Missing something

JasonL

Hello everyone. I took this shot and I really like it, but It's missing something. Plus I need some advise on the colors etc..... There are few ducks in the water......should they come out........... i would love some advice, feedback.....Thanks

Tango

hello Jason

everyone has an opinion, i can give you mine and my thoughts.

i think the ducks are very important to this scene.

i think you've gone too big here, i would maybe have tried to get closer to the water, draw the ducks in with bread...whatever and shot like that...

the horizon is middle ground here in your shot and it seems to me if you cropped some off the top it would make it a little bit less open...

do you use PS?
curves will give you some help with contrasts and color.

good luck,

AfterImage

"Missing something" is the correct answer... just stop there.

What you have is a beautiful stage with no actors. To complete the scene you must have something to focus on... right now you just have a pond.

You could try converting to B/W to add some drama, playing with the color levels or maybe photoshoping something into the image (purists would say that is a big NO).

Personally I'd go with the B/W and work on the sky. You can see there are some intersting structures and tones in the clouds, they are just blown out.

jeffmeyers

JasonL wrote:

Hello everyone. I took this shot and I really like it, but It's missing something. Plus I need some advise on the colors etc..... There are few ducks in the water......should they come out........... i would love some advice, feedback.....Thanks

Feedback: bzzzzzzzzz.

Critique: There's no subject matter but the pond and the image is not composed well if you want to focus on the lake. Come up close to something on the shore and catch that, the water, the sky reflection, and the clouds. Or come in close to the ducks and get them. Right now the eye is not drawn to any place interesting in the image. Honestly, the pond itself is rather drab with the rocks around the rim.

If this is your pond or a favorite spot of yours, then it has interest and meaning to you. Maybe you just visited it and liked the view or the quiet atmosphere. At any rate, you are reading your interest and experience into this image. But what you have to do is compose and expose so as to capture something of the magic of this place for those who have never been there. Make sense?

Keep shooting!

JasonL

Thanks

AaronNelson wrote:

hello Jason

everyone has an opinion, i can give you mine and my thoughts.

i think the ducks are very important to this scene.

i think you've gone too big here, i would maybe have tried to get closer to the water, draw the ducks in with bread...whatever and shot like that...

the horizon is middle ground here in your shot and it seems to me if you cropped some off the top it would make it a little bit less open...

do you use PS?
curves will give you some help with contrasts and color.

good luck,

Thanks for the reply, all comments are appriciated. I have a few more framed a bit different, i am going to play around with hem. I HAVE ps, BUT I am PS challenged. Next week actually I will be learning alot more with a friend, we have a wedding this weekend and he is going to sit with me and teach me more during post processing.

JasonL

Good idea

AfterImage wrote:

"Missing something" is the correct answer... just stop there.

What you have is a beautiful stage with no actors. To complete the scene you must have something to focus on... right now you just have a pond.

You could try converting to B/W to add some drama, playing with the color levels or maybe photoshoping something into the image (purists would say that is a big NO).

Personally I'd go with the B/W and work on the sky. You can see there are some intersting structures and tones in the clouds, they are just blown out.

Hey thanks for the reply and advice. B&W is a good idea. I have a few framed differently that I will mess with too. I am new to photoshop so thats gonna take me a bit. Thanks agan

JasonL

Thanks !!!!

jeffmeyers wrote:

JasonL wrote:

Hello everyone. I took this shot and I really like it, but It's missing something. Plus I need some advise on the colors etc..... There are few ducks in the water......should they come out........... i would love some advice, feedback.....Thanks

Feedback: bzzzzzzzzz.

Critique: There's no subject matter but the pond and the image is not composed well if you want to focus on the lake. Come up close to something on the shore and catch that, the water, the sky reflection, and the clouds. Or come in close to the ducks and get them. Right now the eye is not drawn to any place interesting in the image. Honestly, the pond itself is rather drab with the rocks around the rim.

If this is your pond or a favorite spot of yours, then it has interest and meaning to you. Maybe you just visited it and liked the view or the quiet atmosphere. At any rate, you are reading your interest and experience into this image. But what you have to do is compose and expose so as to capture something of the magic of this place for those who have never been there. Make sense?

Keep shooting!

Thanks for the reply. this place is nothing special, I have just been out wandering and grabbing shots when I can. I have a few framed different that i am going to work on. Thanks again for the advice. I think your right that there is nothing to "catch" your eye. great point. back to the drawing board.

snowalker

scene with actors...
The problem is you don't have something to show in that picture. You should have a subject / an idea for your photos... Sincerely I don't know where to look in your picture.

InsuredDisaster

I like the reflections. I'd chase the ducks away, then move over to capture just the reflected trees. And perhaps darken the sky?

mrlassiter

I just read an article in a photo mag that clarified something I had trouble comprehending thus far. We've been told many times to scout a location for a subject we wish to shoot, then "walk around it looking for a better composition", viewing it from all angles etc... What I never got was the how of the walk around. What am I supposed to be looking for. I know the rules of composition. Rule of thirds. Background, Middle Ground, Foreground. Leading lines. Etc... But what summed it up for me was. "Scout out your location for a subject. This becomes your background (in your case perhaps the play of light on the trees/water?), now move around and find something to place in the middle ground (the ducks?), and finally add foreground interest (the rocky shore of the lake?). This made things much clearer to me. I now understood the mechanics. I would approach closer to the shore and try to add enough depth of field to bring in those small rocks with some pattern of lines in them leading towards a cluster of the ducks and onwards to the lightshow on the water. HTH


-mrlassiter