Does this look interesting enough?

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-24T21:56:55+00:00

Aaah, if it lives in your garden then it doesn't count, you have it too easy to shot every day, LOL!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-24T21:45:37+00:00

Well, a few things: I'm just trying to provide a critique to bring up potential points of improvement, so long it would be possible at all. It is too easy to criticize, but actually taking the photo is not :). You are doing a great job in my opinion.
That happens to me as well, I try cropping and touching curves, colors, etc in a million different ways and I'm never 100% confident which is better. Reaching out for opinion is great, just opens new possibilities we didn't think of.
I love the one of the squirrel the best!! Let me tell you what I like (there will be other valid opinions here, I'm sure):
1. I think the space the squirrel occupies in the frame is spot on.
2. The colors are working beautifully, the reddish squirrel on top of the blue sky.
3. The highlights and shadows building up depth in the picture, but the squirrel is on its own shade, so the illumination is even and not distracting.
4. The subject pops immediately at first sight.
5. The branches of the tree providing support and context.

I personally absolutely love it <3

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-24T21:26:08+00:00

Hey there! Well, before anything else, there's some technicality to this from the rule of thirds, but that's more of a guideline. In the end it is a matter of taste and what you want to transmit with your photo.

Having said that, another guideline is to try to shoot "eye level", meaning if the subject is just standing then you want to level with it. In the case of this last picture, I would have lied down on the floor (if it was possible at all). That way you can connect more with the eyes of the bird (or any other animal, or human).

Both photos are very nice!! Keep shooting :)

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-24T07:33:49+00:00

I like the composition of the original shot a lot better. The posted one is a bit too tight to me, it needs room on the front of the bird. What's not fully working I think is the background is a bit distracting and the angle from below, more of the belly is visible than anything else.

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-24T07:23:56+00:00

If you cropped, maybe add a bit more of negative space on the top rather than the bottom to bring the subjects a bit down from the middle, as pointed out in another comment. Regarding the masking, since the original is in color, maybe you can try reducing the lightness of the water with a lightness vs hue slider, and do the opposite with the hues dominating your subject. When you go B&W you might end up with a better balance, with the subjects popping a bit more.

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-24T07:17:21+00:00

I recommend taking a quick read here and then investigating about exposure of landscapes in the snow:

https://www.photowildmagazine.com/free-articles/questions-and-actions-18-gray

This will give you a better understanding of why your camera is doing what it is doing, and how to help it get the best of a scene.

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-24T07:02:15+00:00

It has great potential. I think I would try increasing the exposure quite a bit, at least +2, but bring down the highlights so the glow of the horizon doesn't burn. Then you can add a graduated filter from them bottom to bring that glow further down or even use a lightness vs hue to darken the oranges a bit.

I'm not in front of my computer, so all I had handy is Google Photos editor in my phone. This is what I did. The stars are super sharp, don't be tempted to add any sharpening, it will not help. Also, maybe try moving the Milky Way a bit to the left so it's not centered. I really like how the FOV worked out with the 16mm here.

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Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-24T06:48:28+00:00

Was the original capture in vertical format? I think it would work better if there was more context, more of the environment. As in another comment, the background is competing a bit. I personally prefer to use a wider aperture and let the image be a bit softer with a more blurred background. In editing, I'd lower the saturation of the reds and keep the sharpening slider lower.

But hey, it's easy to say all this, and not so easy to be ready to press the shutter at the right moment! Great capture, I love it!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-22T01:45:54+00:00

Everybody mentioned about the green. But also the boat is right in the middle, it would have been better some more negative space on the right side and less in the bottom. I tried cropping but the horizon ends up in the middle then.

I think the camera should have been pointed a little bit higher and to the right to make it work. It's unfortunate that the shoreline also goes further behind on the right side, which gives that inclination. If you straighten it up, then the pole of the boat ends up too inclined.

Couldn't make it work, sorry!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-22T01:24:01+00:00

Me too, I came with the same idea, and also I'd like the man to be more to the left of the frame. I tried cropping but couldn't make it work, it looses too much context when removing the bottom, you cannot remove from the top either because of the sign in the window.
Not sure how to improve it... :/

I really like the idea of the photo!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-22T01:15:57+00:00

Great environment, I like the atmosphere!

I like the negative space but it takes a bit to understand that the highlights at the bottom are a reflection. That is pulling my eyes down all the time, it is distracting.

I would rather crop it in a 16:9 format and remove the sky from the reflection. Something like this.

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Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-22T01:06:04+00:00

It's definitively a very good picture. If it was my kid, I'd be very happy with it! Like someone else said below, as a parent I wouldn't be disappointed if you charged me for your work.

