I was at a park taking some landscape pictures of Indian Lake this weekend. After looking at the pictures I noticed the sun hitting this gate and I thought it looked pretty cool so I cropped it out and lightened it a bit. I included the original for comparison. What do you think?

Hey,
Looks like a cool place. The original shot is not composed very well, i think. Lots of dark area in the foreground and right side, creating an unbalanced feel. Seems like I'm looking at a small part of the bigger image. The lighted gate would have been a nice subject for you to take at the time. The way it is here, it is too distant and the crop is such a small part of the original that alot of image quality has been lost in bringing that small piece of the pie out big. Keep at it

Hey,
Looks like a cool place. The original shot is not composed very well, i think. Lots of dark area in the foreground and right side, creating an unbalanced feel. Seems like I'm looking at a small part of the bigger image. The lighted gate would have been a nice subject for you to take at the time. The way it is here, it is too distant and the crop is such a small part of the original that alot of image quality has been lost in bringing that small piece of the pie out big. Keep at it


Thanks Gary,

I almost didn't post the original because I didn't like it either. The original was taked as part of a series of shots that I was going to sew together in PS to make an extra wide image of the lake. I didn't notice the gate till I got home and that was the only part of the picture that grabbed my eye... I wish I would have seen it sooner so I could have tried something else with it.

Hm, I like the overall progression of light/dark--how things all around the gate get progressively dark. Well, you're right, it is cool lighting on the gate, but I mean its a gate. What if, behind the gate, there was someone standing, perhaps holding a fishing rod or inner tube? It'd be cool if you could get the gate and the lake in the same shot. It is, like you said, some really cool lighting, but I don't think it makes for a stand alone image. Good eye though