Do these look fake to you?

[kimbakaye]

I shot this picture while playing with my camera trying to learn more about different settings. I decided to throw it up under the vertical assignment even though I didn't actually shoot it for that specific reason. Does the background/clouds look fake? I did very little pp. I just brightened it up since it was under exposed and sharpened the stem a little. If you had shot this picture, what would you have done different?
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/20.0
Focal Length 55 mm
ISO Speed 400



Another reason I ask is because I received an email email on my flickr account asking if I was a student and he added.....
"I think you have some strong images. The only critiques are that some images you can clearly point out where you miss some rules to follow others. I would just recommend creating a checklist for shooting and make sure that if you arent going to follow some rules to make sure you know what rule you aren't going to follow so that you are deliberately breaking the rule. Your vertical lines assignment has a great sharp image of the lion yet the background loses tonality by looking almost "fake-ish".

I am really trying to learn all about the camera, the settings and all the "rules" and I am becoming frustrated that I can't seem to get a handle on it. I don't want to take snaps shots, I want to create nice images. I want to have someone walk in my house and comment of what a beautiful picture I have on my wall and be able to say 'I took that!" I want to learn and being critiqued is a good way to learn but I feel like I am not "getting it" with my pictures

[winegeek]

Kim,

Being pretty brand new to this myself, I understand exactly what you're dealing with. Frankly, I think that it's a beautiful shot. That you did very little PP work on it makes it even more special IMHO. Granted, I in no way fancy myself an expert, rather someone who, like you, doesn't want to just take "snapshots," rather wants to create their own personal art. My advice is this: be open to suggestions/ideas/advice, but decide for yourself whether the results of that advice produce images that appeal to you. I guess that's really how you develop your own style. Something that I teach people about wine (my actual profession) is that "a good wine is what tastes good to you." I think that the very same logic is applied here. Keep it up! You've got an eye for this.

Cheers,

Matt

[JFSanders]

Ansel Adams had a great view on rules. “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

There are conventions (these are not rules per se, only suggestions as to how one may go about obtaining a particular look or style in making an image) such as the rule of thirds and the golden mean as well as traditional ways of creating a landscape or portrait. That said, photography is the medium used to capture the scene in your mind. So if you saw the sky as that particular hue then your rendering of it is valid. No matter the critique of some other viewer unless that viewer has commissioned you to produce a image of a dandelion with a deep blue sky or a blown out white sky or whatever the specification is.

The image is pretty. Not awe inspiring in my opinion but it isn't hard to look at and shows a thought process and a desire to obtain a beautiful image.

Jim

[kimbakaye]

Thanks Matt and Jim. I appreciate everything you have said. I am totally ok with people critiquing my work because how else am I supposed to learn. I guess I just found the unsolicited comments made me feel like my images must have been really bad for someone to go out of their way to comment. He wasn't rude about it, it just made me question myself. I really try hard to shoot for "me" and what I like but I am still in the process of finding out exactly what that is.

Thanks again for your thoughts.