Sun Set at Dear Creek

[ken_s4]

[ken_s4]

Just now, ken_s4 said:

Would like feed back.. What is good and what is not so good,

[jordan2240]

It's cool the way you got the sun framed through the opening in the trees, but on the other hand, I find it just kind of hits you smack in the face and make you want to turn away.  Also, I know rules are meant to be broken, but having it right in the middle of the frame doesn't appeal to me.  There's also nothing particularly interesting about the colors, and the light is rather unpleasant.  Perhaps waiting a little longer would have brough more pleasant light, thought that might have messed up the sun framing.

[dcstep]

I think that you missed an opportunity to get a sun star by stopping down to f/16 or f/22 and moving the camera until you see the star. In RAW conversion, raise the shadows to get a little more detail in the foreground. Pulling highlights down may give you blue sky.

[mikemorrellNL]

This looks to be a very difficult photo to get a 'balanced exposure' out of the camera. Shooting directly into the sun with deep shadows in the foreground. Given the situation, it looks fine. As @jordan2240 says, waiting a little longer might have made the sunlight less intense.

TBH, I have no idea how to take this kind of photo any better than you have have. The only thing that occurs to me is 'exposure bracketing' so that you have multiple exposures to choose from and/or use in post-processing.

The main improvement in post-processing that I would suggest is brightening (exposure/curves) the foreground, especially bottom left and right. This would bring out more detail and texture in the foreground.

 

[ken_s4]

Thanks for the feedback dcstep and MikemorrellNL Yes, it was a difficult shot.  If I had to do over again I would of composed it differently as mentioned by jordan2240.  I also would have played the the aperture, using different settings.  I have to get out of the mind set of shooting one shot.

[michael_kucinich]

A good one third of the bottom of the image lacks any significant detail, which is troublesome to my eye. I feel the placement of the sun in the middle of the image is also problematic and it's very bright. I like the idea of silhouetting the shapes, but perhaps waiting another minute or so till the sun is partially setting behind the horizon would make it more appealing.