First time landscape (C & C)

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Lee
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Hi chaps. Never ever shot landscape before. I took this photo yesterday in London Colney around 5pm give or take. Can you tell me if this is a photo that holds anything of interest or is it complete rubbish, and you can be as brutally honest as you like since it's the only way to learn. :) The clouds were barely visible in the raw image and the sky was rather pale so I've tried to bring them out in lightroom. I also seem to have a few pale spots in the sky, I think I need to risk cleaning the sensor or learning how to remove them in lightroom.

How are the colours? How is the clarity? Is the composition any good or is there no real composition? Thanks!

(edited with larger version of the photo)


 
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How are the colours? How is the clarity? Is the composition any good or is there no real composition? Thanks!

I don't know crap about crap, but I always ask myself - what's the subject...?

Colours? - A bit over saturated for me.
Clarity? - Looks fine on the tiny internet image.
Composition? - Foreground, middleground, background checkbox complete. Maybe lose an inch off the top. Not setting the world on fire, but not terrible.

Parachute? - You have my interest.

The parachute turns this from the same as a million other images on the internet into something that piques my interest.
Always think about what it is you're trying to illustrate (what is your subject?) and how you can position it in the frame.

I've tried to bring them out in lightroom. I also seem to have a few pale spots in the sky, I think I need to risk cleaning the sensor or learning how to remove them in lightroom.
This is inconsequential. My eyes were immediately drawn to the parachute. WhereTF is (s)he going to land? That's the story for me.

Keep taking pictures!
 
Looks like your sensor needs a clean.

Colours a little over saturated.
Trying to work out where in London Colney this is.
 
Thanks Ian, perfect feedback for me! I'm glad the parachute sort of saved the day, lol. It's a small internet image but can be zoomed in. I think I'll edit and put a larger version. For what it's worth, there's also a motorbike coming down the road near the right of the picture. Yes, a bit saturated. I was trying to make it pop a bit but obviously too much.
 
Looks like your sensor needs a clean.

Colours a little over saturated.
Trying to work out where in London Colney this is.

Yes, it does need cleaning. I'd better buy some cleaning swabs and fluid. London Colney is near Potters Bar in Hertfordshire.
 
Trying to work out where in London Colney this is.

Sorry Kenneth, misread. It was in Blanche Lane, opposite St. Giles Parish Church. There's a few steps I walked up and I stood behind the metal fencing.
 
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For a first attempt it's actually decent but it needs more consideration.

Cons:

- The picture is just a picture. It's a photo that you appear to have happened upon and took the photo.
- It's a tad over-saturated.
- There's no foreground interest, it's just a field with grass. When you look at the photo you've seen everything but the parachute before so you instantly are attracted to the parachute and nothing else.
- Not much interest in the sky so could do with a little crop.
- Spots in the photo from dust or residue either on the lens, the camera mirror or the sensor. Check them in this order because cleaning a sensor is a sensitive job and if it's just the lens that needs a clean then you've not wasted any time :)

Pros:

- Nice light with the sun being low and golden hour - This is one of the biggest winners for landscape photos.
- Contains an interesting subject which is the parachute.
- It's got some contrasty punch with the lights and shadows.

Things to take-away:

- It's a good attempt.
- Think about the rule of thirds. What's your subject in the photo and do they fit onto the rule of thirds? Rules are made to be broken but if you're starting out then following the general guidelines of what makes a good picture can help you to find your own style to break the rules with etc.
- Think about the picture as a whole as opposed to just one part. Look at the picture and say that the foreground has nothing of interest in it so could you find something like an interesting rock or bale of hay to fill that up? Is there an interesting sky? If not then put more foreground in the photo and cut more of the sky out. Or vice versa.
- Think about the format of the photo. You've went super wide here but what about a square crop? Hope you don't mind but I did one below. Look how in the foreground I set up the lines in the foreground to be leading lines. It takes you through the photo more. The parachute is roughly on one of the rule of thirds lines. Less sky. Looks a bit more wholesome and something you might find on Instagram.

