk Buzz

    Technically a good shot. I don’t believe the composition works well with the distractions off to the left and right. I would suggest a crop to a vertical aspect, and make the lines and structure of the bridge juxtaposed against the water the selling point of the shot.

  • earthrokk

    This is not to be mean or insensitive. The image is boring. There is nothing happening and nothing in the image that make me want to look at it. It is a proper exposure, but even the aperture should have be at least at f/8-f/11. I think you should have worked the scene some more. The buildings on the right are not distinctive and if you could have be level with the water, that would have given more interest.

    Keep working at it and look for what interested you to get there and find the one element that made you stop and capture that.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/49189673@N02/ Mustafa Ihssan

    I can’t believe Tutsplus choose my photo to be in ” Photo Critique ” ,
    i thank all of you for liking my photo , and i will take every advise and work on it , thank you all

  • William Borklund

    My only change would be to tilt the camera up and to the right to move he bridge into the frame a little. You would lose a little sky on the left and a little water in the foreground. The heaviness of the bridge would have a better balance in the frame.