Critique Disappointing Holiday Snaps

sirch

sirch

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over 100 views and no comments? Mediocrity defined I guess, I really was hoping someone would have some insight so that I could learn something.
 
I'm not a landscape photographer, but just a question - what is it about them that you don't like? What were you hoping to achieve?
 
Ok, i'm certainly no landscape expert, but i'll start you off

#1 there is a distinct lack of foreground interest, almost a third of the shot is just sand/beach, and shooting into the sun you have lost a lot of detail in the rocks/ckiffs, i would have suggested getting closer to the rocks and maybe compositing 2 shots, one exposed for the foreground, the other for the sky

#2 similar again, but this time too much empty sky/sea on the left, would suggest re-framing and getting more rcoks/cliff in shot

#3 not a bad shot, the clutter on the beach doesn't really help, but the composition is nice

#4 as #3 really
 
Personally I like 1 and 2 best, the others are OK but are a bit overcrowded with what look to be deckchairs.
Having said that in 1 I would take out the bushes in the foreground and the deckchairs
In 2 the bushes in the foreground
In 3 could you do some creative cropping so you have the cliffs and the sea bit like a panorama long and thin
 
sunnyside_up said:
I'm not a landscape photographer, but just a question - what is it about them that you don't like? What were you hoping to achieve?
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As above


Need more detail please.

David
 
The exposure is well handled, but it's the composition that is lacking. 3 & 4 are on the right tracks, but the first two are lacking anything to direct you into the scene, and have portions of grass sticking in the frame.
It looks to me like you've fallen into the age old problem, a nice view doesn't always make a nice photograph.
 
sunnyside_up said:
I'm not a landscape photographer, but just a question - what is it about them that you don't like? What were you hoping to achieve?
Click to expand...

It is the pretty much the classic Algarve beach scene, a sandy cove with cliffs and sea-stacks and I suppose I was hoping to capture a sense of that, warmth, cliffs, sea, a relaxing but interesting beach shot. I think they just lack a certain "punch" or interest, they don't really grab you, hence, I guess, the lack of responses initially.
 
rpsmith79 said:
Ok, i'm certainly no landscape expert, but i'll start you off

#1 there is a distinct lack of foreground interest, almost a third of the shot is just sand/beach, and shooting into the sun you have lost a lot of detail in the rocks/ckiffs, i would have suggested getting closer to the rocks and maybe compositing 2 shots, one exposed for the foreground, the other for the sky

#2 similar again, but this time too much empty sky/sea on the left, would suggest re-framing and getting more rcoks/cliff in shot

#3 not a bad shot, the clutter on the beach doesn't really help, but the composition is nice

#4 as #3 really
Click to expand...

I agree, thanks for commenting
 
JakeT1992 said:
The exposure is well handled, but it's the composition that is lacking. 3 & 4 are on the right tracks, but the first two are lacking anything to direct you into the scene, and have portions of grass sticking in the frame.
It looks to me like you've fallen into the age old problem, a nice view doesn't always make a nice photograph.
Click to expand...

I think you have hit the nail on the head there, some lead-in and may be cloud/wave movement may have helped but I probably needed a different beach with a bit more interest.
 
I like the 1st, however for me the horizon is a little too in the middle, I would have moved it up a touch. Also the bushes on the right are acting as a rough anchor but they're not prominent enough to work & as daft as it sounds I think the anchor needs to be on the LHS as opposed to the RHS to balance the sun.

I think the others are fine, not as disappointing holiday snaps but as holiday snaps. The 1st seems to be more considered & therefore more of a photograph than a snap
 
I dont know about all the competition photographer comments but I would be pleased with them as holiday pictures.
 
BMG said:
I like the 1st, however for me the horizon is a little too in the middle, I would have moved it up a touch. Also the bushes on the right are acting as a rough anchor but they're not prominent enough to work & as daft as it sounds I think the anchor needs to be on the LHS as opposed to the RHS to balance the sun.

I think the others are fine, not as disappointing holiday snaps but as holiday snaps. The 1st seems to be more considered & therefore more of a photograph than a snap
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Thanks but I have a few hundred other snaps from the holiday, these were intended to be something a bit more and I suppose in a way that is why I am a bit disappointed as snaps they are fine but I was aiming for more.

JakeT1992 said:
Are you still on holiday? I know the Algarve has some stunning areas of coast.
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Unfortunately not, this beach was within walking distance hence an easy target for an early morning. We went to plenty of others but generally later in the day when the light wasn't as good.
 
That's a shame. It can be hard when on holiday to motivate yourself out of bed, and even harder to drive miles in an unknown country to a good spot.
Do you have any more shots from this morning?
 
Just for some contrast, here's a couple of moon rises at the same beach

20276570488_9c146acf7e.jpg
Lagos, Algarve 402 by TheWub, on Flickr

Lagos, Algarve 404 by TheWub, on Flickr
 
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I think you're fishing!
 
Landscape is what i prefer to shoot, to me you're trying to get too much into the shot ,No4 you have bushes in the foreground, beach way down , the resort on the right, the sky and the cliffs /rocks, you need to find a feature and make it about that feature. Are you afraid of the water? they seem really far away from where all the action is, personally id be right on the water, you don't need to capture the entire beach, if you know how to do long exposures it looks like a great place to be at golden hour.