Sorry if this all seems harsh. You did ask for it and I'm an honest person lol. I wish everyone provided info like this for my photos because I have a thick skin and like you I wanted to learn and still do. My family and friends always say my photos are great but they don't do photography and don't see the real issues with photos. They just see it as a nice photo. Most people are just polite when asking for CC but I'd wish they weren't with me. If it's too much then type SLAP as a reply and I'll edit it to be nicer lol. The best advice though is to just analyse other people photos and research what makes a good photo and most importantly get out and take loads of photos and try new things. That's what I've learned over the years.

Capture.PNG

P.S. Harlequin makes a valid point. Interesting photos always have questions. Where is the parachute going to land? What are they doing there in the first place? Where did they take off from? etc.
 
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I like the sense of space in the original. YMMMV.

Edit to add for the OP: Having differing opinions like this really helps you as the original photographer because you can take what feels right for you and leave the rest. No comment is really "right" or "wrong".
 
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I like the sense of space in the original. YMMMV.

Edit to add for the OP: Having differing opinions like this really helps you as the original photographer because you can take what feels right for you and leave the rest. No comment is really "right" or "wrong".
Would have gone more for a more skyie 6x9 type crop if it hadn't been for all those wicked wabbits! ;)
 
For a first attempt it's actually decent but it needs more consideration.

Cons:

- The picture is just a picture. It's a photo that you appear to have happened upon and took the photo.
- It's a tad over-saturated.
- There's no foreground interest, it's just a field with grass. When you look at the photo you've seen everything but the parachute before so you instantly are attracted to the parachute and nothing else.
- Not much interest in the sky so could do with a little crop.
- Spots in the photo from dust or residue either on the lens, the camera mirror or the sensor. Check them in this order because cleaning a sensor is a sensitive job and if it's just the lens that needs a clean then you've not wasted any time :)

Pros:

- Nice light with the sun being low and golden hour - This is one of the biggest winners for landscape photos.
- Contains an interesting subject which is the parachute.
- It's got some contrasty punch with the lights and shadows.

Things to take-away:

- It's a good attempt.
- Think about the rule of thirds. What's your subject in the photo and do they fit onto the rule of thirds? Rules are made to be broken but if you're starting out then following the general guidelines of what makes a good picture can help you to find your own style to break the rules with etc.
- Think about the picture as a whole as opposed to just one part. Look at the picture and say that the foreground has nothing of interest in it so could you find something like an interesting rock or bale of hay to fill that up? Is there an interesting sky? If not then put more foreground in the photo and cut more of the sky out. Or vice versa.
- Think about the format of the photo. You've went super wide here but what about a square crop? Hope you don't mind but I did one below. Look how in the foreground I set up the lines in the foreground to be leading lines. It takes you through the photo more. The parachute is roughly on one of the rule of thirds lines. Less sky. Looks a bit more wholesome and something you might find on Instagram.

Sorry if this all seems harsh. You did ask for it and I'm an honest person lol. I wish everyone provided info like this for my photos because I have a thick skin and like you I wanted to learn and still do. My family and friends always say my photos are great but they don't do photography and don't see the real issues with photos. They just see it as a nice photo. Most people are just polite when asking for CC but I'd wish they weren't with me. If it's too much then type SLAP as a reply and I'll edit it to be nicer lol. The best advice though is to just analyse other people photos and research what makes a good photo and most importantly get out and take loads of photos and try new things. That's what I've learned over the years.

View attachment 292249

P.S. Harlequin makes a valid point. Interesting photos always have questions. Where is the parachute going to land? What are they doing there in the first place? Where did they take off from? etc.

