Grande Sunriseby
quiapzComment by bassbone: I saw your thread in the forums and wanted to give your shot a bit more evaluation.
First impression:
A pretty scene with possibilities. The fact that it is a basic sunset will not give you much by way of score at DPC. Viewers/ voters are expecting to be wowed by the quality of the scene as well as the quality and imagination of the image. I have personally entered many 'nice' shots in challenges that get sorely beaten in voting. The image you have is a nice scene but one that does not scream at me - "WOW this is awesome"!
Positives:
The sky and the clouds have the potential to really take this shot up a notch or two. A bit of Shadow/highlight adjustments in PS could really define the sky more and provide more interest to the shot. You could emphasize the textures of the sky while maintaining the nice water reflections.
It is a serene and inviting location - I would love to be there to witness the sunset.
Issues that others have mentioned:
1. The unfortunate lens reflection (green spot) is extremely distracting in this image. The green dot looks like a mistake not a benefit to the photo - and the DPC voters (including me) dropped their score because of it. If this was an advanced editing challenge, you could have removed it in post processing. But alas, so here we are! Was your lens covered with a UV or other filter? The more glass you have in front of the sensor, the more chance for these unfortunate lens artifacts.
2. The subject (the Sun) is not well defined but merely a 'blob of light' as opposed to a clear sharp shape. Many voters including me were likely saying - yes it is centered, but what is drawing me into the shot?
3. The tilted horizon does add a bit of unbalance to the image. DPCers are picky and if the horizon is planned to be flat, it should be flat.
4. The main subject of the shot does not appear to be centered completely. With the horizon below center, the sky appears to dominate and gives the impression of not being centered.
Putting together the green lens artifact, the unlevel horizon and the blob of light as the subject, and the impression of not being centered, voters were not going to reward the image with a high score (and remember around here anything over a 5 is considered a high score!). I personally gave it a 4 because I saw more issues than positives.
Photographer found comment helpful.