Night view

[Morsmordre]

Hello!
I made that picture with a Sony l200 a week ago. It seems that there are many people that dislike this photo. I usually do not post-process my photos and this one is not an exception. If you have any suggestions, I am open to any critics.

[tvoelcker]

I like how the trees are framing the lights.
I can see hints of reflections in the water but would like to see a little more of them to give the foreground some interest.
You do have a great deal of negative space at the bottom however, as said, if the reflections were a bit more prominant it might help to balnce it out a bit.
Might consider cloning out the two bright specs of light near mid frame.
They are slightly distracting ..

[windrider86]

It is a bit dark around the edges for my taste. But I do like the way the shape of the water leads you into the light.
Would love to see your exif information.
May I ask what it is about this photo that you like or dislike? What would you like to change?

[Morsmordre]

Well, I dislike the negative space and the too-much-darkness but I couldn't manage to reveal the lake without making the lights and the sky too bright. I do like though the way I managed to frame the picture. I try to keep the Rule of Thirds when I make landscape photos and i am proud that I was able to keep it in this one And, last, the reflection of the trees. I am usually fond of this kind of photos.
As for my Exif info... I didn't post it because I erased the RAW file and I could be wrong but as far as I remember... :

Date taken: If I remember correctly, it was taken on a Friday so it is not a week old but two weeks old... I might be wrong but I think it was on 23.10.2009
Shutter Speed: 8sec
Aperture: f8
ISO: 100
Lens: 55mm
Flash: No flashlight used

[tjdhulst]

First thing I noticed when I saw this picture was that the trees look like a hand coming out of the darkness that's about to grasp the lights and smother them. The trees on the left appear to be the thumb while the trees on the right appear as if they were fingers. I really like this shot a lot. I like the negative space in the bottom because of that idea of a hand reaching up out of the darkness to smother light. Now, I'm not one to be grim and always see the dark side of things. Maybe if you cropped in a little more on the trees it would leave out some of the negative space to the side, but I would keep the negative space in the bottom for the hand effect. That's my opinion though.