Schulenberg Sunset

[LittleMissKissThis]

Hi everyone,
Although I'm a complete novice, I adore photography and this is my first upload to the forum - one of my own personal favourites, I used Paint Shop Pro to alter the saturation, contrast etc and I really like the finished photo! But, I'd love to see some feedback from those of you that have far more experience (and a better eye!) than I do!
Thanks in advance
Sarah :thumbsup:

[gahspidy]

Welcome to the forum, Sarah.

First off, I think you did well with the composition and framing of this scene. The trees and foliage frame the image nicely and the horizon (if we can imagine where it is behind the house and trees) is about 1/3 up from the bottom which follows the old rule of thirds...(and like all rules, it can be broken at times)

The photo can be cropped down about a quarter from the top, but I think the color in the sky up there is too pleasing to lose.

Not the most beautiful of sunsets or the most interesting of foreground but what you did get here you framed nicely and brought out some beautiful color in your post processing. The purples and orange hues in the sky fading down into earthy greens in the fg is beautiful.

There is a great deal of contrast here from a scene that demands a high dynamic range, meaning that the sky has lots of blown out highlights and the foreground is very dark and shadowy with little detail in the dark areas. As you advance in your photography you will learn how to control this to a degree by shooting in RAW format, advanced editing skills, camera with more dynamic range (although i'm not sure what your using presently) and more advanced techniques like HDR processing.

Glad you found us here, and looking forward to more of your photography.

[LittleMissKissThis]

Thank you Gary, for the welcome and the suggestions!
I am currently using my simple Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS but am hoping to upgrade soon - just need to find out which camera would best suit my needs/budget!