The Back Hills in the Evening

I've been testing out contrast to get more vivid colors and depth. Let me

know what you think. Everyones ideas are always appreciated. I learn

more from you all than anywhere else. Thanks to everyone!

I really enjoy this photo. Compositionally speaking I believe it has strong aesthetic value. It seems like there is a lot of different framing options that you could have tried with this shot. I personally would have probably croppd the fence so it is directly in the foreground. Also, I might have tried moving the shot over to the right more. The large set of bushes and trees on the right side are slightly distracting because of the cut-off and the sky seems a little washed out where the sun is setting. Also, the road is maybe a little too centered.

 

Also, being really picky maybe you could have pushed the exposure a little more to get a little more detail in the fence and trees. Overall, though I think you have done a wonderful job. I am originally from central PA so I can certainly appreciate this style of landscape artistry.

Hi Gabriel,

 

One of the "yardsticks" I like to use for evaluating images is what I call the "Calender Test". I ask myself "is this image good enough to appear on a professionally produced calender?". If the answer if yes, then I'll give it the high rating that it deserves. This image clearly passes that test.

 

The composition/balance is excellent, and the colour correction is spot-on.

 

You're got a small area of blown highlight top-left, but that's quite acceptable (essential even) if you want to have a dynamic looking image.

 

If I had to make some minor comments I might suggest that the image is a touch flat - the thick black border compensates for this, but in it's own right, the image lacks a bit of contrast/depth. One "quick and dirty" trick you might like to try is to set the burn tool in photoshop to shadows and around 3% - and give it a wipe or two over the entire sky. Compare the before and after versions - I wouldn't be at all surprised if you liked the one with the slightly more contrasty sky a bit more. (It's also a useful technique for increasing local contrast in many circumstances).

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

 

 

 

PDE

I like the sky and the colors, the driveway leading my eye into the photo is really nice. At first glance I thought hmm to dark but the more I look at it the more I think I was wrong the lighting adds a peaceful feeling to it that really adds to the whole capture. I like this very much.

All the techno stuff is ok and necessary, but it has to be an attention grabber to start.... and what you have here is an excellent image that certainly grabbed me even from the thumbnail... Good shot! Mike