The Forest Light

[camyam73]

OK, this is one of the few shots I took the other day that came out ok. Again, I am new to SLR so it's not always easy to set all your own settings! I left the aperture large that day due to an overcast sky, but found my DOF too shallow, and the birds I shot were fuzzy due to a slow shutter speed. GRR. BUT THIS! I loved the colors and the light in this shot. I will add that the light rays were exaggerated in PS, but I love the effect. Please, constructive criticism! Settings - iso 200, F - 2.8 shutter 1/160, 17mm focal length.

[camyam73]

OK, no replies... that bad huh?

OK, here's a second version, lightened, and with an orton effect added. Again, I REALLY would love some feedback. I love these shots, but perhaps they are awful and I just cannot see it...

[RexK_Cozumel]

The shots could benifit greatly from some cropping. I would do a portrait crop to really emphasize the light rays (fingers of god). Lose the left and right portions of the photo as they are pretty dark and dont really add anything to the photo.

[rein]

agree with him,

[subrataofkris]

Liked the first one more, the emphasised rays of light is the sould of the composition here. Perhaps you can lighten the foreground a bit. F/2.8 is a spoiler, you had a lot to play as the shutter speed was 1/160. You can try to make a portrait crop to eliminate the dark sides and see if it looks better.