Photo Critique #150
tuts workshop

Photo Critique #150

on Aug 17th 2012 with 15 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

  • Nikon D5100
  • 42mm
  • f/5.6
  • 1/10
  • ISO 800

With this photo, I was trying to capture how calm and serene the world is early in the morning, and how we live in a beautiful world and sometimes don’t take the time to notice it.

Photographer: Robert Simmerling

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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  • Ernst Gouws

    Perfect colour!!! Perfect reflection!!! I can actually see myself standing there and breathing in the fresh air!

    Nothing negative, but I will suggest another aperture (for more DOF), lower ISO and a longer shutter speed to try and capture the motion of the water.

    Perhaps zoom out a bit to get the contour of the hills as part of the silhouette?

  • Graham

    It is a calming photo. I would have looked for a less “bullseye” for the major item in the photo, the island. Less sky and more water. The top of the sky is so featureless and is not adding to the impact of the picture. Moving the island to the left or right, rule of thirds, could make the photo more aesthetically alluring. Left or right depending on the skyline features/interests.

  • Randy Jones

    Overall, very nice photo. With respect, I think the composition would have been better showing less of the blues and more of the oranges. Blue adds contrast and vibrancy to the photo, but to me, the emphasis should be more on the oranges depicting the time of day, leaving only some blue. I also suggest the island is too close to the middle of the photo, and would suggest an angle moving it vertically, left or right. Sharpness: a bit on the soft side to suit me. I would have used a tighter aperture offset with a longer exposure. The water would become more smooth, and the distant images would become more sharp. ISO 800 seems a bit fast unless the photographer didn’t have a tripod available. I don’t see a lot of noise, but I rarely go beyond ISO 320 for sunset/sunrise photos. Just my preference to minimize noise and allow for full saturation of color. Content: It is a pleasing photo, but not a stunning photo. The same image with high clouds or other objects in the photo would have made it more interesting. Overall contrast is good. Thanks for sharing.

  • Pete Johnson

    I like the way the island is centered between the two peaks. it would be interesting to see if stopping down to f/11 or so and using a longer shutter speed would open up the shadows just a hair without adding more noise.

  • http://cameraguyzack.blogspot.com Zack Jones

    Robert,

    I think you did capture the calmness of the morning quite well. Graham’s “Less sky and more water.” advice is spot on. Thanks for sharing your photo with us.

  • Dimitris

    It is calm, colorfull.
    It misses the framing to make it more interesting.
    Les sky and the island not in the center.
    Even then it will be a multy repeated theme though…

  • http://mgdigital.ca Mike Goodwin

    I agree this is a beautiful image.
    I did notice a coulpe of minor things that may or may not show up in print. There appears to be a little color banding in the orange-red transition. This may be caused by over saturating the image. Also on the same topic there are halos around the branches and leaves on the center trees (due to the saturation?)
    I also noticed color noise (pink and green dots) in the water and sky.
    This can be cured in Lightroom by adjusting the color noise slider to the right until they go away.
    Overall a wonderful capture!

  • http://www.tomwindeknecht.com Tom W

    I have to agree with both Graham and Zack. Less sky and more water would be nice. Overall, I think it is a great photo. The colors are very nice, as well as the reflection on the calm water.

  • Bill Borklund

    This picture is beautiful but your eye goes to the center and stays there. Keep the same scale but move the center up and to the left and your eye will move in from the upper left and then continue to move around the picture.

  • Tiberman Sajiwan Ramyead

    An ND Grad filter would have revaeled a lot more.

    As for the composition, 1/3 sky and 2/3 water would have been better – for some viewers – I connect with Robert’s emotions when he took the shot: I think he was carried way equally by both the sky and the water.

  • matt aronson

    beautiful color tones and deep saturation “pops” the image well, but I would have preferred the island “off center” rather in the middle for a more interesting perspective.

  • david mayne

    I think it is a very nice photo maybe you could have cropped out some of the blue sky but over it is very nice. I don`t think it matters what other peole say about your shot as long as you are happy with the result. well done

  • http://www.taruntyagiphotography.com Tarun

    I think its a great picture. Congratulations.

  • Valerie

    Firstly, I like this image a lot. I agree with some of the comments above, ie – there appears to be banding and haloing, although to a certain extent it’s hard to know whether these would show up in a print. The colours seem incredibly deep – it’s not that I don’t like it like that, but it seems a little over-saturated. As for the comments about aperture, yes, a tighter aperture might have helped, but I personally cannot stand that fashion for milky (long-exposure) water. I think it looks stylistically naff and it makes an image look a bit winsome for my taste. That said, that’s MY taste. You’ve shot according to your taste, and although the advice above is generally good, be aware where you’re getting technical advice that will help create technically excellent images, and where you’re getting personal opinion that will affect the feel of your image. I like the high colour but I think the over-saturation may be responsible for some of the artifacts. I also like the horizon being low, and in my opinion, the negative space of the sky is a good thing, and it’s hardly extreme. The trees in the middle of the frame cause the image to seem a little static, and off-centering them may have helped create a much more dynamic image that keep the eye moving around the frame. If you wanted the land as silhouette, a lower ISO would probably have been fine, but if you wanted some detail, I’d have opted for a slightly longer exposure and probably varied shutter speed, aperture and ISO until I got a combination I liked (ie, with detail still in the water!), but also in the shadows. Good effort, keep shooting!

  • http://www.photoply.net Photopoly

    I think its a good image and it has a beautiful color tones but I would have preferred the island to move a little to the right for a more interesting perspective.