Barn in a field
Discussion
Well done for putting your work on show, I can see what attracted you to the landscape. You've got a good viewpoint above the scene, the barn is nicely positioned on the lower third with a tractor track through the crop and another vehicle track on the other side leading the eye into the picture. You've also captured the sunlight falling on the trees behind. Finally you've put a good border around the image to hold the eye in. All good things.
You don't mention what kind of camera you used to take the picture. As you say the sky is on the bland side. By the looks of it you took the picture in the middle of the day. Try going back one evening if you can. You'll find the lighting conditions tend to be best at an hour or two before sunset or after dawn, this is because the sun won't have the energy to cause thick clouds, it also creates long shadows which bring out the shapes in the landscape, and also gives a warmer colour to the light.
The image is lacking a bit of interest on the left hand side and I find myself asking what's to the right of the vehicle track. When you go back try turning a few degrees to the right and see how that looks. If there's a hideous feature that needs to be avoided then try holding your camera upright so that you get a portrait format image of the scene - worth doing anyway as an experiment as you may find it quite pleasing.
Oh, and go back quickly as the farmer will probably harvest that lot very shortly !
You don't mention what kind of camera you used to take the picture. As you say the sky is on the bland side. By the looks of it you took the picture in the middle of the day. Try going back one evening if you can. You'll find the lighting conditions tend to be best at an hour or two before sunset or after dawn, this is because the sun won't have the energy to cause thick clouds, it also creates long shadows which bring out the shapes in the landscape, and also gives a warmer colour to the light.
The image is lacking a bit of interest on the left hand side and I find myself asking what's to the right of the vehicle track. When you go back try turning a few degrees to the right and see how that looks. If there's a hideous feature that needs to be avoided then try holding your camera upright so that you get a portrait format image of the scene - worth doing anyway as an experiment as you may find it quite pleasing.
Oh, and go back quickly as the farmer will probably harvest that lot very shortly !
Hmm. It's one of those subjects that is sort of there but not quite exciting if you know what I mean.
Taking it as it is you can produce a bit more detail in the sky area by darkening either the whole image or just the sky section with an editor. How you do it will depend on which editor you use. I tend to just make a gamma setting change unless things need to get complicated.
My editor managed to pick the entire sky in one hit using a 'magic wand' tool (selects where you click and everything around it that is within the parameters set for the tool.) So that could be darkened separately if required to increase the detail.
I would also be tempted to play with changing the aspect ratio and cropping a slither off the sky and maybe even off the left side, though in the end I though it looked better in your full original width but less height. Check what happens if you lose the edge of the bush on the extreme right as well.
I like the shot and it is pleasantly composed but just leaves me with the impression that the right dabbling, whatever it might be, would really 'lift' it to be something special. I cna;t quite pin down what it is though.
I tend to agree with te5icle. And experiment with a polarising filter.
Taking it as it is you can produce a bit more detail in the sky area by darkening either the whole image or just the sky section with an editor. How you do it will depend on which editor you use. I tend to just make a gamma setting change unless things need to get complicated.
My editor managed to pick the entire sky in one hit using a 'magic wand' tool (selects where you click and everything around it that is within the parameters set for the tool.) So that could be darkened separately if required to increase the detail.
I would also be tempted to play with changing the aspect ratio and cropping a slither off the sky and maybe even off the left side, though in the end I though it looked better in your full original width but less height. Check what happens if you lose the edge of the bush on the extreme right as well.
I like the shot and it is pleasantly composed but just leaves me with the impression that the right dabbling, whatever it might be, would really 'lift' it to be something special. I cna;t quite pin down what it is though.
I tend to agree with te5icle. And experiment with a polarising filter.
Thanks for the tips, much appreciated.
I think, as you said, to make this picture a better picture i think the sky and lighting is key and i reckon i'll go back one evening and try again. As you rightly said this was taken mid afternoon around 3pm.
Any comments on the quality of the image (rather than just the composition?) I used a 350D with a rather old 28-80mm lense.
I've only had this (my first real) camera for about a week so any constructive criticism at all is welcome
I think, as you said, to make this picture a better picture i think the sky and lighting is key and i reckon i'll go back one evening and try again. As you rightly said this was taken mid afternoon around 3pm.
Any comments on the quality of the image (rather than just the composition?) I used a 350D with a rather old 28-80mm lense.
I've only had this (my first real) camera for about a week so any constructive criticism at all is welcome
Just had a look at the exif data, you took the picture at 1/200th second with a focal length of 80mm so camera shake shouldn't be a problem. The aperture was f10 and that's nicely in the f8-f11 range where general purpose zoom lenses are at their sharpest and suffer no vignetting problems. Finally, the colour space is sRGB which is correct for web presentation. To be honest at the size of image on screen you're not going to see any lens problems unless they're serious mechanical faults.
I presume you downsized the image in Photoshop or something similar for presentation here, images tend to get a little bit soft in that process, it would be worth using the Unsharp Mask filter before you post next time. Oh, and there are ways of finding some more detail in the sky but more of that another time !
I presume you downsized the image in Photoshop or something similar for presentation here, images tend to get a little bit soft in that process, it would be worth using the Unsharp Mask filter before you post next time. Oh, and there are ways of finding some more detail in the sky but more of that another time !
My view is that camera-shake and out-of-focus usually look different, the former having a smear whilst the latter is evenly blurred.
However I've found that images look soft when reduced in size; my quick fix when Idropped from 3000 to 750 pixels is to use Filter>Sharpen and *bingo* the illusion of srarpness is amazing. Just don't try enlarging it back though!
However I've found that images look soft when reduced in size; my quick fix when Idropped from 3000 to 750 pixels is to use Filter>Sharpen and *bingo* the illusion of srarpness is amazing. Just don't try enlarging it back though!
For landscapes, I always like to boost the saturation. Makes it look a little less natural, but IMO it produces a better effect.
I also try not to resize photos I post and let the forum code do that, and then if someone wants to see a higher res version of the photo, they need only right-click it and view just the photo.
Just my 2 cents though.
I also try not to resize photos I post and let the forum code do that, and then if someone wants to see a higher res version of the photo, they need only right-click it and view just the photo.
Just my 2 cents though.
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