Thank you so much YoshiK1. God no, not too harsh at all, it's exactly what I need and asked for. I'm getting invaluable free photography lessons, what could be better! :)

I don't want people being polite, it doesn't help me improve. I need to be kicked to another level. I don't want decent pictures, I want to shoot really good ones! But I can't run before I can walk. You're right about analysing other photos and researching. I definitely already do a lot of that. I've only been doing photography since July so I'm not even a toddler at the moment. :D

Yes, I like Harlequin's point about a photo having questions or a story. That is something else very important for me to keep in mind.

A lot of the things mentioned in this thread that are wrong were sort of in my mind when I reviewed the photo. But because I have no experience, I wasn't sure what would be said. However, all the comments here have confirmed that what I was thinking 'might' be wrong' ARE actually wrong! And I'm glad of that because it means at least I'm on some sort of a similar wavelength, and that when I have any doubts about my photos in future, then I can be more confident that others would likely think the same and so I need to think more carefully about my composition, and of course, colours and contrast.

Totally agree about having something interesting in the foreground. Will definitely keep THAT in mind, very important. Unfortunately I was limited to standing behind a 5 foot high wire fencing and couldn't actually get into the field to do anything.

I did have rule of thirds in my mind but I clearly haven't mastered that rule yet! I love your crop and so glad you took the time to do it. Yes, it really does change it in an interesting way. I never thought to use the lines in the grass (I think that's what you're referring to?), but it's great, it does give something as a foreground and as you say, makes it look more like a pathway to the rest of the image.
 
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If we're going to do crops then how about this, plus it kills 9 out of 10 dust bunnies? :)

View attachment 292253

Yeah that's really good and you're right, it helps remove some of the dust spots! I like both yours and YoshiKs crops! I'd actually done a similar crop just before I saw yours. This is it and it's also the completely unedited image as it looks straight from the camera. You can see the colour difference. You can click on the thumb to enlarge.




And if it's of any use for further critique on post processing, these were my lightroom settings that I used (mostly wrongly) for the processed image
landscape

BASIC
Temp 5150
Tint +4

Tone:
Exposure -0.83
Contrast +36
Highlights -100
Shadows +100
Whites +55
Blacks +26
......
Presence:
Clarity +52
Dehaze 0
Vibrance +10
Saturation +10

.....

TONE CURVE
Region:
Highlights +57
Lights -32
Darks +18
Shadows -9

.....
DETAIL
Sharpening:
Amount 71
Radius 1.0
Detail 46
Masking 51

....
CALIBRATION

Green primary
Hue -29
Saturation -14

Blue primary
Hue +17
Saturation +52
 
I've only been doing photography since July so I'm not even a toddler at the moment.

But you've been looking at pictures all your life... It's impossible not to have done research if you think about it. :)

One very real danger as a beginner is to find a "formula" that works and just do that over and over. Instagram is full of it. As someone who has taken the time to register for a photo forum, post an image, and respond to feedback, you are showing that you care about your work. All it takes is a bit of thought about what you want to achieve with your image. But don't lose that creative vision you have now. It's about shaping what you have, not replacing it with a forumla, template, or (God forbid!) a preset...
 
I like the sense of space in the original. YMMMV.

Edit to add for the OP: Having differing opinions like this really helps you as the original photographer because you can take what feels right for you and leave the rest. No comment is really "right" or "wrong".


Very true. I like the sense of space in mine, the more cinematic look of the 16 x 9 and the square crop. Very difficult to choose which one! I think though that I agree there was too much unneeded bland sky,
 
Yeah that's really good and you're right, it helps remove some of the dust spots! I like both yours and YoshiKs crops! I'd actually done a similar crop just before I saw yours. This is it and it's also the completely unedited image as it looks straight from the camera. You can see the colour difference. You can click on the thumb to enlarge.




And if it's of any use for further critique on post processing, these were my lightroom settings that I used (mostly wrongly) for the processed image
landscape

BASIC
Temp 5150
Tint +4

Tone:
Exposure -0.83
Contrast +36
Highlights -100
Shadows +100
Whites +55
Blacks +26
......
Presence:
Clarity +52
Dehaze 0
Vibrance +10
Saturation +10

.....

