Help me Choose - Competition Sunsets

AndMan

Hi Folks
I could really do with your help.
The local Parks authority is running a photo comp & I need help picking my entry from the following.

#1


#2


#3


#4


There is very limited p&p allowed (you may have to produce the original) and it has to be on their property.

Thanks for looking and for any & all feedback

Peter

scole

For me, it's number three all the way. Great color and texture in the sky and you have the water body to add interest at the bottom. Good luck!

EloquentPixels

#1 for me.
Beautiful light bouncing off the clouds with the additional point of interest being the tree on the right.

AndMan

scole & eloquent thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated.

CWSkopec

I say 3! You've got the same great sunset as #1, but the pond adds that extra interest to the foreground!

Nice shots all the way around!

Thwack

There's some great color in those shots!

Is there a size/shape requirement for submissions to this contest? If not, I have some suggestions for reframing #3.

Sunsets work best for me when they're in a panoramic-ish format. I feel like I'm seeing a wider swath of the beauty. You can create that illusion by cropping #3.

I also slightly cropped the bottom where it was very dark (since chunks of "very dark" add little to the picture).

Two other changes to consider:

1) Tone down the area where the sun is shining brightest. There's more detail/character lurking there that will add interest to your submission.

2) Bring up the foreground. While it looks very dark as posted, there's considerable data/content in the actual picture. I popped the original sized picture into iPhoto and played with the shadows slider...about 50% really brought up the detail there without taking too much away from the sunset.


For me, the picture has to say something about the Park (at least that's what I would expect is a motivation for the Park folks for hosting the competition). Just showing a sunset, with the actual park content nothing but a dark area, doesn't achieve much.


I don't know if the changes I'm proposing show up well in the tiny attached version of #3 below. If they don't show, and you're even slightly interested, let me know and I can provide the full size directly to show what I'm trying to suggest.

I worked with just the JPEG and fairly simple tools (iPhoto '09). I would expect you can do far more fine-tuning with more sophisticated tools.

AndMan

Thwack, thanks for taking the time & effort for your detailed suggestions. I really appreciate it.

I too normally prefer a more panoramic look but due to the constraints of the competition rules I have to forego that this time.

Peter

Thwack

Good luck with the competition!

catspaw

as is, #3 for me

yendikeno

All very nice, but #3 is my favorite as well.

AndMan

Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Had to send them off this am to hit the submission deadline.