Andy.
 
sirch said:
over 100 views and no comments? Mediocrity defined I guess, I really was hoping someone would have some insight so that I could learn something.
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I won't get into composition, etc, as I think that's already been covered. As you say, they do lack a bit of punch.

I see from your Exif that you have a 6D with the 24-105L. I have this lens myself, with a 5D2. Were you using any extra filters of any kind? It looks like there was perhaps a CPL in use? Was there a UV or clear lens protection filter, perhaps?

I'm wondering if a filter might have caused a colour cast or haze.

I'm assuming you used a solid tripod? Did you use HFD to focus?
 
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Thanks @aTog, If I recall correctly I was probably using a 0.6 ND grad for the shot towards the sun and probably a CPL for the others. I have used these filters on other shots and the results were OK. For shots like this I generally focus about a third of the way into the scene, may be I need to brush up on HFD.
 
Silvermuir said:
Landscape is what i prefer to shoot, to me you're trying to get too much into the shot ,No4 you have bushes in the foreground, beach way down , the resort on the right, the sky and the cliffs /rocks, you need to find a feature and make it about that feature. Are you afraid of the water? they seem really far away from where all the action is, personally id be right on the water, you don't need to capture the entire beach, if you know how to do long exposures it looks like a great place to be at golden hour.

Andy.
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Thanks, perhaps I was trying to capture too much, not afraid of the water, spent a lot of time in it, perhaps I just made a bad decision to stay up on the cliffs, going down to the water would probably have meant I would not have had time to change location before the sun got too high (and I wasn't getting up early twice on holiday ;))
 
sirch said:
and I wasn't getting up early twice on holiday
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Lol yeah i know the feeling, During our trip to Florida we arranged a weekend in the Bahamas and I had always wanted to catch a sunrise in the Caribbean so I took one morning to myself and got up at the crack of dawn to do it. Thats the thing with photography on holliday, to get the really great shots you need to scout locations and wait for the light which is way down on the list when you're having fun , plus the people you're with don't want to go trekking for locations so you grab what you can :) .

Andy.
 
Silvermuir said:
Lol yeah i know the feeling, During our trip to Florida we arranged a weekend in the Bahamas and I had always wanted to catch a sunrise in the Caribbean so I took one morning to myself and got up at the crack of dawn to do it. Thats the thing with photography on holliday, to get the really great shots you need to scout locations and wait for the light which is way down on the list when you're having fun , plus the people you're with don't want to go trekking for locations so you grab what you can :) .

Andy.
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I think you have hit the nail on the head there, it wasn't a photography holiday and did what I could at the local beach.
 
sirch said:
Thanks @aTog, If I recall correctly I was probably using a 0.6 ND grad for the shot towards the sun and probably a CPL for the others. I have used these filters on other shots and the results were OK. For shots like this I generally focus about a third of the way into the scene, may be I need to brush up on HFD.
Click to expand...

Also, focus and compose without the filters in place for best results :)
 
It's a difficult one to really suggest a simple solution. Clear sky inevitably makes finding a good composition a lot harder - unless you are photographing something far more complex such as city architecture.

Aside from that the foreground has very little impact in your shots. The only real element of interest would be the rocks. You have really 2 solutions: 1) isolate something interesting about the rocks with a telephoto; or 2) create / find the foreground. Perhaps the most obvious way to do that would be to go down to the beach to the waterline, find some interesting features, shoot the crashing waves, pose a model, etc.

3 and 4 are not exactly bad. They could easily find their way into a travel brochure as long as they are sharp and not too noisy. They very nicely display the beach for a prospective tourist from a distant (hotel?) vantage point. Light is good. Stick them in an image library - and you never know they might contribute towards your next holiday.
1 and 2 are no no to me. Too much dead space and too much shadows. 1) looks pretty soft too.

The blue hour ones similarly have mainly plain dark blue and show very little feature of the beach. Rising moon is not a big deal alone.
 
daugirdas said:
It's a difficult one to really suggest a simple solution. Clear sky inevitably makes finding a good composition a lot harder - unless you are photographing something far more complex such as city architecture.

Aside from that the foreground has very little impact in your shots. The only real element of interest would be the rocks. You have really 2 solutions: 1) isolate something interesting about the rocks with a telephoto; or 2) create / find the foreground. Perhaps the most obvious way to do that would be to go down to the beach to the waterline, find some interesting features, shoot the crashing waves, pose a model, etc.

3 and 4 are not exactly bad. They could easily find their way into a travel brochure as long as they are sharp and not too noisy. They very nicely display the beach for a prospective tourist from a distant (hotel?) vantage point. Light is good. Stick them in an image library - and you never know they might contribute towards your next holiday.
1 and 2 are no no to me. Too much dead space and too much shadows. 1) looks pretty soft too.

The blue hour ones similarly have mainly plain dark blue and show very little feature of the beach. Rising moon is not a big deal alone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for looking and thanks for the positive comments on 3 & 4. I am definitely learning from this thread.
 
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