TONE CURVE
Region:
Highlights +57
Lights -32
Darks +18
Shadows -9

.....
DETAIL
Sharpening:
Amount 71
Radius 1.0
Detail 46
Masking 51

....
CALIBRATION

Green primary
Hue -29
Saturation -14

Blue primary
Hue +17
Saturation +52
To be honest, I think @Harlequin565 is right, my crop needed a just a touch less foreground and a bit more sky to give a bit more space. Do you have image editing software yet, something like Photoshop Elements for instance? If so, have a look at the 'clone tool' function and you can soon get rid of those dust specks. It's all part of the learning curve of photography, so a good photo to practice 'post processing' and cropping on. Best of luck and welcome to the world of photography, where none of us ever needs to stop learning, just as long as we want to. :)
 
But you've been looking at pictures all your life... It's impossible not to have done research if you think about it. :)

One very real danger as a beginner is to find a "formula" that works and just do that over and over. Instagram is full of it. As someone who has taken the time to register for a photo forum, post an image, and respond to feedback, you are showing that you care about your work. All it takes is a bit of thought about what you want to achieve with your image. But don't lose that creative vision you have now. It's about shaping what you have, not replacing it with a forumla, template, or (God forbid!) a preset...

Thanks Ian, those are some words of wisdom. I've looked at some of your photos and they're awesome, I can tell you're very experienced. I definitely care, yes. When I do something, I try to do it as well as possible or else why bother. If I want just decent photos, I use my phone. I've seen youtube videos of pros selling preset templates of moody skys and whatnot. Doesn't interest me, seems a little like cheating tbh. Either the sky is there and the mood can be extracted, or it's not.

I've got another photo I need harsh critique on, I'll be posting that in the architecture forum. Hope you don't mind. :D
 
To be honest, I think @Harlequin565 is right, my crop needed a just a touch less foreground and a bit more sky to give a bit more space. Do you have image editing software yet, something like Photoshop Elements for instance? If so, have a look at the 'clone tool' function and you can soon get rid of those dust specks. It's all part of the learning curve of photography, so a good photo to practice 'post processing' and cropping on. Best of luck and welcome to the world of photography, where none of us ever needs to stop learning, just as long as we want to. :)

Thanks Mr Badger. :) I do yes, I have Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CC. Though hardly use Photoshop so still somewhat bewildering to me. Much more familiar with Lightroom. But once or twice I've sent a photo from Lightroom to Photoshop to use the blur or smudge tool and then sent it back to Lightroom. I think there's a way to remove dust specks in Lightroom or is it easier in Photoshop?
 
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The conditions are lovely with the soft warm light. I would say there needs to be a more obvious subject matter - you’ve gone fairly wide angle, which often has the effect of reducing the impact of everything in the frame. Personally, if I’m shootings wide I’ll include a dominant foreground element which acts as the subject, but you have to be careful not to include something boring just because you need a subject. Alternatively, I will use a long lens and pick out an interesting part of a landscape and exclude the rest.
 
I love the colours, not over-saturated for me ... as warm and inviting as a Summer's evening. :)
 
Something that I always notice first but nobody else has mentioned....... the horizon needs correcting. Look at the angle of all those lamp posts!

Just as a quick mention, the lightroom settings you detail seem to suggest some pretty heavy PP and the RAW file confirms it. The finished result is not too bad in my opinion, quite an attractive scene but with too much sky, Mr Badger's crop works for me. But I'd suggest trying to get that kind of result without resorting to too much PP if at all possible.

I don't see the need to always have some "foreground interest" and in this case the attractively coloured field serve in that role anyway. And finally, it's a hang glider, isn't it, so perhaps not that interesting?
 
I don't agree that the horizon needs correcting (not that it really matters in this particular scene). That's why noboby else has mentioned it.
Since when have lamp posts always been vertical !!
If you open this up in Photoshop and pull a vertical guide across you will see that the yellow house on the RHS and the adjacent lampost and all the other houses are perfectly vertical!

