any problems with this sunset pic?

[yrot.tory]

D90, F32, 1 sec, ISO 1600

[sparda79]

Hi Tory... It me...

In the critique section, it's best to include you EXIF data with your post.

In my opinion, there's some camera shake. According to your flickr, the shutter was 1 second. Did you used a tripod? Try using the lowest ISO to reduce the noise. For this shot, noise reduction in photoshop might be able to fix it.
I'm not sure what is that black dot on the top right, maybe dust. You can use spot removal tool on it.

Anyway... I love the nice gradient sky. And the lights on the boats really add interest to the shot.

Keep on shooting.

Sparda
http://digital-photography-school.co...r-picture.html

[dcclark]

I agree... f/32 and ISO 1600 were totally unnecessary. Shoot at a reasonable aperture (such as, say f/8 or f/10), and your ISO can go way down, reducing noise. Similarly, was a 1 second shot required for this (which is a fairly static scene)?

All of that said, I'd like to see more of the foreground -- the boats are neat and add a good subject. On the other hand, the sky is fairly bland and doesn't add a lot of interest. I think that the boats could help make it easier to enjoy the sky.

[navcom]

I agree with David and Sparda...way too small on the aperture and way too fast on the ISO. And definitely use a tripod.

The composition is a bit too sky heavy. It's mostly sky and there isn't anything there that really attracts your interest...just empty space. Since the sky is so prominent, it grabs your attention as the center of interest and the foreground objects become more of a distraction than the important objects they should be.

Landscape photography musts (95% of the time anyway)...

1 - For image quality, use the lowest ISO your camera will allow. For most cameras this is ISO 100

2 - Use a medium aperture between f/8 and f/13 unless you require a huge depth of field (rare). Smaller apertures (higher number) will cause a loss of sharpness due to diffraction. Larger apertures (smaller numbers) will cause a loss of your depth of field...not usually good when shooting landscapes.

3 - Use a tripod and don't worry about shutter speed (unless composition requires you to). This means you can use aperture priority (Av) or manual exposure modes.

4 - Composition requires a center of interest, not just a pretty sky, vast forest, or lots of tall trees (usually). Resist the urge to "see a nice scene, point the camera, and shoot away". Think about what you are shooting and what the center of interest is and compose appropriately.

5 - The "rule of thirds" is the landscape photographer's best friend (usually but not always)

Rules are good when we are trying to learn something. It keeps us on course to understanding why the rules exist to begin with. That being said, all rules are meant to be broken at times so none of these are "set in stone" rules. Once you get used to (and relatively good at) composing according to the rules, it will become more obvious when breaking them is a good thing.

Happy shooting!