sun over river

[milsky]

I am very much the beginner! I took this looking over the river wye at my cousin's property. I like the shot but not sure if the sun is too much! I dont have photoshop either so have been limited with pot production. What do you think of the shot generally? and do you think it could be altered for the better I did have photoshop?

NIKON D3100
f/29
1/200sec
ISO 400
exposure bias - -2.3step
focal length 26mm
max aperture 4.2

[navcom]

It's a cool shot but I do think the sun is a bit much, especially since there is some pretty good lens flare going on (green dots, etc.) which distracts from the composition a bit. I'm going to guess you used f/29 because you were trying to get the most sun flare as possible.

Unfortunately this small of an aperture can contribute to some of that lens flare and also creates a lot of diffraction, which is softening your image a bit. It might be best to limit your aperture to something around f/16 or so. It might give you the best trade-off for image quality and sun flare. Also, consider using the lowest ISO your camera can handle. This will also get the best quality. While newer cameras are not that bad at ISO 400, it's still a good habit to get into. Every bit helps!

Two questions: did you use an ND grad and did you have a lens hood on?

Hope that helps!

[Krusty79]

That's a good shot for a beginner. I love the golden light in the foreground. That lens flare is too overpowering for my taste, but you have to please yourself first. Did you take any other shots a few minutes later? I would have recommended that so the sun and flare would not be so prominent.

[milsky]

Thank you for youe critique. As I said - I am a complete beginner (self training at the min!) and so 'lens Flare' is new to me!!!!

I think I took this pic with one of the automatic settings - prob landscape, so obviously just left it to the camera. I shall go now and read up on lens flare! Thank you again.