I conclude that it's a very nice image (perhaps a little oversaturated), but much improved with the sky cropped as per Mr Badger's crop.
 
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I wouldn’t worry too much about post processing or straight horizons. Work on getting strong compositions and the rest will come. Look at lots of other peoples photography, pick out what you really like and let that inspire you. Work out what about those images you like and apply those principles to your photography.
 
I agree with lots of the comments about the crop and general composition. You could also try cropping to exclude the yellow house on the right as it's not adding anything to the image.
I have a thing about needing the horizon level in my images, especially when you have a seascape or body of water, I hate a wonky image, but it's easy to correct. I don't think there's a problem with the horizon being level in this image.
Dust spots are easily removed in Lightroom is a two click job. Just look for the Spot Removal Tool near to the Histogram at the top of the right hand toolbar. You can change the mode from Heal to Clone depending on what works better. I've even used this to remove rubbish or people from a scene. Much quicker than going into photoshop for something so small.
I would only use Photoshop for bigger things where the Content Aware Fill can work wonders. Or you can do it manually using the Clone Stamp. Don't use Smudge and Blur for that job, they leave a smeary mess.
The light looks good but because you've cranked up the clarity, saturation, vibrance and sharpening it looks a bit much. You could always go back to the original and start again from scratch with "fresh eyes" or create a Virtual Copy of the one you already edited and then you can work with that to tone down the edit.
I would reset your tone curve, remove the sharpening, reset the clarity, vibrance and saturation. When it comes to those sliders I tend to slide them up to see the effect and then back them off so the effect is more subtle.
Also use the Before/After view option to see how different your edit is and see if you actually need to do more or back off.

Keep shooting and editing.
 
The conditions are lovely with the soft warm light. I would say there needs to be a more obvious subject matter - you’ve gone fairly wide angle, which often has the effect of reducing the impact of everything in the frame. Personally, if I’m shootings wide I’ll include a dominant foreground element which acts as the subject, but you have to be careful not to include something boring just because you need a subject. Alternatively, I will use a long lens and pick out an interesting part of a landscape and exclude the rest.

I'm amazed actually that the 50mm lens went as wide, I wasn't expecting it and in fact I'm going to buy a wide angled lens soon, a 17-35mm Tamron. But I see exactly what you're saying and in fact Yoshik1's tighter crop does give more impact just like you're saying. "Alternatively, I will use a long lens and pick out an interesting part of a landscape". Yeah, I also tried my 70-300mm lens and zoomed to a pair of distant trees in the middle of the field that looked interesting but when I looked at the photos, I thought 'nah', rubbish, doesn't look particularly good. Though someone with skill would have made them look pretty interesting.

I love the colours, not over-saturated for me ... as warm and inviting as a Summer's evening. :)

Thanks gramps. I guess it's all personal taste and though I like the colours, I do agree with others that they're a bit saturated and unnatural. The colour of most of the houses are whiter and I can see that I seem to have yellowed them :)

Something that I always notice first but nobody else has mentioned....... the horizon needs correcting. Look at the angle of all those lamp posts!

Just as a quick mention, the lightroom settings you detail seem to suggest some pretty heavy PP and the RAW file confirms it. The finished result is not too bad in my opinion, quite an attractive scene but with too much sky, Mr Badger's crop works for me. But I'd suggest trying to get that kind of result without resorting to too much PP if at all possible.

I don't see the need to always have some "foreground interest" and in this case the attractively coloured field serve in that role anyway. And finally, it's a hang glider, isn't it, so perhaps not that interesting?

Thanks for the feedback jerry. I can't remember if I did auto levelling in lightroom or not. But yes, you've made me aware I need to make sure to always try and keep horizons level.
Yeah, I was heavy handed in lightroom wasn't I! I'll have a go at toning it all down with a couple of revised crops.


