Whats wrong with this image.

BengaLover

The original was a tad tepid looking, so I warmed it up a wee bit, I cant put my finger on it but something doesnt look quite right with it..All critique appreciated..

melekalikimaka

tis soft

pixbyjohn

melekalikimaka wrote: »

tis soft

Plus 1

Effects

no HDR

nicknackgtb

Out of focus

Diabhal_Glas

I wouldn't be crazy about the composition either.

Freddie59

+1 to the softness and out of focus.

Was it tripod-mounted? Is it an IS lens?

Weylin

out of focus ! and possible camera shake.

pullandbang

No swans...

BengaLover

I liked the image because the lake was so still it mirrored the mountains so well, but the focus must be off as I didnt use a tripod.

pullandbang

BengaLover wrote: »

but the focus must be off as I didnt use a tripod.

Not using a tripod won't put your focus off. However it will lead to blurriness if your shutter speed is too slow.

pegasus1

Upside down?

Both sides look like a reflection..

CarrickMcJoe

Looks like an alligator

Hugh_C

the composition is a little too centred for me. Softness is a major problem. Go back up there and try again

humberklog

Awful thing to point the camera at in the first place.

FoxT

You have lots of nice ingredients!
- lovely colours
- hazy mountains in the background, giving a layered effect
- no swans (!)
- beautiful, still water

...but it doesnt work.

It looks out of focus/blurred, which is very distracting. Regarding composition, there is nothing to 'lead the eye' into the picture. No strong pattern, leading lines , or focal point. (You dont need all of these, 1 or 2 would be great)

Do go back though, you have found a location with potential. Bring a tripod, and use.it.all.the.time. 2 reasons for this - It increases your setup time, so you have more time to think about the end result, and also it allows you to use lowest iso/shutter speed & smallest aperture combination.

Also, when you go back, shoot from a number of different angles/locations & try & find the best composition.


Having done all that, you will need to go back a couple more times, to find the best light etc...all part of the joys of landscape photography

gc1971

Diabhal_Glas wrote: »

I wouldn't be crazy about the composition either.

+1

BengaLover

Thanks for the constructive comments, this particular landscape drew my eye as I drove past, hence the pic, normally mountains and lakes dont do it for me, I have bought a shutter remote to help with the tripod set up to avoid any camera shake.
In my untrained eye the focal point was the meeting point in the middle where the reflections met but i guess thats not what everyone else was looking at...

melekalikimaka

BengaLover wrote: »

Thanks for the constructive comments, this particular landscape drew my eye as I drove past, hence the pic, normally mountains and lakes dont do it for me, I have bought a shutter remote to help with the tripod set up to avoid any camera shake.
In my untrained eye the focal point was the meeting point in the middle where the reflections met but i guess thats not what everyone else was looking at...

yeah for this sort of shot you'd want more than one point in focus, great potential for a shot at sunset or sunrise

uck51js9zml2yt

Were was it taken?

BengaLover

Mayo..thems the OX mountains.

velopeloton

Date Time Original 2010:07:23 01:45:12
Exposure Time 1/160
F Number 5
Exposure Program Landscape mode
ISO Speed Ratings 125
Metering Mode Pattern
Flash Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length 100
White Balance Auto white balance
Make SONY
Model SLT-A33

A lot of things wrong here, not least the time on the camera.
Main problem with the photo is it is not focused.
Location has potential, try manual mode or AV mode at F18 or F22, with tripod. What lens is that, 100mm rarely works for landscape.

BengaLover

velopeloton wrote: »

Date Time Original 2010:07:23 01:45:12
Exposure Time 1/160
F Number 5
Exposure Program Landscape mode
ISO Speed Ratings 125
Metering Mode Pattern
Flash Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length 100
White Balance Auto white balance
Make SONY
Model SLT-A33

A lot of things wrong here, not least the time on the camera.
Main problem with the photo is it is not focused.
Location has potential, try manual mode or AV mode at F18 or F22, with tripod. What lens is that, 100mm rarely works for landscape.

Is that all the technical info for my pic? How on earth did you get all that!
The lens was a minolta macro zoom 75-300 If im not mistaken.

Villain

Plenty of ways to get the info, e.g. http://camerasummary.com/exif-information.php shows:

