Long Exposure Sunset

[AndrewPDX]

D5000
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm f/20
25s
ISO 200
0 EV
No Flash

Hi guys. Just looking for general critiques on this one. Color would probably be my biggest question as I did a fair amount of post work on it (gradients, hues, saturations, exposure, etc). It's kind of in an in-between amount of silhouette. Not sure if it bothers me or not. What do you think? Also, there are a lot of "ghosts" around the light house. I could easily take them out in Photoshop. Do you think that's worth it? Thanks for your comments.

[flytyer57]

I think you have a very nice picture here.

If by "ghosts" you are referring to what looks like people, I would take them out. I don't like people in landscape shots.

I think the color is just fine.

[Prue]

I really like this shot. I think that you should take the ghosts out, they look liked trees chopped in half. The colour works.

[bmvbab]

Very beautiful shot TFS

[EOBeav]

I think the colors are nice, although I'm not really an expert on color.

Compositionally, there seems to be a lot of space in between the foreground and the lighthouse. Would it have been possible to shoot lower and shorten that distance up? Without knowing the surroundings, that may or may not have been possible. I think a good silhouette has a little bit of detail, and you've shown that here. The 'ghosts' are hardly noticeable, so personally I wouldn't bother with them. However, if you ever made a big print of this, they might be more of an issue. Which lighthouse is this? I'm assuming it's in Oregon.

[Infinite Monkey]

This is my first attempt at critiquing somebody else's shot so please take what I say with a grain of salt. I really like this shot, particularly how the long exposure has smoothed out the surface of the water. The color at the horizon is quite lovely and I like the way the sky darkens as your eye moves upward. My one issue is the foreground rocks in the lower left which I assume were deliberately included to provide foreground interest. Those rocks seem (to me) to lose their impact because they are so dark. If possible, lightening them just a bit might increase their utility.

[milosh]

This is a very nice shot! I guess I'm mostly going to repeat what others already said here... The colours are nice and so is the slow shutter speed effect on the water. I also think the silhouette should have some detail (and yet I'm asking this question: Which do you prefer: details or no details? ) and the foreground rocks just don't look right to me as they are now. I wouldn't bother cloning the people out, unless you plan to print or display it big.