St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

bucketyr's WPC Entry has been selected for the Photo Critique Forum* to find out what could have done to make it better.

Be nice, but be honest as this may help everyone with their craft. Thank you everyone!

From WPC 1608 - Black & White RESULTS http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/photo_contest_ratings.jsp?pcnum=210

* If you are new to the Photo Critique Forum please read the Section Rules http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-279264-1.html
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Winter - Wet, dark and cold

(Download)

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

Composition wise this is excellent. You have a leading line out to your subject everything is in excellent focus. I like it quite a bit. I think the sky could be a little more interesting. I don't think there are any true whites in the image so brightening some of the lighter cloud areas might help that.

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

With such a flat scene it would be hard to get a better exposure. Composition is good but overall lack of contrast is a problem, particularly in the sky. I tried isolating the sky and boosting contrast quite a bit and it changes the whole picture.

bucketyr Loc: Ecoyeux, France

Thank you both for your critique. I did a one to one photography course 45 years ago, with a professional newspaper photographer. In those days, apart from playing with exposure in the enlarging phase, there wasn't much you could reallty do with a picture. I learned to take the picture I saw, and use the camera to change exposure values, positioning, effects using filters etc. Now people who are computer savvy use photoshop and other programmes. I'm a bit old to learn that, so it's nice that the only real critisism was with the sky, for which I had already done my best with a circular polarizing filter.
Thank you again for taking the time to look at my picture.

10MPlayer Loc: California

Most of us here are "a bit old." You don't have to learn Photoshop to learn how to post process pictures. Elements has a lot of the elements of Photoshop but it's very much simplified. I'm sure others here can offer better suggestions. If you had the means, I'd lighten the road tracks to bring them out some. In the darkroom days you would dodge them in the printing phase.

bucketyr Loc: Ecoyeux, France

Yes, I would have dodged them, I'd forgotten about that technique. Thanks for the tip about Elements, I'll have a look

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

I cannot imagine how you could improve the composition of this image. The lone, leafless tree is, indeed, alone and isolated in a flat featureless meadow. The leading line of the track is perfectly situated to bring the eye to the subject without being too obvious in that role - it leads the eye to the area of the tree but not right to the base of the tree. The track entering the picture from the lower left corner is perfectly situated to tie the composition together. My only quibble with this excellent image is the exposure. First of all I think it is too dark over all. There is nothing in the image to suggest that it was actually dark when it was taken - it just looks under exposed. Some additional exposure ( 1 or 1.5 stops) would expose some additional detail in the foreground without losing the deep black of the shadows. The sky might need additional lightening to increase the tonal range of the image and emphasize the starkness of the lone tree. The track might also need a bit of additional lightening to draw more attention to it and to balance the brighter sky. The vignetting in the upper right corner should be dealt with. Excellent image with one flaw that is easy to correct.

P.S. I just tried lightening it by 1.5 stops and increasing the contrast and clarity. And, low and behold, I can see that the leaves in the foreground are wet and there is water on the track.