Sharing Comments and Criticism..

[dmaxphil]

Crossing the lake by Adam Brown, on Flickr

Of the 3, I like this the best. Probably could be better angled so that the parking garages were hidden by the rail, but you did as much as you could hope to do I suppose.

 

[dmaxphil]

Here's my contribution. The original had my daughter's head poking in over the pond from the left side, but the wide angle distorted more than I could fix in post. It was a really beautiful scene with a great sky and awesome reflections, but how could I have captured this better?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Ef3xqd]Mercer - Koi Pond on Flickr[/URL]

 

[Chernabog1940]

I like this shot. It may have been asked, but what's with the blue sky around the bell? Was something chopped out?

It is just the angle of the shot. I am not skilled enough in 'post' to chop anything out of a picture. Basically, what you see is what was there.

 

[TheBigE]

Here's my contribution. The original had my daughter's head poking in over the pond from the left side, but the wide angle distorted more than I could fix in post. It was a really beautiful scene with a great sky and awesome reflections, but how could I have captured this better?

Mercer - Koi Pond on Flickr

First I like the color treatment you did in PP. I really like how the blue of the "bamboo" pops out at you. I like the color as well.

Compositionally it is very busy to me, but I think that is OK in this case. I see the rock in the foreground and really wonder what that offers the image. Use WA really requires a Foreground object, but here it does not work for me.

While I suspect very difficult I would almost like to the view from the Pond at camera Level. This would require a bit of gymnastics to get over the edge and take the photo hanging over the water. This to me would grab a bit more of the big tree in the middle that is cut off at the top. Or taking a step back and catching more of the rock wall in foreground.

Just some thoughts, still overall a very nice capture.

 

[havoc315]

First I like the color treatment you did in PP. I really like how the blue of the "bamboo" pops out at you. I like the color as well.

Compositionally it is very busy to me, but I think that is OK in this case. I see the rock in the foreground and really wonder what that offers the image. Use WA really requires a Foreground object, but here it does not work for me.

While I suspect very difficult I would almost like to the view from the Pond at camera Level. This would require a bit of gymnastics to get over the edge and take the photo hanging over the water. This to me would grab a bit more of the big tree in the middle that is cut off at the top. Or taking a step back and catching more of the rock wall in foreground.

Just some thoughts, still overall a very nice capture.

I had the same thoughts. I also would have liked to see ultrawide here, to capture the full tree in the center, without cutting off half of it. As it stands, it's a busy undefined scene. It's a busy piece of the landscape, but it's not the whole landscape, and it's not an interesting detail within the landscape. To me, you need to pick 1 or the other -- Either the whole landscape, which needs to include more of that center tree. Or you pick a particular detail and make the photograph about that. For example, maybe just focusing on the lillypads and reflections.

 

[dmaxphil]

I had the same thoughts. I also would have liked to see ultrawide here, to capture the full tree in the center, without cutting off half of it. As it stands, it's a busy undefined scene. It's a busy piece of the landscape, but it's not the whole landscape, and it's not an interesting detail within the landscape. To me, you need to pick 1 or the other -- Either the whole landscape, which needs to include more of that center tree. Or you pick a particular detail and make the photograph about that. For example, maybe just focusing on the lillypads and reflections.

It was one of those shots that I couldn't figure out. The pond was raised about 3' off the ground and going wide ended up getting a bunch of stuff in the shot I didn't want. So yes, I ended up walking away with a lot of detail shots like the one below.

 

[havoc315]

It was one of those shots that I couldn't figure out. The pond was raised about 3' off the ground and going wide ended up getting a bunch of stuff in the shot I didn't want. So yes, I ended up walking away with a lot of detail shots like the one below.

I like this a lot.

 

[sharona]

Here's my contribution. The original had my daughter's head poking in over the pond from the left side, but the wide angle distorted more than I could fix in post. It was a really beautiful scene with a great sky and awesome reflections, but how could I have captured this better?

Mercer - Koi Pond on Flickr

It's a pretty scene but yes, as a whole it's too busy. I would love to see a shot focused just on the tall plants at left and their reflections by zooming in just a bit and moving right and eliminating that building - unfortunately lots of bystanders over there cluttering up the background. Did you consider one just of the reflections without the wall or the big tree?

 

[dmaxphil]

It's a pretty scene but yes, as a whole it's too busy. I would love to see a shot focused just on the tall plants at left and their reflections by zooming in just a bit and moving right and eliminating that building - unfortunately lots of bystanders over there cluttering up the background. Did you consider one just of the reflections without the wall or the big tree?

Yep, I knew after I shot it that it wasn't going to work. As mentioned, I then moved on to more detailed shots. For wide, I'm thinking maybe a closer shot of the tall grasses at water level might have worked. That way the background would have become a little less busy. This place is a short drive away so I'll give it another shot.

 

[TheBigE]

Well I need to throw one out - here is one from the past weekend. Sommertagzug - basically where the Germans say goodbye to winter and welcome spring....this celebration culminates with the burning of a snowman in town center. Thoughts of the good, bad or indifferent.

 

[Chernabog1940]

Personally, I would crop it tighter to focus on the children. I think the fireman on the right [in the yellow] distracts from the kids on the left. Here's a simple crop. Others may have different ideas.