Purple Hazeby
deborahpasternakComment by rmahan: It is, indeed, a beautiful sunset and you've captured the colors beautifully!
What I like most about your photograph is the beautiful colors - it must have been awe inspiring to be there. As I said, you've got the colors and the purples and pinks meet the challenge.
From a technical viewpoint, I think you could improve your picture by 1. eliminating the flash (I don't know anything about your camera but most have the ability to turn off the flash) and 2. by placing the camera on a tripod or on something to completely steady the camera in order to help with the sharpness. When the light is low or there are dark areas within the photograph, most cameras will drop the shutter speed and almost no one can hold the camera steady enough to get a sharp picture under those circumstances. It also appears that the focus was set on the beach area rather than on the mountains. Since we want to see those areas -- even more than the nearby beach area -- the focus should be set to focus on the distant subject.
Your composition is pretty good. The shore becomes a line which leads the eye into the picture and right to the subject -- the mountains and the sky. This helps make it a captivating picture. If I were going to photograph this, I might have moved a bit to the left (if possible) or at least aimed the camera more to the left to avoid the large dark area at the right. Also, I would have pointed the camera up just a bit to avoid having the horizon in the center of the frame and to capture more of the sky.
So, what's right is: nice subject, good color, and pretty good composition. What can be improved: composition and focus. Oh, and if you'll size your pictures to take advantage of the full 640 pixels on one of the sides, I'm sure your scores will improve. This photograph has the potential the produce a "Wow!" response but it must be larger to do that.
Thanks for sharing your special moment and for entering the challenge!
Regards ... for the Critique Club,
Bob Mahan
(rmahan)
