Sunset- What to do?

bonniejo

I feel this sunset could use some improving but not sure how or what needs changing. Any ideas?

RogersDA

bonniejo wrote:

I feel this sunset could use some improving...

Why do you feel it needs improving? What about the picture do you not care about. Is it color, composition, angle, all of the above, something else? What do you want to "tell" people with this photo (which is nice, by the way)? A lot of things can be changed, but it really helps to know what you are looking for. You are, after all, the photographer and the image must first please you. This can help you go a long way to analyzing your own work first.

jdryan3

Overall I like it too. If you are looking at a starting point to 'fix', it seems to me the tree on the far left is distracting and needs to be cropped out.

bonniejo

I figured out what I thought needs fixing. The trees are bare. For some reason it makes the picture seem empty. Does that make sense to anyone else or am I just weird?
Once the leaves come back, I'll try another shot and see if that "fixes" it for me.
Thank you for all the kind responses.:D

GREAPER

Personally, I think what it needs is a subject. Other than the wonderful color in the sky there is nothing to draw the eye.

Is the image just about the sky? Or is there more. If there is more, what is it.

RalphAdam

A suggestion ....
The sky is quite striking, but that is all there is. There is no focus, other than the splash of colors that are scratched by the tree branches, which also, in my view, lack focus.

It seems to me that one of those most difficult aspects of trying to paint meaningful pictures with light, as with oils, is to decide "what am I trying to show." I have often come across a beautiful sunset or sunrise but, except for "saving" for later use via Photoshop, there was nothing else there of interest. Pretty skies are breathtaking, but, in my view, do not make good photographs, except as an adjunct to something that has inherent interest.

RalphAdam

bonniejo wrote:

I feel this sunset could use some improving but not sure how or what needs changing. Any ideas?

RogersDA

bonniejo wrote:

I figured out what I thought needs fixing. The trees are bare. For some reason it makes the picture seem empty. Does that make sense to anyone else or am I just weird?
Once the leaves come back, I'll try another shot and see if that "fixes" it for me.
Thank you for all the kind responses.:D

It's the bare leaves - well for this one we obviously can't quickly add leaves:D, though I'm sure there are photoshop brushes that can do that.

Bare leaves and sky add up to a lonely/alone feeling (not always, but you probably get the idea). That's fine so work with that.

Deleting that small clump of leaves in the middle and adding a curve layer boots the colors:


This is cool but not quite what I need. So, try straightening the trees and crop:


Looks odd to me. So crop the first one:

That got rid of a lot of stuff that may not impact the photo. But, still not what I like. So, tried some different coloring and a different crop:



Well, how about eliminating color? This seems to work, IMO. The bareness, alone look is achieved, with an image that has some impact.



The idea here is to work with what you've got. Photoshop has an abundance of tools, many of which I have no idea what do with. But, you can play with what you have and see where it takes you. One thing you might want to do is look on the web for various actions that you can load into Photoshop. These types of tools can get you some instant results. Also, take the time to try to see what these actions are doing. That way you can try to implement some of the steps yourself on later pictures. barb

Let me know if this helps!