Sail me to the sun

[sparda79]

This processed shot looks a lot closer to the SOOC because I was having fun with my in camera custom WB. For the Original Shot, I change the WB back to daylight to shot the actual scene.

You can see the rain in the right half of the frame.

I'd like to know whether my PP does improve the overall image or otherwise. What else can I improve? Is there any thing that I should not have change from the original? How's the composition?

Camera: Canon EOS 1000D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1250)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Aperture-priority AE
White Balance: Manual
Lens: EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM

Sparda

[SuperDan]

i think that the overall tone is good, but imo i dont like the fake sunspots...

overall, tho i think theres too much sky too..

[sparda79]

Thanks for the feedback Dan,

I was not sure to add or not the sunspots bacause it does make it unreal. I wanted to highlight the sailboat.

I did thought about the 'too much sky' issue. The reason I was interested to capture the shot in the first place was the rain in half of the frame. Without cropping, it will be either too much sky or too much water. With cropping, I will lose the the rain and the vast view of lake.

Sparda

[Marija]

Ok...here it goes...
For both versions...Too much of flat sky. The photo itself is not interesting enough to drawn my attention.
For the edited one...Fake sun flare looks fake. It looks like underexposed photo.
I don't get the rain part...
Just my opinion..........
I've just read what I wrote and I sound too negative...sorry, that wasn't my attention... The place seems to be a nice one and with a nice sunset you should have a beautiful photo.

[kstiltne]

I agree that the sunflare is extremely distracting. As for the composition, I would definitely tighten it...a lot. The colors in the original are very washed out...but in the edited version, I can't even tell that there is water...it almost looks like mud. Short of reshooting, I would go back to the original and try to bring out some more color with a little extra contrast and saturation.

[slc_shutterbug]

I think this was probably a breathtaking sight in person, but the monochromatic rendering here leaves it lifeless and bleak.

[sparda79]

Thanks for taking the time to critique.

What pulled me to capture the shot was the rain and not really the scene. The dark area there's on the right frame is not a vignette, but the rain, while no rain on the left side of the frame. It was late afternoon, the rain was heavy, thus the washed out colour and the flat sky.

I come here almost every weekend and surely I can recapture the scene on a clear day and get better colours and exposures, but losing the reason I took this particular shot in the 1st place, the half raining scene.

I might have failed to capture the feeling that I had that day. That view was spectacular. dark heavy rain only on half of the view. I thought of changing to a wider lens (this was taken with 70-200), but there's too much wind and moisture, and the issue of too much sky/water will come up.

I bet many people would say it's just not worth the shot because there's no point of interest. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've read that a good photographer can make a everyday things looks good. So what would you do? How to capture the moment? How would you PP the shot?

@Marija
Posting shots to the critique section are always a slap on the face. I came prepared.

The distracting part, are you two really referring to the 'sun flare' or the spotlight thinggy on the sailboat?

When you said 'it look fake', do you mean that it's just impossible in the real world, or it's just too darn ugly? Cos, when I was half-way through the PP, I decided that I don't mind stepping one foot into a fantasy/surreal look.

Sparda

[slc_shutterbug]

Thank you for taking the criticisms in the spirit they are intended. It shows a genuine willingness to grow.


I didn't look at the original before I posted my last comment; I have now. How come it's so washed out looking? I mean, is that really what it looked like in person or is it a result of some kind of camera settings or processing? It just seems to be almost black and white, someone even commented that it was B/W...but you said it's a color shot. Can you tell us about that?

For me, that's the problem with the image. I don't mind the sun flare, but I'm not sure it really adds to the image, either.