Critique please

[wycopsycho]

The Road To Nowhere.

[Frog]

I like the composition very much.
I think if you shot in raw, you may be able to bring out some detail in the shadows without blowing out the sunset part anymore.
Welcome aboard!

[wycopsycho]

Yeah im sure you are right, but I have a lot of trouble with RAW images. I think it may have something to do with me being colorblind but I can never get the colors to suit me in RAW. I also love highly saturated images which I think also has to do with my eyes limited color range. Thanks for you comments and hopefully one day will become more comfortable using RAW images.

Hillbilly

[Frog]

may I play with it?

[GB1]

There's several exciting colors here - the blues, reds and yellows. But there also is not much detail in the foreground, just a few puddles.. I am not sure it had enough to hold one's interest. It is also somewhat soft and/or has a shallow depth of field, as you can see the background getting a bit fuzzy. Did you use a tripod? Really have to do that on shots like this.

G

[jetrim]

Like the idea, the color, and composition very much, but agree w/ the others that the foreground needs to be brought up a bit to reveal the detail.

[Greg McCary]

I agree with the others. The picture is really composed well and certainly sets a mood. Some more detail in the foreground would really work here. In a situation like this shooting in RAW and then dropping the lights and bringing up the shadows and adding some fill light would bring some needed detail in the shadows.

[danic]

Very dramatic colours! I like them, which is unusual for me as I generally don't like dramatic colours.

The whole photo seems a little soft though, maybe use a tripod or something similar?

It's a simple composition, but I think it works very well. Keep shooting!

[wycopsycho]

Wow you guys are very honest, Ilove it. Most sites I have visited always want to tell you how wonderful your photo is and you can never learn what is needed to get better. I have intentionaly chosen bad images before just to prove this point.

Frog: Yes you can play with it.

GB1: No I didnt use a tripod one this particular shot. I had already packed it up and my daughter had already taken it to the truck for me. Was leaving the park for the evening and looked back and decided to shoot this shot. Ofcourse i had to lower the DOF to hand hold the photo.

Danic : Im glad you liked the dramatic colors in this one even if you normally dont, I may have atleast gotten one by you then seeing as most of my shots are very vibrant and saturated.

Thanks again for the CC,
Hillbilly

[dannn]

Hi, Wonderful composition. Regarding the foreground, yep I would have played with the exposure of the camera, or perhaps some fill flash. I might have put a small remote flash out toward the road and see what that did. I've had many shots like this when I exposed for the best sun colors I could get , but underexposed the dramatics. Just taking a couple dozen photos right there and then, helps a lot. Then afterwards look at the cameras playback data and see what worked best. Have a nice day.

[caleb]

I think it would be more captivating by changing the hue of the puddles to match the pink/orange area of the sky in that side of the photo.

[Frog]

Did a rather severe lightening of shadows and a little darkening highlights and some mid-tone contrast in ps elements 6.
Others more adept with photoshop could probably do better but this is an example of what is possible. If you shot in raw, you can do even better.

[alexkhoo82]

Yes you can do even better.. if not.. you can try HDR..

[MichaelD]

Did a rather severe lightening of shadows and a little darkening highlights and some mid-tone contrast in ps elements 6.

You corrected too much Frog. All the photo needs is some visible details in the shadows, everything beyond that kills the great mood that this image has. Also if you lighten the shadows too much, the image shifts out of balance and makes the silhouette of the tree a slightly distracting element.

Additionally I would slightly crop off piece of the top and bottom and use Photoshop’s dodge tool set to “highlights” to >slightly< increase the brightness of the mist to further increase the mood of the shot.

[wycopsycho]

I love the idea of changing the hue of the puddles to match the pink/orange area of the sky
caleb. I also think Frog overdid it for the mood I was attempting to capture, but I appreciate his input as well as the time he spent trying to do something with it. I thought about HDR but I try not to do too much HDR because when I start I seem to do everything I shoot HDR. Kinda addicting to me. I think I am going to also try dodging the highlights to slightly increase the brightness of the mist thanks MichaelD. Cant wait to get off duty so I can go home and play with this image some more. Thanks again everyone for your CC I am already learning some wonderful ideas.

Thanks,
Hillbilly