Mountain Top

[z0mbina80]

Hello Well.. I'm generally pretty apprehensive of critique since I'm new and half expect the "it's horrible burn it" LOL but I could really use some advice on these type of shots since there are plenty of opportunity for these but I just never really get what I want out of them. They always come out... bland. I guess my composition could use some work on them but I'm not really sure how to handle composition in such a situation. Thanks in advance for any advice and please be nice ( but honest!),I'm a noob! lol ^.^

[KansaiGreenie]

Hi z0mbina80,

Nice to see another Japan based photographer! There is no reason to be "apprehensive" about critique. Generally speaking I think most people here at DPS are nice. Some people can be a little blunt, but don't worry about it. You should never take a anything that anyone says as a judgment of you personally. It is only a opinion about a photograph, not about you.

When I first saw this image, I immediately knew that it was an image of Japan, before I even looked at your location. I think you did a good job of capturing the sense of the place.

I guess my composition could use some work on them but I'm not really sure how to handle composition in such a situation.

For me, the first composition question that comes to mind with this image is: what is the subject? I think that maybe the reason why you think this image is "bland" is because you haven't made a clear choice of subject. Is this an image of a farm? A town? A bay? A bridge? It is clearly the view from the top of a hill, but as an artist you need to decide what is most important in that view.

Once you decide on the subject than you can compose the image so that the subject becomes the main focus. An easy way to do this is to use the 'rule of thirds' specifically the 'power points' where the 'third' lines intersect. Put your subject on one of the 'power points' and you will almost always have a visually interesting image.

Right now, when I look at this photo, I don't see anything significant on any of the 'power points'. The upper left PP is on trees near the bridge. The lower left is on bushes on the hill side. The lower right is on trees near the rice field. And the upper right is on the water in the bay. To me, none of those are a very interesting subject.

Of course everyone will have a different answer, but for me, the most interesting thing in the image and therefore a good subject, is the bridge in the background. It's got a nice graphic shape and is interesting. If I had taken this image, I would have perhaps put that in the upper left PP.

Anyway, come down from lectern professor....

I think that this image has real potential. You just need to decide what the image is about.

I hope that helps and I hope that I haven't put you off with my advice.

KG

[mwanafunzi]

Following on Kansai's advice, once you have decided what your subject is going to be, you could crop your image. Luminous landscape has a good article on ditto (Understanding The Art of Cropping).

It also looks like it good do with better exposure. If you are not able to go back and take the shot you could always do this in photoshop or the gimp.

[z0mbina80]

Great advice, thank you both! I do work with my exposures in photoshop a bit, so I should have no problem fixing this one up, I do notice what you mean about that now that i look at it again. As for the rule of thirds, I knew of this but wasn't sure how to set that up with SO MUCH in the shot lol. Now that you mention the power points that really brings that more into perspective, and it makes more sense with such a large area. I'll try to get back and try the shot again with your advice ( great excuse to go to the wonderful nearby pizza place too haha) Thank you for the article link as well, I am always looking for things to read to help better my photography since I'm still very much in the learning stage haha..

Thanks again

[windrider86]

Please be sure to include your exif so we can see what you had your camera settings on

[junglebear]

Well first off I think Kansai Greenie gave you some great advice, which I agree with.
Did you put a vignette on this shot? It certainly looks like its vignetted and I don't think that suits this type of shot. Also, with B&W images a really useful tool is dodge/burn to bring out highlights and put emphasis on the subject.
How did you convert to black and white? The image looks a little flat like it's been desaturated, a better way of converting is using the black and white channels tool in PS and playing with the sliders to give more contrast.

[z0mbina80]

whoops sorry Windrider I'll look that up.. totally forgot

Junglebear.. yeah, i prob. should have tried dodge and burn on this one.. guess i was being lazy on the PP. my conversion to B&W was done through the channels actually. So i will go back in and play around with it more to see if I can bring out more highlights and bring things to life more. oh and yeah, it was vignetted i believe...now that i look at it though I'm not too sure why i did that. I often do things in PP that i dislike later.. guess i overdo it in PS a lot haha.

Thanks for the advice