Photo Critique #164
tuts workshop

Photo Critique #164

on Nov 23rd 2012 with 13 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 50D
  • 15mm
  • 1/320
  • f/11
  • ISO 200

I was focusing more on the the clouds than anything to make sure they look as real as the clouds themselves. The land at the bottom was tricky to get it as clear as it is, but over all I think it came out alright in the editing process.

Photographer: Ethan Carl

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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  • Miguel Reznicek

    It is a photo with a nice set of clouds but I would bring up the land. It’s a bit too dark. Here Adobe Lightroom with it’s shadow slider is your friend. I do like the the clouds which kind of lead your eyes from right to left. Aside from that the only critique I would make is that the photo has no subject. There is nothing (except the nice cloud) which pulls for your attention.

  • ChitraSivasankarArunagiri

    Great shot. The clouds look great. And yeah could have worked upon the land on the foreground a bit. It’s dark which could have been edited with Lightroom. Apart from that, this is a great shot.

  • Thinkeye

    Great image!
    I love the clouds. You may want to remove the dust marks from left side of image. The sky part of the image looks a bit too noisy for such small ISO on the screen, but it may turn out OK for a reasonable print.
    I disagree with Miguel about subject, because I can clearly see that the space itself is the subject of this photo.

  • http://www.facebook.com/m.zamani.asmat M Zamani Asmat

    Great shot. It would be much better if some foreground subjects/objects are added in and also to place the horizon line at 1/3 of the frame. All in all, the colors are very nice.

  • CrispEyes

    I like the view, gives memories of walking up to a wide beautiful view, sitting down, relaxing, taking out the camera along with coffee and a sandwich… it’s a feelgood photo.
    It looks like you burnt the sky to hard in Lightroom, too much contrast (thus the noise) and too dark; the deep shadows in the clouds are too dark to my taste. I would also light up the lower part of the picture a bit, perhaps increase clarity a lot, to mimic the crisp air in a none polluted environment. I would also reduce the dark vignette a bit. Further, I would straighten it and, like Asmat says, crop it left and top until horizon is at ca 1/3.
    Keep up the good work, Ethan!

  • Angelique

    Great shot! A little too dark for my taste, but still awesome.

  • Steve

    The overall shot looks too dark on my screen but that may just be a monitor calibration thing. The cloud formations are amazing but I could not help thinking that breaking the rules and dropping the horizon a little more would have made more of the clouds and prevented the clipping of the lovely swirl at the top of the frame. Great depth of field and well done for planning the weather – I am sure it was no flook!

  • Brian

    I agree with Miguel and would have preferred to have some foreground interest. Perhaps a rock formation, flowers, stream or pond? I also find the ground at the bottom a little too dark and find my eye drawn there when I look at the photo. All the same I love a great sky and this is definitely a great sky!

  • DanielCely

    I would have avoided such strong shadows on the clouds and probably given some highlights on the land to make it less dramatical, it is not completely horizontal and that could have easily been corrected with either PS or Lightroom, remember the rule of thirds and finally, as some have already stated, there’s no real point of interest apart from the cloud and that makes the shot somewhat boring

  • torrance scott

    You did a lot of things right, great photo. I won’t repeat the nice things that other people have said since they hit all the good points I’d make. It looks like you sharpened past the sweet spot, so that at 100% this photo is very noisy. This is especially true in the open sky and the trees in the foreground (corners). I’d either shrink the photo so the noise goes away, or use a mask on your sharpen filter to avoid sharpening those parts of the photo.

  • Ethan C

    I thank everyone for the feedback on this image. this image was inteded for the the sole purpose of noticing details in the clouds and the vast space of the landscape. The clouds were my main subject matter and the movement that they possess. As for the landscape, I didn’t want the ground completley all lit up because it would seem unrealistic because there are clouds in the sky to cast shadows. Thanks again everyone for the technical tips.

  • http://www.itechcode.com/ Amit Shaw

    Frankly Awesome Critique, Hope i can learn something from This all Critique Reply.

    I am newbie in Photography and Hope i can learn something from TutPlus :)

    BTW If my lens is 15 mm that means its for Landscape and Wide angle?

    and If my lens is 100mm Or larger in number it means my lens for Telephoto or Macro or Portrait?

  • http://www.wix.com/simonabarbu1/simonabarbuphotography Simona Dumitru

    I think a picture that has amazing cloud formation can be a great picture. Because clouds are so dynamic, they give the picture a sense of power. Whether you used a polarizer or you enhanced the picture in Photoshop, I do like the result, as it is. The atmosphere looks heavy and does make me believe it can rain in any moment. For conveying this feeling, I believe your editing is successful. I would also suggest that converting the picture to a b&w version, you can have even more freedom in enhancing the clouds, but you will need to lighten a bit more the foreground. To engage the viewer attention and give the picture a bit more interest ( besides the cloud formation), you could enhance those patches of yellow/orange fields in the left part of the picture and the other patches of fields using slightly different shades of green. This will give a better impact on the foreground. You can also use gradients, for the foreground and also for the sky. Sometimes, if you use the D&B technique ( dodge and burn), you can change and enhance the dynamic of the clouds. There is no doubt, though, that clouds are interesting and dynamic and can be the subject of a great photograph.

    I list a few examples of cloudy pictures:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/createsimona/261057075/in/set-72157594235140508

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/createsimona/419340754/in/set-72157594235140508

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/createsimona/160625496/in/set-72157627622097484

    This is a before and after of a picture where I enhanced the sky. The change can be quite dramatic:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/createsimona/6946248597/in/set-72157627482181293