I don't agree that the horizon needs correcting (not that it really matters in this particular scene). That's why noboby else has mentioned it.
Since when have lamp posts always been vertical !!
If you open this up in Photoshop and pull a vertical guide across you will see that the yellow house on the RHS and the adjacent lampost and all the other houses are perfectly vertical!

I conclude that it's a very nice image (perhaps a little oversaturated), but much improved with the sky cropped as per Mr Badger's crop.

Maybe I got lucky with the levelling. I had a tripod set up and some shots were handheld. I can't remember if this one was on the tripod or not.
Thanks though and I agree about Mr Badger's crop.

I wouldn’t worry too much about post processing or straight horizons. Work on getting strong compositions and the rest will come. Look at lots of other peoples photography, pick out what you really like and let that inspire you. Work out what about those images you like and apply those principles to your photography.

Thanks for the tips Tom. You make a good point. I guess I tried to make a bland scene look more attractive with processing. Sort of a silk purse from a pigs ear.
I've actually seen an inspiring photo today of a building. I want to emulate the way it was photographed. I've found a similar interesting building in Islington so I'm going to drive there tomorrow, hope I can park somewhere (lol, in london, yeah right!) and will attempt to capture it.


I agree with lots of the comments about the crop and general composition. You could also try cropping to exclude the yellow house on the right as it's not adding anything to the image.
I have a thing about needing the horizon level in my images, especially when you have a seascape or body of water, I hate a wonky image, but it's easy to correct. I don't think there's a problem with the horizon being level in this image.
Dust spots are easily removed in Lightroom is a two click job. Just look for the Spot Removal Tool near to the Histogram at the top of the right hand toolbar. You can change the mode from Heal to Clone depending on what works better. I've even used this to remove rubbish or people from a scene. Much quicker than going into photoshop for something so small.
I would only use Photoshop for bigger things where the Content Aware Fill can work wonders. Or you can do it manually using the Clone Stamp. Don't use Smudge and Blur for that job, they leave a smeary mess.
The light looks good but because you've cranked up the clarity, saturation, vibrance and sharpening it looks a bit much. You could always go back to the original and start again from scratch with "fresh eyes" or create a Virtual Copy of the one you already edited and then you can work with that to tone down the edit.
I would reset your tone curve, remove the sharpening, reset the clarity, vibrance and saturation. When it comes to those sliders I tend to slide them up to see the effect and then back them off so the effect is more subtle.
Also use the Before/After view option to see how different your edit is and see if you actually need to do more or back off.

Keep shooting and editing.

Thank you Alistair, very helpful advice. I'll have a go at using the spot removal tools.
Ok, I'm going to have a go at re-editing. I've reset the raw image. Is the sharpness of the image too much? Comparing to the raw image, does it not need as much sharpening as I gave it?
 
Lovely warm colours, I do think @YoshiK1 crop is much better, the paraglider is much larger in the frame whereas almost looks like a spot that needs cloning out in the original.

You mentioned your 70-300 and 2 trees but zooming into a section like the aforementioned crop would have given a stronger composition imo.
 
I'm amazed actually that the 50mm lens went as wide, I wasn't expecting it and in fact I'm going to buy a wide angled lens soon, a 17-35mm Tamron. But I see exactly what you're saying and in fact Yoshik1's tighter crop does give more impact just like you're saying. "Alternatively, I will use a long lens and pick out an interesting part of a landscape". Yeah, I also tried my 70-300mm lens and zoomed to a pair of distant trees in the middle of the field that looked interesting but when I looked at the photos, I thought 'nah', rubbish, doesn't look particularly good. Though someone with skill would have made them look pretty interesting.



Thanks gramps. I guess it's all personal taste and though I like the colours, I do agree with others that they're a bit saturated and unnatural. The colour of most of the houses are whiter and I can see that I seem to have yellowed them :)



Thanks for the feedback jerry. I can't remember if I did auto levelling in lightroom or not. But yes, you've made me aware I need to make sure to always try and keep horizons level.
Yeah, I was heavy handed in lightroom wasn't I! I'll have a go at toning it all down with a couple of revised crops.




