This was shot as the sun was starting to set. The fur off the cattails seemed to glow. Image was cropped to remove wasted space in the foreground and the contrast was bumped up slightly.
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Hi Gareth, I have been assigned your photo from the Critique Club. I will point out in advance that all of this is completely subjective, so I just hope that you find something useful here.
Overall, I think that this is a great scene, and noticing that the sun is catching the cattails was a good spot - this works well in the image. There are, however, a couple of things that I would have done differently if this was my shot.
Technically: Your depth of field is good, using f8 really hits the sweet spot of your lens. The focus is more difficult to judge - either this is a really tight crop or there is some serious PP going on which has fudged the focus. Either way, this has lost the detail which should be there. The lighting is very nicely handled, presumably from natural light only.
Artistically: The use of the backlight to give everything a golden glow is excellent, as is the positioning of the sun, and the use of those rays. The panorama style crop though, I find a little tight. I would aim to give the whole thing a little more space, ideally both at top and bottom.
PP: I believe (and the other commenters seem to agree) that there is probably too much PP here, disguising a very nice shot. You mention picking up the contrast, and it looks like you have also boosted the saturation and done some sharpening. I suspect that the shot didn't need any of those things and I would certainly aim to tone them down. You have the same look on your 'Diana's Bath' photo and it leads to a very 'in your face' image, which detracts from the natural appeal.
In summary, this was a great moment, well spotted and pretty well captured, but I think that your PP was excessive and probably didn't help the score. I hope that helps!
Thanks Frank for your critique. I'm very new to photography so my learning curve is quite sharp. I appreciate your input and will definitely try to use that in my future shots. Thanks again for your time.
Hi Gareth, I have been assigned your photo from the Critique Club. I will point out in advance that all of this is completely subjective, so I just hope that you find something useful here.
Overall, I think that this is a great scene, and noticing that the sun is catching the cattails was a good spot - this works well in the image. There are, however, a couple of things that I would have done differently if this was my shot.
Technically: Your depth of field is good, using f8 really hits the sweet spot of your lens. The focus is more difficult to judge - either this is a really tight crop or there is some serious PP going on which has fudged the focus. Either way, this has lost the detail which should be there. The lighting is very nicely handled, presumably from natural light only.
Artistically: The use of the backlight to give everything a golden glow is excellent, as is the positioning of the sun, and the use of those rays. The panorama style crop though, I find a little tight. I would aim to give the whole thing a little more space, ideally both at top and bottom.
PP: I believe (and the other commenters seem to agree) that there is probably too much PP here, disguising a very nice shot. You mention picking up the contrast, and it looks like you have also boosted the saturation and done some sharpening. I suspect that the shot didn't need any of those things and I would certainly aim to tone them down. You have the same look on your 'Diana's Bath' photo and it leads to a very 'in your face' image, which detracts from the natural appeal.
In summary, this was a great moment, well spotted and pretty well captured, but I think that your PP was excessive and probably didn't help the score. I hope that helps!
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