My first photo critique..

which one looks better? tell me how would I maked this shot better.

one

I want to give a midnight color....?

this one is a little bit lighter...what is your opion?

Toss the first one. You don't need to have everything in focus, but you need something to be in focus. Blurring absolutely everything just looks like you missed the shot.

Second one would work if you edited in a moon with moonlight reflecting across the water. If you're going to make it look like a night scene, make it look like a night scene and not just an underexposed shot.

Third one's clearer and brighter, but its composition is a bit of a mess. The tree trunk is a little too centered and the fisherman is too far to the edge and he's obscured by that blurry stump.

Photo #1 wouldn't be bad if it had a clear subject. It would probably work well as a background graphic for a composite.

Photo #2 is a pretty image but is missing something. Building on what Bob said, adding a light sheen to the water would give the impression of moonlight which would add some depth to your image.

Photo #3 is probably your strongest image.

One thing that is rather distracting in these images is the sign on the tree. You could clone this out pretty easily with some decent photo software.

I like what you did with the fisherman and the poles. The area left of the tree really has no real purpose and could be cropped out. This photo has a lot of potential with a bit of post processing.

Well done!

Thank so much guys I really appreciate your opinion, i will keep those things on mind, I agree with you bob about adding the moon on the 2nd photo. By the way what program is good for editing?

luzD80 wrote:

By the way what program is good for editing?

That's what we used to call in college, "one of those 'university' questions." A seemingly simple question that could take pages to answer... and requires lots of qualifying questions in order to arrive at anything close to an answer.

What's your budget?

What's your tolerance for 'steep-learning-curve' software?

How much machine (i.e., computer) are you currently running?

You could do good basic graphic design with Photoshop Elements, which can be had for under $100. Or if you plan on doing heavy-duty graphics and with a professional workload, you might need full Photoshop CSx, which can run $600-800 and which needs a pretty powerful machine.

There are free editors out there, like GIMP, too.

Bob...you are funny
I am not a smart one, But I love learning new things, I can spent about 200. for a decent program, and I'm using vista.

Take a look at Photoshop Elements. It goes for about $80 USD at Costco and it's a pretty great little package. A lot of bang for the buck.

OscarBob!
Thank you so much for the recomendatin on Photoshop Elements, I got my today, and I was playing with it and I love it!.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it, Luz! And if you just got it today, you're probably just scratching the surface of what Elements can do. Though it's an inexpensive package, it's a powerful little guy. You'll be able to use some powerful tools and techniques that the full Photoshop CSx offers, such as layering and color-curves.

Alright I guess that's going to be my next goal Photoshop CSX.

luzD80 wrote:

Alright I guess that's going to be my next goal Photoshop CSX.

Forget about graduating to Photoshop CS until you've done as much as you possibly can with Elements and you actually need more. Photoshop CS is expensive and would be a waste of money if all you really need is Elements.

Ok! then future goal, thanks for the advise; This program is amazing, I can even change background, and add my favored to it

I agree with what BoB has said about your shots but another thing that is distracting to me is the notice posted on the tree trunk. i see that first and then look at everything else.

Thanks Sally!

My only other suggestion would be to get Photomatix pro..then you can set this shot up on a tripod and take three different exposures..and blend them..wow..so much to learn. Its call HDR. I have been looking at the program..and it seems very cool!

It may be a bit premature to start tackling HDR when Luz has plenty of learning to do with the basics.

Thanks for the recommendation tho.