[KrysFL]

I just got my first SLR camera and this is one of my very first pictures. Well at least one of the first that I thought out and really tried to capture the moment.
(We were at the beach and the sun was bright but clouds were rolling in behind us. The wind started to pick up and the pressure dropped.. just a cool scene)

Please critique it for me. I am totally new at this and at photography in general. So don't worry, I wont feel bad if you say it totally blows!

But I would really like feedback as to what I am doing so any comments are appreciated,

PS - the camera was a wedding gift and I took this on our honeymoon. That tells you how new I am at it. )

Thanks!

[Prieni]

I can see that there went some thought into the image and I think there is some potential in it.
I like the sun partially hidden by that blade, so the basic idea of the shot seems solid to me. You brought yourself into trouble with that very tricky light situation, though, by looking directly in the sun. I think you did very well here with your exposure, yes, the sun is a bit blown out but it's still looking quite natural. The blades of grass kept some of their colour, they easily could go all black with that backlight. So all of that you have done well.
On the other hand:
Firstly I find the colours a bit too weak for this kind of image. Looking at your avatar picture you feel the same, colours are more vivid in that one.
Secondly the composition is very tricky here as the shot easily looks too busy. I would love to see the frame extending a bit to the left to have the top of that corner blade in the frame completely. But I guess there is always the next one that I would longing for...

Now what could you do in post processing to bring out a better shot? I think you should bring out the drama in the clouds a bit more, by darkening the sky. This also helps the blue to look more saturated. You also could add a bit of vignetting (i.e. making the corners a bit darker) to emphasize the centre of attention, the sun, even more.

I had a quick play with it to show where I think this could be going:


Now I've lost some of the colour of the grass blades in the corners but I think it doesn't harm the overall appearance.
What have I done? I added two levels with gradients from black to transparent. One being black in the top part and transparent in the bottom (about one third in the bottom of the picture is transparent, then gradually getting darker to the top). The layer mode chosen was 'soft light'.
Then I added a vignette, pretty much the same process, making a radial gradient from transparent in the middle to black at the corners. Layer mode again 'soft light' and then taking back the opacity a bit.

Hope you like the result.

Prieni

[SpecialK]

Very nice. I would probably crop off the right side, inside the small stalk.

[KrysFL]

I can see that there went some thought into the image and I think there is some potential in it.
I like the sun partially hidden by that blade, so the basic idea of the shot seems solid to me. You brought yourself into trouble with that very tricky light situation, though, by looking directly in the sun. I think you did very well here with your exposure, yes, the sun is a bit blown out but it's still looking quite natural. The blades of grass kept some of their colour, they easily could go all black with that backlight. So all of that you have done well.
On the other hand:
Firstly I find the colours a bit too weak for this kind of image. Looking at your avatar picture you feel the same, colours are more vivid in that one.
Secondly the composition is very tricky here as the shot easily looks too busy. I would love to see the frame extending a bit to the left to have the top of that corner blade in the frame completely. But I guess there is always the next one that I would longing for...

Now what could you do in post processing to bring out a better shot? I think you should bring out the drama in the clouds a bit more, by darkening the sky. This also helps the blue to look more saturated. You also could add a bit of vignetting (i.e. making the corners a bit darker) to emphasize the centre of attention, the sun, even more.

I had a quick play with it to show where I think this could be going:


Now I've lost some of the colour of the grass blades in the corners but I think it doesn't harm the overall appearance.
What have I done? I added two levels with gradients from black to transparent. One being black in the top part and transparent in the bottom (about one third in the bottom of the picture is transparent, then gradually getting darker to the top). The layer mode chosen was 'soft light'.
Then I added a vignette, pretty much the same process, making a radial gradient from transparent in the middle to black at the corners. Layer mode again 'soft light' and then taking back the opacity a bit.

Hope you like the result.

Prieni

Awesome feedback, thank you!
And I love how dramatic yours looks compared to mine!!!
I just downloaded a trial of Lightroom (hence why the same pic is blue in my avatar) and I am hoping to learn more about post-picture editing (probably not what its technically called).

Thanks so much for explaining how you edited it. I am going to test it out myself and see if I can figure out how to do it!

I also wasnt sure if I should have edited it before posting on this forum so is it okay to do that vs. just the unaltered pic like I have? Because I could use the feedback with that, too.

Thanks again!!

[KrysFL]

Very nice. I would probably crop off the right side, inside the small stalk.

Good idea! Thanks!

[Prieni]

I also wasnt sure if I should have edited it before posting on this forum so is it okay to do that vs. just the unaltered pic like I have? Because I could use the feedback with that, too.

There are different schools of thought. Some people like to work as they did in film days, the picture has to come out of camera (OOC). They despise any post processing with very few exceptions. I can understand the philosophy behind it but I'm in the other camp.

That other camp says "why the heck should a bunch of Japanese engineers know better what the image should look like for me than myself?" and so everything goes. It certainly is gradually moving towards painting but I like to have an imagination of what that scene I'm looking at through the viewfinder should look like after post processing.

Neither camp is wrong or right. It's your choice where you stand and you are allowed to jump between these camps as much as you like.

Prieni

[KrysFL]

I want to be good at both ...

[smf]

You did more right than "wrong" in this early photo.
I'm unsure of the location of your point of focus. I think I'd prefer greater sharpness in the grass.
To help forum participants offer useful tips and to help us learn more from your successes, please consider providing additional information about future photos you post. Examples would be f/stop, shutter speed and ISO.
Best wishes!

[KrysFL]

You did more right than "wrong" in this early photo.
I'm unsure of the location of your point of focus. I think I'd prefer greater sharpness in the grass.
To help forum participants offer useful tips and to help us learn more from your successes, please consider providing additional information about future photos you post. Examples would be f/stop, shutter speed and ISO.
Best wishes!

I will start doing that, thank you.