Afternoon walk

[dennylee60]

Hello all,
I took these two shots during an afternoon walk by my office. I have not tried much with nature photography, any suggestions would be great. I edited the tree picture by sharpening the image and the color.

[swmdrayfan]

Nice dof on the cactus shot, and it's tack sharp, but it could be a little brighter though, but that's me.

Top shot very nice, but perhaps the tree could be a little more to the left or right. Those branches on the lower left intrude into the shot, so maybe a different angle? Not bad for limited experience in landscape though.
John

[dennylee60]

John,
Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking about editing the branches out but have not had a chance yet. I will definitely give that a try. Thanks again. All the suggestions I received on this forum has been extremely helpful.

Denny

[ChowChi-Ching]

I like both shots, the cactus is very nice. Possibly getting a little more in the shot next time?
I think that if you cropped the over exposed sky off the top of the tree, then it would really bring out the green in the leaves. I personally like the fern branches coming in from the side.

[GB1]

The bottom shot is very good - I love the DOF. However I would have increased the depth more so that the front red thingee (fruit?) was also in focus. The top shot is decent: if there was an animal at the bottom right part of the photo, it would have been ideal (he could have been saying "This is my home.").

[Hindey]

I agree with ChowChi-Ching with regards to the crop on the first photo. A quick levels adjustment in the second photo will really bring it out.

I like both pictures, but the top one is my favourite.

[masdog]

Hi Denny. The composition for the first shot is good, but it looks like you're having exposure issues. It seems like there is too much dynamic range for one exposure. To get this to work, you might want to consider trying this shot at some time other than early afternoon when the sun is overhead. It could take care of the overexposed parts of the image. Try the times around sunrise and sunset (if possible). A yellow/orangish background could make for a very dynamic image.

I like the sharpness of the second one, but like others have said, try to get more of the plant.