Critique please on river pics at Niagra

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

08/11/2005 09:42:14 AM · #1

I took these two pictures of the river at Niagra Falls while we were on vacation. The river was a pretty green color. Anyway, what do you think?

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And what of this one taken at the butterfly tour place?

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Message edited by author 2005-08-11 09:44:18.

SJCarter

Canon EOS-7D

08/11/2005 09:58:47 AM · #2

I'd say the first one is a bit overexposed and I don't personally care for the tilted angle (makes me dizzy). I think if you straighten the horizon and reduce some of the glare, it would be much better. I like the second one and think it has a lot of possibilities. I would suggest cropping more off the far bank and concentrate on the water movement - you've got some nice lines & color there. I think the last one is very nice compositionally, but is too grainy. Sharpen it up a bit and play down the highlights on the leaves and I think you'll have an even better shot.

Also, if you post these on DPC in your Portfolio, it's easier to keep track of everyone's comments - I know it is for me. :-)

Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera

08/11/2005 10:22:55 AM · #3

This is a slightly different one from the first one. Do you like it better? I'll have to see if PS Elements 3.0 has something that will straighten the horizon. I haven't tried that before. I have been having problems with a lot of my pictures being too grainy. I've moved the ISO to 80 when I'm outside and it's light or sunny like "LO" suggested and that's helped some, but obviously I'm still getting too much noise. Any other suggestions? On the butterfly one, it was taken inside of a greenhouse type building so that may be why it has a little noise. I did do the unsharp mask to all three of them though. Thanks for your suggestions! What about this one? Is it better than the 1st one? I guess it's still slightly crooked but I think it may be straighter than the 1st one.

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Oh, I'm not a "member" yet so I don't think I can post pictures to my portfolio, can I?
(edited to fix post of picture.)

Message edited by author 2005-08-11 10:45:12.

digitalknight

08/11/2005 10:31:45 AM · #4

the color of the water is really cool in both of the first shots. The first shot seems very over sharpened to me, at least that's what I attribute the halo effect to. Maybe I should just say I don't like the halos?

The second shot the water makes me want to dive into the color and live there, the color works for me! However the composition of the shot doesn't work for me. My eye doesn't really have anything to look at. I think the shot could be cool if it were cropped to just the turbulent water, but it would have to be shot over and over to find just the right turbulent composition - I know, I've shot and discarded hundreds of turbulent water photos - haven't kept one yet.

The third is very nice. Lots of grain in the background - Neat Image or something could clean that up, I'd recommend a tighter crop, or a non=centered composition maybe? Sorry, just downloaded it and looked at it scaled, it's not a centered composition. Still I'd like to see it "different' maybe like this?

Neat Image had a hard time (with my very fast pass on it) getting all the noise out. Maybe a NI pass before sharpening would work better?

It feels over-processed to me too. Too much sharp again? The halos around the antennea in particular make me think that may be the case. It is a beautiful photo, one that I may never have the patience to get myself.

How's that? Hope that's helpful.

08/11/2005 10:32:50 AM · #5

Ok, I just read in my book that PS Elements 3 does have a way to straighten pictures, so I'll try that when I get home from work.