Sunrise over the village - Brutal Critique Please :)

[houseofwallace]

Hi, I took a photo of the local village at a stupid time in the morning. I didn't have a shutter release cable so the photo was taken wide-open on a 17mm lens. I'm just wondering what you guys think, and whether it's worth going back to redo it at a narrower aperture now that I have the cable. Oh and if it can be improved, how?

(First post in ages, by the way!)

epic|dawn

Thanks,

Chris
EXIF:
EOS 5D Mk. II
ƒ2.8 | 30s | 17mm | 17-35mm ƒ2.8L IS USM

[Trader]

The focus seems soft to me. I think I would redo the shot.

[idcrewdawg]

I don't see anything particularly epic about the shot. Also the foreground though well lit seems empty, and the village, which looks like it was the point of the shot, since it's in the center, is too blurry to even see any detail.

I'd reshoot.

[MarcoDJ]

I agree, I'd redo the shoot and adjust the focus to give the sky a bigger space in the photo. placing the horizon on the third, in that case it would give the village more flavor I guess... since it's all sky space, little land and voila... the village scape hehe.

hope I made sense.

[windrider86]

Hint, its so much easier to offer critique if your image is actually posted here. Its hard to flip back and forth from another page

[Ginger Pixie]

I quite like the light on the foreground, and the stars in the sky...

It looks like it has been overdone in photoshop because of the turquoise stripe and white blob in the sky.

I think you should rethink the composition, as in my opinion it lacks any real focus.

You did say you wanted brutal.

[houseofwallace]

Cool, thanks for the critique, and I definitely agree with you. The focus is very soft, the 17-35mm lens wide open isn't the sharpest glass that Canon make.. As for the composition, I was tempted to try a portrait shot too.

Went back this morning at 4am, and after 20 mins of hiking to the spot, I realised that my tripod plate was on the table at home...



Ah well, perfect excuse to go for another hike...

(@Ginger Pixie: The adjustments made to the original image were some sharpening, white balance and saturation. The image was taken with an ND Grad filter to balance the sky, and that's how it turned out!! I tried to blend the sky in a little in photoshop, but it didn't quite work, so I left it as-is. What edits would you make? )

[Ginger Pixie]

Originally Posted by houseofwallace

Cool, thanks for the critique, and I definitely agree with you. The focus is very soft, the 17-35mm lens wide open isn't the sharpest glass that Canon make.. As for the composition, I was tempted to try a portrait shot too.

Went back this morning at 4am, and after 20 mins of hiking to the spot, I realised that my tripod plate was on the table at home...



Ah well, perfect excuse to go for another hike...

(@Ginger Pixie: The adjustments made to the original image were some sharpening, white balance and saturation. The image was taken with an ND Grad filter to balance the sky, and that's how it turned out!! I tried to blend the sky in a little in photoshop, but it didn't quite work, so I left it as-is. What edits would you make? )

Firstly Windrider is spot on. I can't give you a detailed crit from memory, and as I am typing this I can't scroll down to see the image, and then continue typing. It makes a big difference, and might mean a much smaller response to your post. Get a flickr!

Have you still got the original? It would be interesting to see if the turquoise stripe is there in the before version. I reckon increasing the saturation has done that.

You could play about with it for hours in photoshop, but in all honesty, those hours would be better spent finding yourself a better vantage point from which to shoot. If the village is the focus, get closer to it.

I reckon you could get a corker of a shot if you move around and zoom in a little.