SunsetinSouthWales by brownin1988, on Flickr
CoityCommonSunset by brownin1988, on Flickr
Thank you for your honesty, I appreciate the comments after all no better way to learn than honest comments, I will try and find a more interesting foreground next time. it was more just a spur of the moment type thing where I take that route to work often and thought might be a nice spot for a decent sunset, nothing but common land so nothing of great interest to shoot. Will try another location or look for more composition. Thanks again
Further across from there, there is an old house with a piggery. I'm not sure if you can incorporate it into the shot, that may give you foreground interest. As for those shots, it may be my monitor but they look under exposed to me. Did you use any filters making them ? The second shot was at F20, any reason why ? I don't usually go any higher than F13 on my 7D, The 18-55 kit lens is a very good lens stopped down..........
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Hi Nathan.
The piggery is ( or used to be maybe ) along the rough track on the right hand side of the road, as you rise up out of Bryncethin from the Masons. Just before you get to the top of the hill you will see the track which you used to be able to drive along before the council blocked it off to stop the gypsies going on the common.
DISCLAIMER - I am an old Bryncethin boy and used to play there as a kid, it may have been flattened in recent years
The 18-55 kit lens is very good. I have a 17-55 and what you pay for is a constant F2.8 aperture, there is suprisingly little difference otherwise despite the £££ between the two. At F8 to F11 the kit lens would be hard to distinguish from the 17-55. Over F11 and defraction starts to creep in on crop lens, and will contribute to a soft image. Of course, you have to balance that between getting the star burst you want or not, whatever is the most important to you.
Ian
Hi Nathan, dont let the "Kit" monkeys scare you off! i dont know too much about Canon but your equipment looks just fine to me. I have some shots from Old Nikon cameras that most people wouldnt even bother with nowadays... It's the person who stands behind the camera that counts (thats why my shots are dodgy
I have gone through the whole sunset thing myself and when you look at a photograph you ask, what makes it interesting? What draws me to it? I did that little exercise with the sunset shots a while back. I picked some photographs and asked myself what i liked about those stunning sunset photos? The answer was although the sunset was great, it was the location that made it, and an interesting focal point. I have a lot of sunset shots and guess what, there nice sunsets but at the end of the day there just "Nice Sunsets". Like Gabriel says there is a lot about and to make yours stand out you need to make them... different, special and its often the location that usually does that.
Having said all that No1 i quite like this but not sure about the colour in the sky, was it really that orangey red? or was it the effect you were trying to achieve? It looks a tad saturated and could there be some colour cast from the filter in there? I love the clouds, and the highlights brushing the grasses in the foreground. The rays of the sun look good enough at f16 but as Ian says watch those small apertures. The Cambridge Colour web site gives a good explanation of diffraction the last time i looked. (its good to know these things).
No2 sits better with me maybe a tad under exposed and the dark area on the right could do with a lift, perhaps sit the sun off to the right or left?
Hop you find the piggery is still there would probably be a good focal point iven if it was tumble down.
Everyone has their own view on how a photograph should look, and rightly so, sometimes we struggle with todays convention of what a photograph "Should" look like. However being different isnt always being wrong, just different. Personally I always try and remember what the shot looked like and try and portray what i saw.
I think (like a lot of my early sunset shots) the photos lack a good focal point with the exception of the sun itself (that's the cruel bit) but there something about them i quite like.
Hope this helps
, sometimes even i am suprised by the colour! Some recent pictures i took In Lofoten when i was on holiday, i thought that cant be right! i even googled photos from the area, and yes the Blues were really that Blue in that area! Sunset and sunrise can catch you unawares, at that time of day it can be suprising how fast the light, colour and cloud changes AND i always wait now for about 30 mins to an hour after because sometimes you get fantastic colours after its set. Loving to take photos is great because you learn with every shot (I Do!) More you take the better you get. I'm sure the wide angle will give you a bit more scope and a good tripod will also help, but it will all come. .....And a good bank balance.
Thank you for taking the time to reply, just taken receipt of a canon 10-22 so will be getting out with that asap lol
