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09-01-2013, 02:30 PM   #1
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Sunset
Lens: 18-55 mm Kit lens Camera: Pentax K-30 Photo Location: Little Allagash Falls, Maine ISO: 100 Shutter Speed: 4s Aperture: F22 

I would love some critiquing on this photo. I personally think this is one of my best and I am wondering what people think could improve upon it.
Thank you for your ideas!

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09-01-2013, 03:48 PM   #2
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The composition has nice bones but if you are going to call this a sunset, people expect to see some nice sunset colors. A better idea would be to wait for the sun to go below the horizon and light up the clouds. That way the water would reflect that color and give the shot the colorful look it needs.
09-01-2013, 06:47 PM   #3
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Yeah i see what you mean. I didn't really think about the title or mean for this shot to be specifically highlighting the sun. Attached is another picture I took not to far from the first one of a sunset two or three nights after the previous shot. I haven't put much time into this photo yet but it does show some color. Thoughts?
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09-01-2013, 06:50 PM   #4
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Not sure why the photo isnt showing up for me there. If that doesnt work the photo is at IMGP2063 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

09-01-2013, 07:51 PM   #5
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I think your sunset shot is great. All I would do with that one is up the contrast a touch in PS. This will turn the land into more of a silhouette and make the colour in the sky pop more. It will also show some more of the orange reflecting in the water.

The only other thing is the horizon is on a slight tilt. I'm a little OCD that way and it bugs me when the horizon is not horizontal.

I really like the first shot. Was this taken through an ND filter?
09-01-2013, 09:41 PM   #6
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Hello
The first one has the sun and sky being blown out and drawing the eye away from the falls. The slow shutter speed to blur the water motion is good but it's overpowered by the sun and sky. As for composition. The first thing I'll say for any shot with water; the horizon has to be level. It's slightly tilted down towards the right. The second one is strongly tilted down to the left. If using PSE there is a ruler tool that makes it a snap to fix. On the first image the curve of the falls work but there is a large area on the lower right that is fairly large but with nothing to hold your interest. For the image as it stands I might crop it down. If you had the chance to go back when the sun was below the horizon so you would have color in it would be better. I might try some different angles if possible. Perhaps a little bit downstream from this spot and maybe closer to the edge of the water. The second one has a much better sky. Apart from the horizon I would smooth out the luminance noise in the sky. The trees, rocks on the lower left help to frame things. Perhaps getting a bit lower and having the shoreline extend all the way across the bottom might frame things better. As a suggestion I would say take the first couple of shots of whatever it is your photographing but then ask yourself what is it that I like about the scene and see if there is a different angle, aperture or shutter speed that might make it better. Sometimes just a few feet left or right or getting higher or lower makes a huge difference. I did a quick edit to show the crop I chose on the first one and tried to smooth out the posterization in the sky. On the second one I straightened the horizon, took out the noise, and a couple tweaks of tones in the lower part to show what I mean.
Posted them here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69407470@N06/9649302149/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69407470@N06/9652559226/lightbox/

Regards
Greg

Last edited by Gregory_51; 09-01-2013 at 09:47 PM.
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