At the end of the day.

[JJthethird]

This is a shot that I took yesterday, how do you think it could be improved?

John.

[Teewinot]

John,

Very nice story you've told here. Beautiful rays coming out of the clouds...also nice dusk light, although perhaps a pinch too dark. Straight horizon! Yay! I love that you included the cows (and that they are both so nicely posing for you), although I feel like they are really pressed against the corner of the frame. Could you open this space up a little? That might also let in a bit more fence...as of now, I barely notice the fence and it has potential to be a really nice addition to your composition.

Great catch! Thanks for sharing!

[JJthethird]

Thank you for your comments Teewinot, I took a few shots of the scene (as you do), is this any better?

John.



I think that I prefer the light in the first one.

[ELAY]

Both are eye-catching, though I think if I don't think trading less sky for more beef in #2 is the way to go -- I think I prefer 1.

You've done a good job exposing the sky.

But getting the sky right meant leaving your foreground a bit dark. That may be an effect you like, but you could try experimenting with lightening the foreground (while keeping the sky) by using a photoshopped neutral density gradient filter -- basically you duplicate your photo on a separate layer, correct one for foreground and one for sky, and using a layer mask and a gradient to combine them to your advantage.

If you are interested there's a discussion here.

Cheers,

EL

[rfdphoto]

My suggestion - and i don't know how advanced you are with photoshop - is to clone out the 3rd cow, and then you can combine the two photos, giving a lot of sky and just enough fence to make everyone happy... ;-)

[JJthethird]

Thanks for the ideas,

@ Elay, thanks for the link. I'll have a better look in the morning but just flicking through it looks like it could help. Cheers.

@ rfdphoto, that sounds like a great idea, although I'm not sure if I'm adept enough with PP to achieve it, but I'll give it a go. Watch this space, lol.

Thanks again, John.



Hows this?

[jiminyClickit]

JJthethird,

Getting the green back helped, on the left under the larger shaft of light. Overall look is improved, process is good. You may want to have another go at skyline, to clean the brown halo area, center and right side (real nitpicking: tiny partial clouds, center left side, distracting; little centered bush, same). And I'd hang it.

[JJthethird]

Cheers Jiminy, I'll go back and give your suggestions a try. Thanks again for your (always useful) advice and suggestions.

John.

[JJthethird]

There you go Jiminy, I know that I'm not the greatest at PP but is this what you were seeing?

John.

[underexposed]

Those are very nice shots.