DSS 70 - First Attempt - C & C Please

torrbrae

What I Love is landscape photography. Would appreciate comments on my first attempts for this competition.

Not sure if this Sunset Photograph is best left wide, or to be cropped to remove the branches, etc at the sides:

Tranquil Sunset - Cropped:


Tranquil Sunset - Wide:


Or else a shot taken at the beach on the way home this evening:
Summers evening at the Beach:


All photos taken on a Canon 60D with 18-55mm Lens.

Thank you for your comments.

sweetharmony

Of the first two, I prefer the wider crop because it draws the eye inwards...for me, the branches frame the image.

lkbart

sweetharmony wrote: »

Of the first two, I prefer the wider crop because it draws the eye inwards...for me, the branches frame the image.

Especially for a landscape shot - don't crop it! Like the colors & silhouettes. I kinda like the beach shot too, but am not loving the greyish clouds & the truck on the right side.

jbrown4849

I like the wider shot -- seems to balance the picture. Cropped-- to me, the background hill seems oppressive.

davev

In the first two shots, I think if you would have gone down next to the water to get rid of the dark foreground, it would have helped.
But in saying that, those 2 shots just have no pop to them.
Higher contrast, more color, of a more defined subject would have helped them out.

The 3rd with a bit more contrast, a bit of a boost in saturation, and maybe a more panoramic crop could make this shot pretty darn nice.
If the shot will "hold together" with this much of a crop, I think it would be a little bit better composition.

torrbrae

Thanks for the comments - have cropped the Beach Scene as suggested, and changed the contrast & hue - may have overdone the red?
Attached is updated photo:
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ghinson

I like the beach one not cropped (except maybe to remove the Jeep out of the right). I like the dof/perspective of knowing the mountains are huge and yet, in the pic, the people are not much smaller, and the sky trumps them all. You do need to find a way, maybe with contrast/sharpening, to make the clouds pop a little more though.