Biei - Town Of Beautiful Hills

[vainqueur]

Photo was taken at Biei, the town of beautiful hills (Hokkaido) during the Autumn season. (HDR, Minor PP)

Exposure-0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture-f/8.0
Focal Length-9 mm
ISO Speed-200

Let me know what you guys think regarding the composition and the exposure... Thanks...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/victorlim/

[RichardTaylor]

The exposure looks great.

Aesthetics:
Although it is a beautiful scene I feel "detached" from the scene, and the composition is a bit "bland".

The horizon running across the centre makes the photograph rather static

I feel it needs something in the foreground to give it a bit of depth, maybe a fence (or tree, to frame the scene) would help.

[vainqueur]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

The exposure looks great.

Aesthetics:
Although it is a beautiful scene I feel "detached" from the scene, and the composition is a bit "bland".

The horizon running across the centre makes the photograph rather static

I feel it needs something in the foreground to give it a bit of depth, maybe a fence (or tree, to frame the scene) would help.

Hmm, just what I need to know. I was inside the viewing tower that time and I actually wanted to step back and include part of the wall of the viewing tower which will serve as frames for the shot but was in a hurry and I forgot about it, haha. But I get what you mean, sometimes, I do kind of forgot about giving the scene a sense of depth.

For the horizon, I was taking a bit of risk there because if you noticed I didn't de-ghost the cloud which makes it looks like it was moving constantly even in still photo, therefore, I placed the horizon right in the middle to give it a sense of realism but I guess, it might have failed there...

[iluv2fly1]

I haven't done anything with HDR so maybe you intended it that way, but I think the clouds look weird with the motion. They distract me from what I think you meant as the subject.

Otherwise I think its very nice.

[Krusty79]

In addition to Richard's comments, I would add that placing your horizon in the middle of the image forces the viewer to choose the top of bottom half. In general, I think that composition works for water reflection shots. In this case, I would prefer to see more of the ground and less of the sky.

[vainqueur]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

In addition to Richard's comments, I would add that placing your horizon in the middle of the image forces the viewer to choose the top of bottom half. In general, I think that composition works for water reflection shots. In this case, I would prefer to see more of the ground and less of the sky.

Ya, its a risk I took but it guess it failed in this case. I should have given it a 70-30 ratio... Thanks for the comments...

[Krusty79]

Well, I think "failed" is too harsh of a word. I sometimes have a hard time deciding where to place the horizon in my shots. That's why it's always good to shoot multiple compositions.

[vainqueur]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

Well, I think "failed" is too harsh of a word. I sometimes have a hard time deciding where to place the horizon in my shots. That's why it's always good to shoot multiple compositions.

I was actually in a hurry with that shot, got no time to do multiple shot. I guessed that's the disadvantage of joining on group tour. I usually don't do middle horizon for non water composition, don't know why I felt it "might" be good doing that for this shot because of the clouds. I guessed the idea about doing HDR made me forgot about the basics (just started going into HDR)...