Beginner Landscape: Winter Tree

[SuizoPR]

Hello DPS.
Las winter I was on a trip to Switzerland and managed to get some good shots with my Nikon P100. Included in the ones that stood out was this tree I captured as the sun was setting. I applied a retro-ish filter in photoshop and cropped out a tiny piece of sky. I was aiming for one of those vintage pictures which include quotes in helvetica.
Since for that time I was a beginner at photography, this shot was made in Full Auto.

I'd strongly appreciate criticism and a look at my FLICKR

EXIF:
1/305s
f/6.3
ISO: 160

[SwissJon]

I suggest you follow the instructions found in the forum rules thread about embedding pictures from photosharing sites.. Very few people will follow links that take them off site, there's no telling what nasties lurk behind the links.

Critique Forum Rules

[SuizoPR]

I am deeply sorry! I fixed this post and will include the HTML code in all forthcoming ones.
Thank you!

[SwissJon]

I like this photo, it's clean and simple.. But you still need to include more Exif data. Focal length, camera and lens capability. This gives us enough information to help suggest how you could improve in the future.

I think you have cropped a little close to the edges for my taste. It would have been nice to see a little sky between the tree and the border.

The blue filter is a bit wrong for me. The scene will have already been blue, because it's a snow scene in the shade enhancing it seems a mistake, I would prefer to have seen you white balance this and then either leave it that way, or convert it to black and white to enhance the contrasts. The powerline poles in the background effectively remove this pictures candidacy for an "olde style" finish.. But if you somehw managed to clone those lines out, then perhaps you could get away with this as it is.. Don't forget.. "Olde Style" photos will have a slight texture and grain to them, and a very small amount of vignetting. (Go easy on the Vignetting tool, it's easy to over do it. )

[EOBeav]

I agree with the above comments regarding editing. Maybe try this one as a straight b/w?

[Krusty79]

Nice shot of the tree, but I don't associate a blueish color with a retro look. The retro shots usually use a sepia type color and sometimes add a texture to the image. I also find that pole in the lower left corner a bit distracting.

[SuizoPR]

Hello, and thank you all for your criticism! I will take it into consideration for my next shots and post-editing.
To be honest, the filter had no user-input on my behalf, it was just a photoshop action which looked nice to my eye. Very noobish, I know. I'll refrain from using them in the future..

For the curious ones, here is the original shot:

EXIF:
1/305
f/6.3
ISO 160
10.3mm
Nikon P100

[SwissJon]

We all started here at some point, don't worry, nobody is going to point an laugh just cos you're new and aren't sure of yourself, the critique thread is about helping people improve their photography skills and post processing skills.. What version of photoshop are you using?

[SuizoPR]

Thank you for your understand... I honestly thought I was going to get flamed right away
I'm currently using CS5 Extended!

[SwissJon]

I don't think I've come accross anyone flaming anyone else on this site, we're here to learn, not to prove we're better than each other.. Anyhow, your abilities or lack of as a photographer don't make me any better or worse, but teaching you the things I've learned helps me re-examine my own skills.. So I'd rather encourage than discourage.

Anyhow, I don't think you lack skills, just experience.

OK, In CS5 there's plenty of ways to achieve the desired effect. I won't go into it and repeat what has been written else where, but I suggest you look at some of the training videos that are available. Make a copy of your file so you aren't working on the original, and then fiddle and see what you can achieve without using the set filters. What you did was certainly an improvement on the original, but applying a standard filter in CS5 doesn't teach you anything. Everything you can achieve in a filter like this, you can achieve manually also, you just need to learn how.

Try some of these videos on You Tube, see what the different settings do, there's a lot to learn in CS5, but it's incredibly powerful once you learn to use it creatively.

YouTube - Photoshop CS5 Essential Training - White Balance

Have a look in the Post Processing and tuturials sections of this forum too.

Tutorials
Post Processing and Printing

Oh yeah.. And one last thing.. Learn to take your camera out of "Auto" mode.. Learn what Speed priority and Aperture Priority does, and then learn to put your camera in full manual mode.. If you're afraid of missing a shot, put the camera in Auto, take the shot, then switch to one of the other modes, and fiddle.. You can't lose because you have your original shot, but you'll learn, and very soon realise why my camera stays in manual mode for most times, and Aperture Priority or Speed Priority for the occasions when I don't have time to think and adjust everything.

Welcome to DPS