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04-19-2010, 11:01 AM   #1
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Sunset in sunset
Lens: 37.5 Camera: K20d ISO: 200 Shutter Speed: 1/2000s Aperture: F8 



This is definitely the least of my favorites in my not so serious "sunsets and silhouettes" series but a photog friend of mine really likes it and I'm not sure if he's pulling my leg.

What I see is a lack of contrast, too many distracting elements (trees and cars) and the composition just feels weak (too much foreground and vanishing point seems to just wander off center).

I did play with the curves to bring some color back in the sky but it made the sun look artificial. Maybe a tighter crop would make it better?

Am I just not seeing something?
For contrast, these are other in the same "series" which I like a lot better. Feel free to critique these too.

2.

3.

4.


04-19-2010, 11:20 AM   #2
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I would agree with you on the first photo for sure. There is a lack of a main subject and the entire photo is pretty dull to look at. Not only that, but there are a bunch of elements in the foreground that are really distracting.

Now on to your other photos which to me look pretty good and I really don’t see much of a problem with them. The first and second one fill me with the same feeling and that is that there is just too much going on in the sky for it to be enjoyable. The colors are definitely better, but you have trees and power lines and lights all blocking the view of the amazing sky. Now you may say well I like to silhouette all those things against the sky and that fine. However, here there is just too much to silhouette on these shots.

If you want to use a tree as a silhouette for a beautiful sunset that is fine, just make sure that you don’t overdo it as you did here. Now on to the last one which is my favorite of the bunch, you have a great simple sky with a beautiful silhouette of the windmill which is lovely. To be honest there is nothing wrong on the last shot because it is just so simple and simple is a good thing in my book. So thanks for sharing these great photos and I hope that my comments help you out.
04-19-2010, 11:41 AM   #3
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That does help since I'm often a bit too attached to my own work.

I guess for #2 and #3, I wasn't really trying to capture the sky but more the city during this time of day like a skyline silhouette.

The second one with trees I was really drawn to when I saw it since it looked like it was being framed by the trees towering over the light and the buildings behind.

I do see what you mean though that theres a lot going on. Would a crop in the central part make this one more interesting?

Thanks for your critiques and compliments though, I'll keep them in mind next time I feel like just snapping another cool looking sunset and think a bit beforehand.
04-19-2010, 02:55 PM   #4
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The last one is your best from this series, I would definitely say. The first one looks kind of muddy, and not that great because there's not really much detail in anything. If you changed it to a black and white you would fix that, but you would also probably lose the sunset idea that you're trying to give there.

The middle two of them are a little bit better, and I would put them in the middle of the range in how much I like them. The only problem is that the second one isn't very interesting whatsoever, at least to me, and the third one is too dark, but I like it because of the street light. I think that the sillouettes aren't quite defined enough for them to really stand out, you need to either clip them all to black or bring out more detail, because the in between that you have right here doesn't work that well.

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