Japanese garden

[amrita]

Hello All

I am new to SLR photography and to posting. I am still very much learning my way around my camera and enjoying the process too. On occaision I tweak photos on iPhoto but other than that I don't really do any PP.

This is a photo I took a few days ago whilst roaming the streets in Kyoto. I really enjoy the detailing of the roofs here and wanted to capture the intricacy of the detail against the moody sky. I am trying to get really sharp pictures and also play with DOF but I don't know how well I am succeeding. I would appreciate any feedback about composition and the sharpness or lack thereof.

From 03.02 Kyoto Feb 2011

The direct link is here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

EXIF:
Camera: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 500D
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/50 sec
Aperture: 9.0
Focal Length: 123mm
Flash Used: No


Thanks!

[digirebelva]

composition wise, its not doing much for me (that hot spot in the sky is commanding my attention more then the subject), but thats a individual thing. Sharpness wise it looks like you need to stop down a few more stops to say F11 as the lower right of the image is a bit out of focus,

[Krusty79]

I think you could zoom in more and emphasize the texture of the roof components or zoom out and capture more of the overall roof, but as it looks now, your kind of in between the two and I don't find it that compelling.

It also looks like the closest part of the roof is not in focus. I don't know if you did that intentionally. I started using manual focus so I can control the focus instead of relying on autofocus, as some of the pros on this site said autofocus can come back to haunt you.

[SwissJon]

I don't know why, but my eye is drawn to the detail at the end of the roof, bottom right..

I'd like to see a recomposed photo using the widest aperture your lens can manage with this in focus only. I think the shape in the roof naturally draws the eye to this point, so if you compose the photo to take advantage of this, and put it at a sweet 1/3 spot, you'll have a much better composition.

[amrita]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I did intentionally blur the section of the roof in the bottom right, but I think I will return to that garden today and take a few more shots with your comments on board!

Thanks again
Amrita