Maybe I got lucky with the levelling. I had a tripod set up and some shots were handheld. I can't remember if this one was on the tripod or not.
Thanks though and I agree about Mr Badger's crop.



Thanks for the tips Tom. You make a good point. I guess I tried to make a bland scene look more attractive with processing. Sort of a silk purse from a pigs ear.
I've actually seen an inspiring photo today of a building. I want to emulate the way it was photographed. I've found a similar interesting building in Islington so I'm going to drive there tomorrow, hope I can park somewhere (lol, in london, yeah right!) and will attempt to capture it.




Thank you Alistair, very helpful advice. I'll have a go at using the spot removal tools.
Ok, I'm going to have a go at re-editing. I've reset the raw image. Is the sharpness of the image too much? Comparing to the raw image, does it not need as much sharpening as I gave it?
I have the Tamron 17-35 2.8-4. It’s a very good lens.

and I don’t want to downplay how important editing is in creating great images, but you can’t create a good image with editing (though you can ruin one).
 
Hi chaps. Never ever shot landscape before. I took this photo yesterday in London Colney around 5pm give or take. Can you tell me if this is a photo that holds anything of interest or is it complete rubbish, and you can be as brutally honest as you like since it's the only way to learn. :) The clouds were barely visible in the raw image and the sky was rather pale so I've tried to bring them out in lightroom. I also seem to have a few pale spots in the sky, I think I need to risk cleaning the sensor or learning how to remove them in lightroom.

How are the colours? How is the clarity? Is the composition any good or is there no real composition? Thanks!

(edited with larger version of the photo)



I think you could be forgiven if you've assumed a landscape photograph means that you need to get as much landscape in the frame as possible. It's the old cliche about 'what is a great landscape lens' and the majority say a 21mm and a few say a 50mm, and while there are always exceptions in my opinion the 50mm voters are the ones on the right track.

Landscape is about showing what it is that interests you and making an image that communicates that to the viewer. So ask yourself have you photographed anything that doesn't need to be in the picture, or conversely have you missed anything out? YoshiK1 has done a great crop of the image to show how being selective makes more of a point than the original image, but as they say even then 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear'.
 
Hi chaps. Never ever shot landscape before. I took this photo yesterday in London Colney around 5pm give or take. Can you tell me if this is a photo that holds anything of interest or is it complete rubbish, and you can be as brutally honest as you like since it's the only way to learn. :) The clouds were barely visible in the raw image and the sky was rather pale so I've tried to bring them out in lightroom. I also seem to have a few pale spots in the sky, I think I need to risk cleaning the sensor or learning how to remove them in lightroom.

How are the colours? How is the clarity? Is the composition any good or is there no real composition? Thanks!

(edited with larger version of the photo)



crop to just above the first cloud line....i like the saturation and contrast here..2d
 
I don't agree that the horizon needs correcting (not that it really matters in this particular scene). That's why noboby else has mentioned it.
Since when have lamp posts always been vertical !!
If you open this up in Photoshop and pull a vertical guide across you will see that the yellow house on the RHS and the adjacent lampost and all the other houses are perfectly vertical!

I conclude that it's a very nice image (perhaps a little oversaturated), but much improved with the sky cropped as per Mr Badger's crop.

Just to split hairs ......

How often have you seen a photo where one vertical surface near the edge is perfectly aligned but as you look across the image the verticals get further and further out? The problem with aligning verticals at the edge is that their angles may be affected by converging or diverging verticals due to the lens being pointed up or down away from completely horizontal. If you are trying to correct verticals choose a vertical in the centre, not the edge!

But in this case, almost all of the lampposts are sloping the same way. It may not matter to some people but as I said, it's often the first thing I notice.
 
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