The Rock of Cashel Ireland

[ABStephens]

Taken this summer in Ireland on a cold overcast rainy day ( as most were) around 1400 Hrs. Please look at the composition and lighting. Are there things I could do in PS to make this POP more and what do you think about the angle and composition of the shot

Cannon EOS 50D
TV; 1/1600
AV: 4.0
ISO: 200
Flash: off

[navcom]

Hi! Pretty place! A couple things to improve the shot. First, you are pretty underexposed which will definitely help the picture pop. Plus, the foreground is a bit underexposed compared to the sky...not uncommon in these circumstances.

I did a quick edit on your photo in Photoshop. I increased the exposure a bit and then used the highlight/shadow command to pull some of the highlights in the foreground. Finally I increased the saturation just a bit to get the greens to pop. Freshens everything up a bit. It was a quick edit. Usually I will spend a bit more time getting it perfect but you should get the idea.

And BTW, overcast days are actually great for shooting in many circumstances. Your colors end up much more saturated and natural. Many people think the best time for shooting is in the middle of the day in the bright sun. Quite the opposite. Mid day sun is very harsh and washes everything out. One of the dirty little landscape photography secrets: If you want sun, shoot very early or late in the day (golden hour). Use the middle of the day to scout out your compositions for early or late the next day. Otherwise overcast days are great depending on the composition...free soft box lighting!

Hope that helps!

[ABStephens]

NAVCOM, thank you for the advise this is great. I will do some more work with it in PS

[jpkand]

As far as composition, I like the idea of framing with that tree to the left, but if you had walked to your left (and maybe back) a little more you could've still done that and gotten the castle over to the left third which looks like it might be a nicer place for it. If the farmland extends off to the right it would also (in my opinion) make the castle even more striking and prominent.

Nice shot. Gorgeous place - I'm jealous

edit: as I look again, it seems like it could benefit from a crop up to just below that first hedgerow (so that some of the hedge on the right is actually cropped out, but none on the left due to its angle). Ghetto-cropping it like this in my browser looks good to me!

[KansaiGreenie]

Hi AB.

I agree with both navcom and jpkand. I think it is a little underexposed and navcom did a good job of showing you how to brighten it up. I also agree with jpkand that the composition would be a stronger if the castle were on the left third of the frame. Instead of a 'bulls eye' composition with it in the dead center.

It is a nice place and a great subject.

KG

[ABStephens]

thank you all for the advise, something to keep in mind for future experiences