Summer Hill

[LaurenA.]

I took this in California on our vacation. I shot it with my Nikon D5000
Focal length 200mm
1/640s
f/6.3
ISO200

[windrider86]

Hi Lauren.
Per DPS guidelines, do you have a specifc question to ask? What is it you would like for us to critique?

[LaurenA.]

I'm sorry. I missed the part about specific question. I thought when you are critiqued that the person that critiques lets you know what is wrong and how to fix it. I guess I would like to know if I took a picture worthwhile. Should I crop it more? I love sepia tone and I used saturation on top of that to make it stand out more. Do they look good together? If it was blown up and framed, would you want to look at it? Should I have taken the picture with the bench centered or does it look nice off center?

[mwanafunzi]

Asking a specific question, even though it might not seem like it, makes the feedback a lot more useful.

A side effect of criticising yourself before eliciting help, is that when you are out taking the photo, you force yourself to think about the shot you are taking.

Sometimes you might not be able to think of something specific. So you could always say what it was you were trying to capture when taking the photo and find out whether you have achied that or not.

[LaurenA.]

Originally Posted by mwanafunzi

you could always say what it was you were trying to capture when taking the photo and find out whether you have achied that or not.

Well I used to climb that hill when I was little. So I felt a little wistful, nostalgic. I wanted to look at the picture and see myself climbing that hill and taking a little rest on the bench. I guess a good question is, does it make you feel that way?

I am actually thinking of blowing it up and framing it. I love the picture, but would other people want to see it on my wall when they visit? Would someone else want to hang it up?

Thank you for helping me to understand and the tip.

[mwanafunzi]

Based on what you have said, I think that we need to see a lot more of the bench. At the moment it is barely visible.

From the photo you have taken it doesn't look like cropping will be a good solution. You might want to consider taking the photo again - if you have the chance.

bench.jpg

The other thing that is very distracting is the color overlay that you have given the photo. It could do without it.

Having said that, if the photo takes you back the way you said it does, then by all means print the photo and frame it.