Landscape Mixed Scenes

sbphotog · 03-06-2010, 02:19 PM

I was looking over my landscapes from the past year/eighteen months and I didn't really that inspired by any of them at all... I thought I'd post up 5 examples and hoped if anyone had any ideas on where my technique might be lacking? Or whether its a case of looking for 'better' locations and/or times of the day? Thanks!

Hopefully these should link to flickr if you want to see any bigger...

EDIT: Have removed 4 photos, realised thanks to the first reply that this might not be the most useful way of using the critique forum. If you do want to see the rest, click the link in my sig and check out the first 5 photos in my stream. Thanks again for any advice!

Last edited by sbphotog; 03-06-2010 at 02:51 PM.

Nomad · 03-06-2010, 02:38 PM

Hi,
There just seems to be too many images to critique. I wasn't able to click and be directed to Flickr when I went to take a closer look at #3 which draws my interest he most but again, too many pictures at once.

Damn Brit · 03-06-2010, 05:13 PM

It's a so-so landscape. By that I mean, you have executed it pretty well, you made use of the rock in the foreground corner to anchor it and you've got pretty good lines going through the frame for the eye to follow. But the eye doesn't get led to anything. There doesn't have to be an obvious focal point in landscapes but they work much better when there is something somewhere that pulls it altogether. In this one, for example, it would have been great to see a small building of some sort just right of centre where the trail meets the shadow.
I don't mind the grass being a little over saturated like that but it's a bit too much for the sky, especially when it's uneven like that because of where the sun is.

sbphotog · 03-07-2010, 05:28 AM

Thanks for that, I think you've hit the nail right on the head! Perhaps I need to go and seek more carefully in my local area for some really dramatic scenes... 'So-so' is exactly the kind of thing this shot is, thank you!

As for the saturation, I was almost loathe to do it... The sky was massively over exposed and I tried to use LR's ND filter option... It kind of worked, but I see your point about the saturation!

atupdate · 03-07-2010, 01:51 PM

Actually, I think the rock hurts the image instead of acting as an anchor. The first thing my eye did was look at the rock, then follow the path, and then follow the fence right out of the image on the left side. I would crop to minimize the foreground and the fence on the left. Then you need to desaturate the yellow channel a bit to make the grass look greener. You could also mask for the sky and completely destat the cyan channel.

What you get now is an image where your eye move from right to left, then back to the right towards the back of the image.

If you can re-shoot this image, I would eliminate even more of the foreground to help bring the farm by the lake/pond even more into the composition.

Tim

**ramseybuckeye** · 03-08-2010, 05:50 PM

You've got lot's of good advise so far. Damn Brit hits it on the head with lines. But I also think you have too many lines going different directions in the forground, they are confusing. One thing you could try and still include the rock, would be to tilt the camera and "level out" the forground and show more of the sky.

When you look at a scene that you like, why do you like it? That's what you capture. You may not be looking at everything you capture, or you may not have captured everything that is pleasing you. Easy to say, hard to do, I'm trying but I get a lot more bad than good.

03-06-2010, 02:19 PM	#1
sbphotog Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 27	Mixed Scenes Camera: K20D Photo Location: England, Spain, Holland I was looking over my landscapes from the past year/eighteen months and I didn't really that inspired by any of them at all... I thought I'd post up 5 examples and hoped if anyone had any ideas on where my technique might be lacking? Or whether its a case of looking for 'better' locations and/or times of the day? Thanks! Hopefully these should link to flickr if you want to see any bigger... EDIT: Have removed 4 photos, realised thanks to the first reply that this might not be the most useful way of using the critique forum. If you do want to see the rest, click the link in my sig and check out the first 5 photos in my stream. Thanks again for any advice! Last edited by sbphotog; 03-06-2010 at 02:51 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Mixed bag.	Dom	Post Your Photos!	2	08-30-2009 10:19 AM
A Mixed Flock	c13_	Post Your Photos!	8	01-01-2009 11:35 AM
A few mixed from me =) (animal's)	DuckysDoll	Post Your Photos!	11	07-21-2008 05:03 AM
Mixed Source	benjikan	Photographic Technique	10	02-11-2008 08:40 PM
Mixed Bag	Chako	Post Your Photos!	3	08-02-2007 05:31 AM

03-06-2010, 02:38 PM	#2
Nomad Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Maine Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 408	Hi, There just seems to be too many images to critique. I wasn't able to click and be directed to Flickr when I went to take a closer look at #3 which draws my interest he most but again, too many pictures at once.

03-06-2010, 05:13 PM	#3
Damn Brit Guest	It's a so-so landscape. By that I mean, you have executed it pretty well, you made use of the rock in the foreground corner to anchor it and you've got pretty good lines going through the frame for the eye to follow. But the eye doesn't get led to anything. There doesn't have to be an obvious focal point in landscapes but they work much better when there is something somewhere that pulls it altogether. In this one, for example, it would have been great to see a small building of some sort just right of centre where the trail meets the shadow. I don't mind the grass being a little over saturated like that but it's a bit too much for the sky, especially when it's uneven like that because of where the sun is.

03-07-2010, 05:28 AM	#4
sbphotog Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 27 Original Poster	Thanks for that, I think you've hit the nail right on the head! Perhaps I need to go and seek more carefully in my local area for some really dramatic scenes... 'So-so' is exactly the kind of thing this shot is, thank you! As for the saturation, I was almost loathe to do it... The sky was massively over exposed and I tried to use LR's ND filter option... It kind of worked, but I see your point about the saturation!

03-07-2010, 01:51 PM	#5
atupdate Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Dayton, OH Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,723	Actually, I think the rock hurts the image instead of acting as an anchor. The first thing my eye did was look at the rock, then follow the path, and then follow the fence right out of the image on the left side. I would crop to minimize the foreground and the fence on the left. Then you need to desaturate the yellow channel a bit to make the grass look greener. You could also mask for the sky and completely destat the cyan channel. What you get now is an image where your eye move from right to left, then back to the right towards the back of the image. If you can re-shoot this image, I would eliminate even more of the foreground to help bring the farm by the lake/pond even more into the composition. Tim

03-08-2010, 05:50 PM	#6
ramseybuckeye Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Hampstead, NC Photos: Gallery Posts: 17,291	You've got lot's of good advise so far. Damn Brit hits it on the head with lines. But I also think you have too many lines going different directions in the forground, they are confusing. One thing you could try and still include the rock, would be to tilt the camera and "level out" the forground and show more of the sky. When you look at a scene that you like, why do you like it? That's what you capture. You may not be looking at everything you capture, or you may not have captured everything that is pleasing you. Easy to say, hard to do, I'm trying but I get a lot more bad than good.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
	Search this Thread: Advanced Search