New to photography. Please help.

[Micky S]

I'm just learning the basics right now. I'm very impressed with the level of photography here and I want to improve my own. This was taken 10-27-12 during early morning light. Since I used a long exposure, I manually used a flash that I was holding in my hand. It's a sophomoric shot, but I need critique to improve.

[alexharrison101]

personally, i like the location, but wouldn't have included the large rock in the foreground. it gets a little...lost somehow, like it blends into the snow on the bank (just my opinion ). i like the colours in the little pebbles to the right of it, which the flash has helped pick up nicely. why the long exposure? were you aiming to blur the water, or was it because of low light in the morning?

i've not been doing this long, so hopefully others will come along with more (better) critique for you

[Jediboy]

It's a nice location as mentioned, and the photo is well composed along the 'rule of thirds.' You've got a nice effect on the water, but I'm torn over the rock. it's good to have some foreground interest but this does almost dominate the photo, it draws the eye, which is probably helped because its been lit with flash. The pebbles on the beach lead into the photo nicely.
There is small mark in the water in the top right of the photo that could be got rid of.
If you're a beginner then you should be pleased with this, overall it's a very good effort. well done.
I'm certainly no expert and these are just my thoughts.

[markgozz]

Very nice shot Micky the way the rocks lead your eye up and along the shore line is great and the movement in the water works really well , you have also controlled the flash really well to avoid loosing the detail in the snow .

My personal preference would be to lighten the whole image a bit and also to have the top of the tree line run all the way to the edge of the image rather than being clipped just short , you also seem to have a dust spot in the top right hand corner of the image ( hopefully it's on the lens and not the sensor )

I'm also in two minds over the foreground rock , is it too much or not ? , I just can't make my mind up .

Mark

[ianpinion]

I have to agree with much of what has been said already and again I'm unsure about what to think about the large snow topped boulder. Personally, I think I would have tried changing my position to see if I could improve the composition, as often changing the angle of shooting can make all the difference. Moving a step or two to either the right or the left may have improved this and likewise getting down lower may also have been beneficial. I suppose the best advice whilst you're learning is to move around take a series of shots from different positions and then review which work and which don't when you get back and download them. Also working out why a shot works and equally why another doesn't is an important part of a photographer's development as an artist.

[StephenBatey]

I'm not going to comment on the image as it stands - mainly because I can't. When you've read what follows, you might care to think about why I started with that sentence.

There are several stages (in my opinion) to pass through before you release the shutter.

The first is to decide why you even want to. What is it that makes you feel (not think, feel - if you don't feel you have little hope of making others feel anything by your photograph) you want to use your camera? What attracts you? Is that what you want to convey?

After that, you have to answer what's the subject? (What was the subject of your image: was it the rock (most prominent object); was it the water (exposure made so as to have a specific effect on it) or was it the curve of the bay and the scenery (in which case, why relegate it to the background)?).

At that stage, you can begin to ponder the how - how do I arrange things to convey this message/feeling/aspect/whatever?

Camera position is paramount. Get that right (up/down side to side - both matter) and then pick the focal length of lens that includes what you want.

[Edmack]

Try it as a B & W Pic, increase the contrast a bit also. Ed.