Is this a good landscape pic?

[Matt91]

Hi all,

I've only recently bought a DSLR and am still re-learning all of this stuff (I took photography in high school, but that was 15 years ago and I've forgotten pretty much everything!). I went out to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney yesterday for this weeks DPS weekend challenge - "BLUE" (the Blue Mountains are so named because of the blue haze caused by light refracting off the mist of eucalyptus oil given off by the millions of gum trees in the area, which makes the mountains appear blue from a distance). Anyway, after some tweaking of brightness and contrast and levels, this was the best pic that I could come up with, and I want to know if it's any good as far as beginner landscape captures go? Any advice or critique on how or what to improve on is welcome.

Cheers

Matt



EXIF:
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS
Shooting Date/Time: 16/01/2010 16:56:44
Tv(Shutter Speed): 1/60Sec.
Av(Aperture Value): F8.0
Metering Modes: Evaluative metering
Exposure Compensation: 0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Focal Length: 37.0 mm
Flash: Off
White Balance: Cloudy

[lspec]

Hi, I am also new at photography, but this is my comment.

the ground is dark, maybe it will look better if the picture has a bigger area with the sky....not half and half

[NimishC]

This is a good photo. However, it could have been better if rule of thirds was followed. Even I didn't use to follow it earlier but eversince i did, i have got better pics

[leviathan]

Matt91, looks like you've got some beautiful sky with different texture and color tones to it. And the blue haze is beautiful as well. As Ispec mentioned, the mountains are on the slightly darker side, which is fine, but I think the image would look stunning if you could bring down the exposure for the sky, while boosting the exposure for the mountains. This would have to be done in photoshop or something, of course. And then you definitely want to crop to follow the rule of thirds. Since you have such beautiful sky, I would crop the bottom portion of the image, especially since it doesn't add a whole lot. Great shot!

[Matt91]

Thanks for your suggestions and feedback, I'll give them a try!

Cheers

Matt

[Technical Tim]

with the right light this could be an amazing image - you've got the same camera kit as me Canon 1000D and i'm still getting to grips with mine. I've been reading afew book lately and specifically one on landscapes - the key to great images seems to be a narrow aperture - say f/22.0 - and a longer exposure - say 0.3s - you'll need a tripod but it will ensure the majority of the shot is in focus - a polarizinf filter would be a could purchase as well

[Matt91]

Thanks, I appreciate the compliments and the feedback. The light available when I took the shot was the best I was going to get that day, it was fairly late in the afternoon and it had been overcast all day, we got lucky with 10 minutes or so of good weather before it started raining again. The shot above was the best one I got, so I'll keep fiddling with it and see how it turns out