Hello, can somone give some advice on a few images please

[Drew Smith]

These are good pics Andrew. Enjoyable to look at. They have a serene tranquility.

I think the sky, especially the first one, creates an almost 'Turner-esque' feel. I'm sure we all try to bring out all the detail and tonal range in our skies at times, but for me this works nicely as it is.

Just watch you wonky horizons though

[MattUK]

Wow, really nice shots!!!

A dead simple improvement could be to adjust the crop on them, so that the horizon line is level.

Keep them coming

[The Littlest Hobo]

Yep, every time i look at the horizons it gets worse.

It was a quite specific set of adjustments on the pics so i should be able to do them again quite quickly in PS and pay more attention to the horizon.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Start a course next month and may need some help so this place will be really handy.

[ianpinion]

Well done, Andrew. Your latest shots are definitely the best you've submitted here to date! I think both work really well, but I agree that your horizon is just off being level. Were these shots taken hand held? Or did you use a tripod? If you were hand holding I think what you've done is press the shutter quite hard and it's just caused the camera to tip slightly as the shutter was open, probably as you were trying to compensate with your other hand. I know, because I'm often guilty of doing that myself. That's why I often use a tripod and remote release to prevent any unecessary camera movement.

[The Littlest Hobo]

Taken on a tripod tbh. I think i was just a little lazy in PS.

Thanks for the advice guys

[ianpinion]

Originally Posted by The Littlest Hobo

Taken on a tripod tbh. I think i was just a little lazy in PS.

Thanks for the advice guys

In which case, you need a spirit level you can attach into the hotshoe on top of your camera to make sure you get it set level before you take your shots! Then you'll have no excuse!

[The Littlest Hobo]

Took these today

[ianpinion]

Well done, Andrew! Very nice composition in all three and you can see what a difference it makes can't you.

I think in the first shot, for a supposeldy spooky ruin, it doesn't look particularly spooky. Take a look at today's POTD and see how they've managed to create some atmosphere in their final image by boosting the colour curves and creating areas of light and dark. I think your black and white conversion could do with the same, plus a bit of motion blur/wind blur in the clouds might look good too.

Your shot of the bridge has that "I captured it like this in camera" look to it, but again it's well composed. You could really got to town with the editing and create some atmosphere with it too if you fancy a challenge. Again, have a look at the POTD for inspiration.

[The Littlest Hobo]

Thanks Ian. The colour version was supposed to be labelled Ruin. Agreed, it is anything but spooky. I have just learnt how to put a proper border and label on my pics so i was getting carried away. I only posted that one up to show the difference between the original and the B & W pic.

I looked at the POTD and it looks like someone is quite practiced in photoshop. Lovely picture. I have a few weeks experience with it. When i try that kind of process it looks like my 3yrs old daughter has had a go with a paintbrush. Will try again.

Pleased with the composition comments. That was what i was aiming for.

[ianpinion]

I think the trick with editing, particularly dodging and burning, is to use quite a large brush and only use a low percentage number of around 5%, that way you can control the effect and build the effect up without over doing it. However, don't try to run before you can bearly walk, but it's good to look at other photographer's work and study them to see if you can workout how they created an effect. You can also watch the tutorials on this site and Adobe TV as they both show you how you should use each editing tool and what you should use them all for. One photographer told me, that when he's out taking photographs, he can picture in his mind as he looks through the viewfinder how his final image will look. This then leads him into how he should firstly capture it in camera and what editing he will do to it subsequently to acheive the look he's after.

I think you're now beginning to get an eye for spotting a scene that has enough interest to capture with your camera, so the next stage is converting that vision into reality with your final image and being able to present it in the way you want to present it and for it to convey or prevoke an emotional response from those who view it. You have complete control over this, the power is within your hands, but you've just got to learn, litlle by little, how to do it and do it well.