hi! critiques and comments please. just started with the dslr less than a year ago. thanks!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/2286499532_70185ecbdd.jpg

olympus e410
42mm, f 5.6, 1/40, ISO-100, EV +.7 step

not bad....to be honest....i love the photo

manila bay? it's a nice picture.

@ benjietiongco: yup manila bay, close to sunset. was a bit cloudy but some of the pink sky still came thru :)

@ Dustein - thanks! i showed it to a friend and he suggested to desaturate some more, like close to monochrome...haven't tried it yet though

The horizon is dead centered, I would prefer to see either more of the sky or the water. Other than that I think it's great...nice subtle tones.

I like the subtle tones... very calming. For me, the horizon being centered works on this picture since the pinkish sky keeps the gray in the upper third. It doesn't seem boring yet it feels relaxing.

I seem to be rocking the boat here, the muted colors don't work for me. I would probably boost this somehow (curves in LR or PS for me). I would also crop most of the blue-gray sky out, and maybe just a little off the bottom. Of course, this

Just a suggestion, next time try putting the horizon not dead center but significantly higher or lower within the frame. This will improve your composition.:)

I do love the mood of the photo. The contrast and saturation works for me.

Thanks for sharing!

thanks for your comments. yeah i was thinking of making the photo a bit more rectangular, cropping some of the sky and water. here's the cropped photo:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3195/2286729007_bfb6a764fb.jpg

And if I may add, when putting the horizon slightly higher or lower, imagine that you have a tic-tac-toe grid on your viewfinder. Now line up the horizon with the upper horizontal line if you want to emphasize on the water, or the lower line for the sky. Then in the future you'll find the two vertical lines useful in placing subjects there, not just centered.

here's a more saturated one. i boosted the red, yellow, cyan and magenta channels:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2286750087_af1150a0e2.jpg

Hi Lily

The saturated colors really work much better for me. Other than that, I think pretty much everything has been said about your placement of the horizon.

I just wonder if you'd try cropping the image more and move the horizon up or down some more if that would help the balance. If you take a look at the right edge you will notice that the boat has been "cut in half" by the edge of the frame. However, the boat on the left border is whole, with just a bit of water in front of it. That is where I would try and crop the image from. I'm not sure if it would make it look any better but it might be worth a try. Try one with more water and another one with more sky.

Photography is all about experimentation. Have fun with it!

I love reflections. My only comment on the first picture was the cold color. Boosting the saturation helped. Just be careful with doing that as some people go overboard and the colors become unnatural.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/2296419396_e4b02fae36_o.jpg


See/feel the light.

wow, that also works :)

although my dilemma when postprocessing is always up to what extent i edit it.
i'd want to stay true to what was the actual scene but enhance it just a little like cropping for a tighter shot, or fixing the shadows and highlights, saturation.

i guess that's when it becomes subjective.

basta net net, it should be a compelling and interesting photo.

light was flat on this particular day you photographed this scene. and for almost any kind of landscape/scenery shot, without nice light, you'd end up with an ordinary image.

framing is not a big issue for me, although cropping off the sky to put bias for the lower half of your photo would help improve focus on your boats.

i like that one boat with the darker mast. the eye is drawn to this immediately and that's a good thing.