New poster, would like critique

CodyBoxer

Hi! I mostly lurk here, since I don't really know the more technical aspects of photography and would thus be unable to advise anyone.
I have been taking pictures for quite a long time and have taken B&W and digital courses at the local college.
So I have a basic understanding of exposure, rule-of-thirds, etc, but no idea of how well I'm putting them into practice. Flickr and Picasa have been no help whatsoever and I'm not certain my family members' critiques are unbiased.
So here's a landscape pic of Atsion Lake in southern New Jersey, USA.


New Jersey Pine Barrens by gmontjr, on Flickr

If you're of a mind, please tell me what you think.

Thank you in advance,

GeorgeM

Sam

Hi George,

Welcome, hang around and you will learn a lot. I have learned a tremendous amount here.

My thoughts on this image are mixed. There are elements I like. The reflections, and the foliage silhouette in the foreground.

For me though the large black forest area without any detail kinda kills it.
I think though this is the kind of image some will like.

Sam

CodyBoxer

Sam wrote: »

Hi George,

Welcome, hang around and you will learn a lot. I have learned a tremendous amount here.

My thoughts on this image are mixed. There are elements I like. The reflections, and the foliage silhouette in the foreground.

For me though the large black forest area without any detail kinda kills it.
I think though this is the kind of image some will like.

Sam

Thanks, Sam. Your point about the lack of detail in the forest brings up another of my questions. On my pc, there is detail in the forest. Also on my laptop, if I angle the screen properly. How do you prepare an image to be displayed on many different types of displays? Oy...

NeilL

Like Sam I am not convinced this shot has quite got there. I think it could have been captured a little differently and/or could be pushed a bit further in post. When exposing you might have exposed for the brightest area of sky in Av mode, switched to M and then opened up 1 to 2 stops and composed. Otherwise this would have been a good candidate for exposure bracketing.

Taking the image as you have it here now, in post you could artificially create 3 files simulating exposure bracketing. Or you might try an easy fix and use Shadows-Highlights in PS - this might work depending on your histogram.

The aim being, I suggest, to get a little more contrast and intensity in the sky (could do with some extra saturation-vibrancy also I think) and a little texture in the centre bank.

I would then use selections and masks to apply exposure adjustments to the sky and centre bank, and to the sky reflection, but not to the bank reflection or the foreground vegetation silhouette.

Dunno if any of that would get what you intended, but it might be instructive!:D

Neil

Sam

CodyBoxer wrote: »

Thanks, Sam. Your point about the lack of detail in the forest brings up another of my questions. On my pc, there is detail in the forest. Also on my laptop, if I angle the screen properly. How do you prepare an image to be displayed on many different types of displays? Oy...

The long and the short of it is you can't.

What you can do is make sure your monitor is calibrated. One problem is the new LCD monitors are generally to bright. An image processed on a bright LCD will normally print dark (under exposed), and appear dark (under exposed) on a calibrated monitor.

Sam

NeilL

CodyBoxer wrote: »

Thanks, Sam. Your point about the lack of detail in the forest brings up another of my questions. On my pc, there is detail in the forest. Also on my laptop, if I angle the screen properly. How do you prepare an image to be displayed on many different types of displays? Oy...

I suspect your displays might be a little on the bright side, if so not ideal. I can just make out some detail in that bank if I use my imagination. I think the brightness should ideally be ~60 (I'm not sure I'm talking sense here right now but you can Google). You can't control for all the variation in displays out there, you can only calibrate your own according to recommendations.

Neil

squirl033

just my 2 cents here... i like the reflections in the water, and the band of color at the left horizon. the trees are too dark, though, and lacking any detail at all on my calibrated CRT. and i think i'd have been tempted to move a bit to the left, to include less of the grass in the foreground, which basically adds clutter without really improving the composition. this would've been a good candidate for bracketed exposures and some HDR processing... i gave it a very "quick-n-dirty" pass through ReDynaMix, and it definitely helps.

CodyBoxer

@NeilL - Many thanks for your input. My digital course did not cover using masks in the manner you described, so I'll have to rtfm for that. I do have an lcd monitor that I calibrated using a Spyder II, but apparently not correctly.
@Sam - I suspected as much. The threads concerning monitor cal seem to lead in the direction of using a CRT or a higher-end LCD. I got my lcd, a Samsung BW21-something at OfficeMax. I do still have a 17-inch CRT that I'll try.
@squirl033 - Thanks for chiming in.
I'm using PSE8, as PS is too much for my budget.