Whoo boy. First time...

[Sable]

Hello all of you wonderful DPS people!

I'm just starting out in the world of photography - but I admit that, most of the time, I have no idea what I'm doing. I've had a Canon 30D since July and have taken quite a few shots with it - some I like, some I don't. This, however, is one of the ones I'm fond of, though I admit it's far from perfect...

I'd love to hear what wiser people have to say about it, so here it is!



This was taken on an October day with low fog.

Canon EOS 30D
Canon 28-135mm IS USM lens
Manual exposure with tripod
1/8s
f/22
ISO 500


It was also:

1.) De-noised using GREYCstoration (GiMP)
2.) Contrast-enhanced
3.) Very slight colour saturation.

Suggestions/failures/etc. very welcome, admittedly with a slight feeling of apprehension.

Thanks!

Edited with smaller photo. Sorry!

[Sime]

I'm really sorry that someone wise didn't jump in... for now, you will have to put up with me :-)

I love the light on the left front leaves, I love the amount of blur in the water.. gives it a sense of "moving but peaceful" I love how the bridge leads my eye into the frame and then the waterfall captures it and keeps it firmly in the picture... I am not sure about how the bridge leads out to the right.. I dunno.. there is something that says "I really want to see the whole bridge" and then, something else that yells "I dont want to see the other side of the bridge, but, i'd like it to be more eeerie and fading off..sort of"

I like your photo and look forward to seeing more from you!! you're very welcome to DPS.

Gotta love a 30D eh!... [oh yeah, I added you on flickr, hope that's cool?]

Sime

[jiminyClickit]

Sable, Welcome

While I'm waiting for gigantic photo file to load, here's a link to ways you can get a good critique:

The 'Rules' for this Critique Forum

Color is a strong part of your photo, I can see why you favor it. Silky water is hard for some to achieve, and this is pretty good. Sharpness could be a little better, simple editting probably would be enough. If you hadn't mentioned fog, I might have thought there was some Sun glare on the upper right. That day's memory probably helps you see more fog. Good shot, Sable.

BOO! (In case your apprehension was still in place)

[Sable]

Hello!

Wow, I hadn't expected replies so quickly - hence the long lag here.

The bridge actually doesn't extend much farther to the right of this shot, but I can see where wanting to see the rest of it would come in.

I'm not sure what I could do to make the shot much "sharper" - just use a built-in sharpening tool in GIMP/Photoshop, or is it the kind of sharpness that would be better served by a new lens? At the moment I'm rocking the Canon 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens, but have the 24-105 f/4 L in my sights.

I notice personally that there seems to be more "fuzziness" to the right side of the image - the original image was somewhat inexplicably (to me) quite noisy, resulting in what felt like a loss of colour information (Recovered somewhat by simply boosting contrast) as well as the "fuzz." I'm pleased with how the right side of the photo and the waterfall came out, but there is that patch in the upper-right I'm unsure of how to work with - or even if I need to at all.

Thanks so much for being such a welcome community, DPS!

[jiminyClickit]

Sable,

During a workweek, it may take a little longer to get a response. Enjoy the holiday service!

That 1/8sec shutter speed is a good candidate for adding a slight unsharpness. How some systems search for focus, or your eyes see it through the viewfinder, or your shutter release technique, any number of things can throw it off some.

As long as you can describe/tell about the fog of that day, the upper right is part of the atmosphere of that time. Coolness, versus the sunny left.