Good View

[cowcrzy06]

Hello All

For an assignment I was supposed to take a picture of a landscape where the land extended as far as the eye could see. I would like your critique and comments please.

[Pol]

Re: Good View

Hello All

For an assignment I was supposed to take a picture of a landscape where the land extended as far as the eye could see. I would like your critique and comments please.

Before I go any further I must make it clear that I'm merely an observer of landscape photography and cannot make any sort of claim to being a 'master' of landscapes ....... far from it!!

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that the picture is pleasant enough but doesn't have any particular interest or point of focus.

One possiblility you might like to explore (with the same location) might be for you to try in portrait mode and concentrate on using the undulations of the landscape to draw the eye way over the land and off into the horizon .... ie making a picture about the 'relief map' of the land. I'd also suggest seeing how it might work if you composed the scene with approx 3/4 of it land and about 1/4 sky.

Just some suggestions for you to mull over and maybe have a try.

Hope that helps a little?

Polly

[cowcrzy06]

Re: Good View

Polly,

I kind of suspected that something was not right about the photograph and that is why I put it in this forum.Thank you for your suggestions and I will give them a try the next time I take a try at that picture! Thank you!

[Stephen]

Re: Good View

I'd very much agree with Pols thoughts on your photo Jennifer. Essentially you have photographed a scene, the camera has done its job well in terms of getting the colours and exposure OK, but you perhaps need to put more input, more of yourself into the image. To make the image different the scene has to infuenced by you to some extent in the viewfinder, perhaps by altering the camera angle, including more foreground interest, even using the old rule of thirds to make the composition more pleasing to the viewer.

Next time you are faced with a similar scenario, take several shots of the same scene but alter the camera angle and therefore what you see in the viewfinder. Use your zoom to alter perspective. With this one for example you could have sat down in the long grass and used that more in your foreground, or you could have zoomed in and used the trees as foreground interest. Maybe there was something near where you were stood that you could have incorporated. Whatever you do, you can still achieve the original assignment criteria

[cowcrzy06]

Re: Good View

Steven,

I took this picture on the same day it is looking the oppisite direction. I just did some cropping on it.Would you say this is any better?

[Pol]

Re: Good View

Steven,

I took this picture on the same day it is looking the oppisite direction. I just did some cropping on it.Would you say this is any better?

I think maybe you forgot to include the link to the picture?

I assume it's the picture you uploaded to the gallery a few minutes ago - the one with the trees and small lake (or large puddle) in the foreground. If so - I'd say "yes that's better" and it also looks like a location and view that has all sorts of potential both in landscape mode as well as portrait mode.

You could also try in various lighting situations the maybe utilise the shadows on very contrasty days ..... possibly even try seeing how they look when converted to B/W if there are plenty good shadows and contrasts to pick out and enhance.


Polly

[cowcrzy06]

Re: Good View

Polly,

Oh My! I am Much too young to be absent minded like this!
Here is the picture!

[Stephen]

Re: Good View

Yes, works better for me too, though I'd have liked to see the horizon level, something I was pleased to see on the first shot

[cowcrzy06]

Re: Good View

Hello again !

I tried to fix the horizon . I guess It sometimes takes a better trained eye to see these things.By taking the classes I am taking I hope to improve my photography skills and become a better photographer. Everyone on these forums and this website helps me so much and for that I am grateful! Thanks to Polly and Steven for your help today!

[Jocelyn Walker]

Re: Good View

The 2nd pic works better, once you levelled the horizon, but the colour to me seems a little flat or insipid! There are many parallels in photography to art or painting, as in golden section an rules of 3rds. They saying goes never to cut your canvas in half, or place your horizons in the middle. When taking a pic of a subject, not to cut the subject in half with horizontals or horizon in the middle...its better to place horizontal at the feet or at 3/4 level or above. As Stephen said, it would be better to have texture or something of interest in the foreground, like long grass or tree limb. I find it better to frame a pic by shooting thru' foliage or grass...or whatever may lend itself to giving more dimension to a scene. Composition is paramount in art as it is in photography as it is a visual thing! What pleases or attracts the eye...light & shade...or colour even...red attracts the eye first! Something to do with the receptors or rods in the eye! With the scene you've depicted, I may have gone closer to the tree....if the horizon was still visible at that level....& included tree or part of it in the foreground! Good luck with your course, it sounds great!

[Tinka]

Re: Good View

Hi Jennifer,
The image/Scene has a lot of potential, Takeing on board the other tips and advice, go back if you can and shoot for a panorama image useing a tripod and aperture priority mode take several images turning the camera in an arc from right to left or left to right without moveing the tripod or angle of the camera nor the zoom length, try to include part of the previous shot in the next to make joining/blending easier. now open all the images in your chosen software an either manually or useing the software auto mode blend the images into a panorama. Tweek and crop the final image to produce a result you like.
Good luck.