herons at sunset

while not brilliant i hope witha crop and a little tweaking i am manging to better find compostion on some photos.

the foreground is dark i know, but the emphasis was on the herons returning to whereever they came from.

unfortunately i never got the chance to change lenses so it is what it is.

any suggestions would be greatfully received..

again i am still working wit hphotoshop so i can't lighten or darken or highlight.

good news gary ~ a cokin filter is on the horizon this week !!!!

i have found a couple of decent local places to look for some photo shoots..

we have a great little rail set up, and also believe it or not the entire "forbidden city" to 1/20 scale.

why in houston and why in katy where the locale is have no real clue.

apparently it is complete wit hterra cotta soldiers en masse.

hears hoping that weather works wonders.

meanwhile:

The horizon isn't level nor alas is the bit of the land at the bottom of the image. If you straighten the horizon you will mess up the land line unless you have already croped this and have more that you aren't showing.

If you don't have more image I would suggest leveling the horizon and cropping everything below the very top of the tree (removing the tree also). This would completly change the image but leave you with 3 interesting elements-the trees, the birds and just a bit of the horizon at the very bottom.

In this case, the fg being dark is a good thing! Silhouettes are great! My only problem with this image is that you have cropped off the fg too much. I would like to see a bit more so at least the peoples feet are not cut off.
The two trees cutting the photo into three parts could have been a bad thing, but somehow i think it is ok here. It works for me. The herons flying through the sky, which was the whole point of your shot in the first place, adds an interesting element in their flying over the people on the walk.
I like it, but want to see a little more foreground.
If you do not have more fg in the original, MB1's suggestion could work to help get something more of this.

Like Gary and MB1 said.....straighten and add more fg if you have it. If not crop like MB said.
Its really interesting watching people improve.

If the land and the horizon won't both be level, you can always use the "skew" tool to make it so (giving it a bit more foreground). I would try cropping out the left, just to the right of the left hand tree - I am not sure it would be better, but putting my hand over the monitor here, it MIGHT be.

This is a nice photo, especially if viewed large.

Cheers
Mike

this is the original.

they were putting up a portable film screen i think it was the march of the penguins across from the hotel. :p

i figured that all the people made it too "busy" but perhaps someone could suggest an alternative crop.


thanks again for all of your help

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by threelions usa

this is the original.

they were putting up a portable film screen i think it was the march of the penguins across from the hotel. :p

i figured that all the people made it too "busy" but perhaps someone could suggest an alternative crop.


thanks again for all of your help

---

What do you think of this crop????

I leveled the horizon and cropped out most of the people.

i prefer your crop to mine.

thanks

as for leveling the horizon ~ i am still trying to come to grips with PS.

the little tool i tried had me looking at something like the titanic sinking !!

:blush2: :blush2:

I had the same problem with the little tool.......click 'image' on top and there is a straighten up there that works better.

cheers frog.

i don't feel QUITE so embarrassed now, but i must have tried a dozen times on another picture and only moved it a little bit (or so i thought) and WHOA !!..

maybe that IS what happened to the titanic ~ the captain used the straightening tool a little bit TOO much...

:D

I like freygr's straightening, but I think I prefer the first shot in regards to exposure and cropping better. I like how there's very little foreground showing, it allows the people and stuff to be just out of sight enough to be mysterious.

Overall, a very nice sunset capture. The birds cutting across really work here!

GB