Resolution Unit: Inches
File Size: 44508 bytes
File DateTime: 08-Feb-2012 12:47:45
Flash Used: No Flash
Image Desc: SONY DSC
Make: SONY
Model: SLT-A33
yResolution: 350.00 (350/1) Inches
File Modified Date: 2012:02:06 15:45:16
YCbCr Positioning: 2
Exposure Time: 0.006 s (1/160) (1/160)
F Number: f/5.0
Exposure: Reserved
Iso Equiv: 125
Exif Version: 0230
DateTime: 2010:07:23 01:45:12
DateTime Digitized: 2010:07:23 01:45:12
Component Config: Does Not Exists
Jpeg Quality: Basic
brightness: 6.50 (650/100)
Exposure Bias: 0.00 (0/10)
Aperture: 4.99332219561
Metering Mode: Multi-Segment
Light Source: Cloudy
Focal Length: 100.00 (1000/10)
Exif Comment:
Flashpix Version: 0100
Color Space: sRGB
Width: 640
Height: 426
GPS Latitude Ref: Reserved
GPS Latitude:
Source Type:
Scene Type:
Custom Rendered: Normal Process
Exposure Mode: Auto Exposure
White Balance: 0
Flength 35mm: 150
Screen Capture Type: Landscape
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Compress Scheme: JPEG compression (thumbnails only)
xResolution: 350.00 (350/1) Inches
Thumbnail: Yes
Thumbnail Size: 5276 bytes
IsColor: 1
Process: 192
Resolution: 640x426
Color: Color
Jpeg Process: Baselin

You can of course just use file properties to view info in windows.

Kenny Logins

BengaLover wrote: »

Is that all the technical info for my pic? How on earth did you get all that!

Handy extension for Chrome. ^^

BengaLover

Well you learn something new every day!
Thats very useful, now I can use that as a reference point for correcting future mistakes..thanks!

velopeloton

BengaLover wrote: »

Is that all the technical info for my pic? How on earth did you get all that!
The lens was a minolta macro zoom 75-300 If im not mistaken.

EXIF Viewer for Google Chrome.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lplmljfembbkocngnlkkdgabpnfokmnl

BengaLover

It would be great to have a general critique area in this forum- is there one or have I just not seen it?

AnCatDubh

BengaLover wrote: »

It would be great to have a general critique area in this forum- is there one or have I just not seen it?

Nope, all you need to do is as you've done - create your own thread. Normally put C&C in the title to indicate that you have your belt and braces on.

Apart from what people have mentioned previously, I'd suggest that the light wasn't your friend and led to washed out colours in your shot. It's generally lacking in vibrancy and 'punch'. May not be much that you can do about given as you say it was a stop by the side of the scene as you happened along the way, except perhaps plan a return visit for dawn or twilight and compare results.

FoxT

..you took the photo on my birthday!

Gregor Samsa

Since the main issues with the photo have been identified, some comic relief on the general subject of C&C...


http://xkcd.com/1014/

joeKel73

The composition needs work I think. The two mountains coming down bring your attention to the greener hill in the center... and it's not the most photogenic hill.

Another note is the mountain on the left peaks before the end of frame, and leads the eye out of the photo again... cropping that out helps prevent that I think;


(also sharpened and water line less central)

Doesn't look to me so much like it's out of focus. Rather, I'd say you have a small image, and you stretched it to make it larger, no?

It's very pixelated looking. Do you have a larger version of it you can post?

BengaLover

See, thats the thing im getting to grasps with - when I post an image here, I use the windows image resizer powertoy to resize it to Large, then I upload that image to tinypic, at the message board setting, maybe im not posting images at the original resolution if i do that?
Any tips on how I should save/upload etc so as not to lose image quality and get too much pixelation?
See my pics here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=77003263#post77003263

The bottom one was taken with an aspherical macro, and the pic seems to have self cropped, I dont know why, as I didnt alter the image at all - it went straight from card to tinypic, yet the image is small and uploaded that way despite my using ther resizer.
Wish there was a camera club near me, but unfortunately it looks like ill be pestering you guys instead..:rolleyes:

AnCatDubh

BengaLover wrote: »

Any tips on how I should save/upload etc so as not to lose image quality and get too much pixelation?

Oh but you are putting hardship on yourself

Just click on 'more sizes' on your image in pix.ie that you wish to share.

Select which size you want to share (800px on longest side tends to work on here).

Scroll to the bottom of the image and pix.ie gives you the code. Copy the forum code and paste it in your post on here.

That's it. You are putting your stuff on pix.ie already so you might as well use it to its fullest.

BengaLover

Thank you! im so used to using photobucket/tinypics that I didnt realise pix did same..

Lionsden

Most of the points about the pic have been covered, but there is one which I think is also the problem. There is nothing in the pic the give the viewer a sense of scale. the hill in the centre could be a couple of miles accross, or not much more than a lorryload of gravel. A tree, a person or something would help, and would also give a focal point.

Just my tuppence worth.

Leo.

Heebie

Tweaked a bit in curves in GIMP. (not on color calibrated monitor.. just a quickie)

BengaLover

Soo.. I returned, and this is one location that I will continue to drive past in future and tick it off my list. I focused on the reflection rather than the midline, and the image is still boring and pointless..its nice in the flesh but you wouldn't want it on your wall..:D
Here is the second take.

Anouilh

In the original, the focus seems to be on the reflection in the foreground.

If you just turn the image upside down (vertical rotation), it looks alright.

JenMulkerrin

its completely out of focus! Other than that its not bad at all!