Hit me with your best shot

Any critiques please :) This was the first phot I’ve printed off on canvas, I caught it at a beautiful time of day, around 6:30AM.

Some folks I’ve shown it to love it, others, well....... lol I’m learning

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by kevinhoogers

It must make a nice canvas print. It has a painterly aspect to it.

 

The tree on the left is a framing device and I understand being tied to that. I looked at it with the very left part of the photo, the tree, being cropped off. I left the stump in at the bottom. I think both ways have their appeal but I probably prefer it without that tree. The tree grounds my eye a bit too much and, when I crop away the tree, my eye is led deeper into the photo, and the bridge on the right and the area beyond it draw me nicely through the photo. It also means the dam and house aren't as centered when a bit is cropped on the left.

 

The curve of the dam and the curve of the reflection of the bridge play nicely against each other.

 

With or without the tree, the left side of the photo is a bit of a letdown compared to the house, damn, and bridge. If you post process, I'd work on that back building a bit to give it more presence, perhaps with burning or some saturation or color shift work. I wouldn't want it to call too much attention to itself, but as it is now it's kind of a throwaway element that may have more potential to bring more life and interest to the left side of the photo, even with some subtle changes.

Very picturesque scene, however I feel it was taken too square on to the dam wall, and the low hanging branch partially obscures the wooden building. Moving a little further to the left to take the shot may have improved the composition without omitting anything in the scene.

 

 

I've cropped it in a way so as to eliminate the harsh effect of the trees without cropping them out altogether, then cloned out the distracting "Danger" sign, also darkened the bright highlight right in the bottom left corner. Of course these adjustments are just ideas for consideration.

Nice shot, I personally would have shot it from an angle on the waterfall, keeping out the railing. And adding longer exposure, to make the water silky smooth. I think @kmac cropped it well.

Generally agree with all the above.

For me this scene is all about the old mill and the curve of the dam. The juxtaposition between the stillness of the water & reflections above the dam vs the faster moving water below the dam. I feel the modern bridge at the right is somewhat out of context,. Beyond that, as noted there are numerous other distractions, tree trunks, overhanging foliage, railings, sign... as has been mentioned.

 

BUT this canvas, especially if it's a grand as the scene itself, would indeed make lovely wall art. I hope its massive! It has a bit of a commercial setting vibe to it, and so it also feels a bit familiar. Lake back in the day when you could buy wallpaper that was a huge photo of a forest or whatever and cover a whole wall with it.

 

That said, not everyone can visualize a scene as a photo, or turn a scene into a photo. I guess what I'm saying is that this is lovely in many ways. YOU like it enough to have printed it, so don't let critique kill your joy. It takes guts to put your photos or work out there and invite critique and that much is certain. SOKudos to you for that! If this was taken on a trip then it's a beautiful souvenir from that journey. If you can go back and shoot it again (or again and again and again like "some" of us (read: me) do with things we love locally), do so. Meanwhile, enjoy the wall art you made!

Beautiful scene. I Suggest cropping the right significantly. The image is in the left side; work with that. I think there is a hanger in there, somewhere.