H2O ideas - need feedback

kentwaller

here are a few shots i am considering from a series ahot a few nights ago - i would appreciate your thoughts on which one i should go with

fountain 1: f/20, 30sec, iso200, 10mm





fountain 2: f/11, 20sec, iso200, 28mm





fountain 3: f/20, 30sec, iso200, 10mm





fountain 4: f/22, 10sec, iso200, 13mm





reflecting pool: f/18, 30sec, iso200, 24mm

rteest42

lovely set...
2 is great, as is 4 and the reflecting pool...
On 3, the statue on the pillar being cut off bothers me.
Can 4 be straightened the tiniest bit, can the statue on the top of the building not be cropped??

kdotaylor

I like #1 for its limited range of colors--it's not as distracting as the ones with more color. I love the detail in the stone, and the water is just lovely.

sapphire73

Lovely series! I agree with Kate about #1. I like the way you composed and processed this shot, showing us a beautiful fountain while letting the water take center stage.

red_zone

For this competition, I like # 4 and then # 2... those say "water" to me most. The stuttgart schlossplatz is a wonderful fountain.

negatives: #3 has an unacceptable ammount of color noise in the blue fields, and even in the detail... reflection is a good shot, but does not feature water as the main subject. #1 is very busy, but I like the limited tones.

positives: #2 emphasizes the water aspect more than the building aspect, and has a nice depth of focus. #4 has the best composition while still emphasizing water over the architectural aspects of the shot.

Overall, I wish for a lower ISO in all your shots. A wider aperture and lower ISO would keep the same shutter speed and lower the depth of focus, putting the background buildings out of focus and further highlighting the water. For this you would need a tripod, however.

Great compositions and shots overall, I also love taking photos of water features at night (our memorials in DC have lots of water features) and would love to have the opportunity to shoot photos at some of the places I've only seen once, and during the daytime.

kentwaller

thanks all so much for your most thoughtful inputs! Trish I am going to edit those two just as you suggest, but probably leaning towards 1 or 2 in any case. Thank you Kate and Gretchen for validation of #1 - I think the water seems to come out oddly enough even without the color - why is that? Jake - you are right about #3 - too much noise! Not exactly sure why though - this was a 30sec exposure at ISO 200 and f/20. I will post the exif for all the shots here in a minute next to the title. Tripod was used - had to fend off a hoard of intoxicated teenagers though - kept bumping into me I suppose my post processing for 3 must have added in the noise as I actually cropped it quite a bit to remove some partying teenagers. In any case, at this point I am really debating between #1 and #2 as my entry with maybe a slight lean to #1.

Thanks again everyone - this is a great site - really appreciate the feedback and always welcome.

kentwaller

oh - now i remember - i usedmy sharpen tool on all these during post, probably unnecessarily and certainly adding in some noise - thanks again for pointing that out jake as I am going to fix that as well!

Overfocused

I think #1 is the best overall for both composition and lighting. Theres nothing really distracting me in it either, and noise is minimal, too.

red_zone

Coming back after a while I like #1 better... I'm not sure why I thought it was too busy the first time around. 2 and 4 I still like well too however... I have a hard time with choosing things - part of why I put so many on my thread!

I was surprised about the ISO for these shots! 200 should be pretty good, although cropping and sharpening can certainly introduce noise... I've lost at least a few decent photos by having to crop them down to remove unwanted intruders.

kentwaller

thanks all - i re-edited all but the first, which i will post as my entry. if you are interested, you can see my new versions on my site

kentwaller

actually, the ones above are the corrected shots based on your comments, since i just replaced them directly on the site

tinamarie52

You've gotten some really good feedback. For me, #2 had the biggest wow factor..the biggest impact at first sight.

they all have merits. Take the advice that makes sense to you and go with your gut.

Chris