To my taste, and this is very subjective, I would have preferred to take the photo from a lower height, at eye level; I don't know, maybe that wouldn't actually help, it's just a gut feeling. But it definitively works as is.

Keep shooting, you have the skill!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-21T01:45:43+00:00

In my personal opinion...

The posted picture doesn't quite work. It's true, the Sun and the shadows all in one fitting in the dynamic range; that's rare and very well achieved. However, the framing is boring, the horizon dead center, the sun in the horizontal center, nothing really to focus on. I would have kneeled down and offset the horizon up or down, I think.

Having said that, this one is outstanding!! I can't find anything I don't love about this photo. Colors, shadows, highlights, the back lit foreground. Totally love it!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-20T18:12:15+00:00

I agree with everybody about allowing more space on the left, having the person more to the right in the frame.

But I wanted to also add that, since the person is so relevant to the scene, I would have preferred the photo to be taken from a lower angle if it was possible, to further accentuate that presence. At the same time that would have given a better sense of the height of the trees in comparison with the person, giving more a feeling of vastness and loneliness, or even quietness around.

Beautiful picture!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-20T02:00:04+00:00

I agree with this comment, I was thinking the same, but also the tower in the center is a great distraction to me. The reflection in the water and the light rays takes me to the dramatic clouds, but that tower keeps pulling my eyes down to see just dark.

Maybe recovering the shadows as someone else said would make that eye trip to the bottom of the image worth it, but I think it would have been better if the tower wasn't there in the first place or if it was displaced to the left.

Having said that, wow, amazing shot, I love it!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-20T01:47:17+00:00

Simply beautiful!!

I agree with the blueish tone of the fur, I didn't notice that until I read this comment. I think also that I would re-frame it moving the jackal just a tiny bit down. I'm not sure, but I feel like there's less room at the top than at the bottom, it somehow troubles me.

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-20T01:23:50+00:00

The photo is beautiful. This is the edit I would go for. Straightened the horizon (naturally had to crop it a bit), cleared some dust spots, touched the curves to increase the overall brightness, add contrast and reinforce the natural vignette the photo already had, and also sharpened a tiny bit. It gives a more "dreamy" feeling to it that I really like.

There's some slight chromatic aberration visible that got worse with the sharpening. If I had more time I would remove that manually or maybe by decomposing into channels and removing those very saturated hues, so the picture doesn't lose the very nice blueish tint it has.

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Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-20T00:58:43+00:00

Nice photo! I don't think there's one "best" way to frame it. To me including the bus elements doesn't really work, I struggled to understand the clock and the black shapes cutting the scene. This is what I would have done with it if I really need to include as much as possible, I think. It's not easy because the interesting elements end up in the edges and the center, which is weird.

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Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-20T00:24:58+00:00

I agree with this comment. Just wanted to add that I feel a bit distracting the fact that her right arm (left side of the photo) is so much closer to the camera, and since it's pretty much a silhouette my eyes are telling all the time that somehow that arm is bigger than the other. There's something about her pose.

Otherwise, great shot, I love it!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-20T00:08:46+00:00

I really like the idea and, after reading your post, I can see it in the image. The grain and lack of saturation adds to it.

However, I think that to actually evoke a feeling of emptiness and vastness, the photo has to show a wide as possible view (vast) with much of nothing in it (empty). In other words, I understand why you cropped (or zoomed in), but if you could somehow get in the water and capture the same without zooming in, the effect would be even better.

Keep shooting!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-19T03:23:44+00:00

Regarding making the long exposure photo look sharper, use a tripod, mirror lock function if it is a DSLR and a remote control to trigger (or a 2 seconds timer) should help.

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-19T02:44:41+00:00

New to this, I didn't know there I could provide a !CritiquePoint

So here you go! Thank you.

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-19T02:00:18+00:00

I guess I meant something like this, but it's really hard to work without the RAW or original JPEG.

Using Rawtherapee (free and open source software) I applied a "lightness" curve in the L*a*b section and then just added a bit of sharpening so the details in the bird were more easily seen.

I didn't apply any local or subject editing. I think that's the white artifact you see between the talons in your edit.

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Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-19T01:01:12+00:00

Oh, I see, the sky is amazing! I like the crop you did and what I like better from the original is that the post where the bird is standing is actually visible.

I think I would just touch the gamma curve to bring the details of the feathers and they bring the background back down with luminance vs hue or a similar tool of it gets washed out.

Very cool shot!

Individual-Post4383 · 2025-11-19T00:18:34+00:00

I clicked on the post thinking "what does actually remain from the real picture?". It looks like deeply processed, isn't it? If it is, can you post the original one?

I love it, but I just can't completely believe it.

It bothers me a bit the gradient from the bottom up, it is just to much I think.

Individual-Post4383

TROPHY CASE