Upper Seletar Reservoir

[kehjz]

Upper Seletar Reservoir by kehjz, on Flickr


1.in what area is critique to be sought?
i need feedback on the composition, i feel that there is no place of interest in this photo i've taken.. thanks


2.what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
i am testing out on my tianya nd8 filter, and the cloud are quite ok today..


3.under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
sony a230, shutter speed 60 sec, aperture f11 at iso100, quite windy at around 6.45-7.00pm


4.what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
i hope to get advise on the composition, for eg, include a point of interest, etc, ur help would be appreciated

 

[Neurospark]

Hey,

Nice work with the ND8 filter and long exposure. Just my humble views...

1. You're right about the lack of point of interest. I'm wondering if you were trying to use the trail of rocks to lead the viewer to your point of interest which is possibly the jetty and the water. Am I right? Anyways, although the use of the rock trail as a leading line is a good idea, the jetty itself is not framed in an interesting way. Perhaps a different perspective either closer to the jetty / further away may do the trick?

2. Your horizon is slanted downwards to the left but you can easily correct this in PP.

3. Composition wise the idea of half top portion being sky and the other half land does not seem to be working here. It would be good if you can have your lower 1/3 with land, showing your subject of interest and the other 2/3 top portion showing a beautiful sky with clouds under long exposure.

4. The railings of the jetty cut across the trees at the horizon. Likely this happened due to a low angle shot. Maybe you could try mounting your camera at a higher level on your tripod to avoid this cut off...

5. The no-entry sign is very jarring and should be cloned out. It is a major distraction IMHO.

6. The sky, clouds and water have been well captured so good job with that!

Hope this helps... Have fun shooting!

 

[cheesy]

nice shot.

may i know where exactly is this this spot where you took this shot? :think:

 

[candycaine]

1.in what area is critique to be sought?
i need feedback on the composition, i feel that there is no place of interest in this photo i've taken.. thanks


2.what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
i am testing out on my tianya nd8 filter, and the cloud are quite ok today..

If this is just a test shot for your ND8 then why do you need feedback on the composition :bsmilie:

In any case, there is no place of interest in this photo- but I think the potential object of interest is the jetty. It would have been much better to shoot the jetty from a higher point of view so that it leads towards the horizon, rather than it being shot from ground level, as it appears flat. Since it's shot from this height, the jetty also mashes with the trees in the background.

Besides being shot from higher, the jetty could also be more centralised, leading in from-say the bottom left side of the photo as opposed to the left edge.

Using the rock trail as a leading line is a good idea, but the rocks lead to the left edge of the photo and make a sharp, almost 90 degree turn back to the center of the photo, which makes for uncomfortable viewing. A more gradual leading line would be better.

nice shot.

may i know where exactly is this this spot where you took this shot? :think:

This is upper seletar, near the observation tower.

 

[engrmariano]

i like!:thumbsup:

 

[JonQuek]

Agreed with Neurospark and Candycaine. The whole scene is very flat and one dimensional with overlapping scenes. Looks a touch messy at the horizon. The sky, in my opinion, i would like to have a bit more colour contrast though. May be graduated filter can help. Cheers.

Jon

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

Upper Seletar Reservoir by kehjz, on Flickr

I find the transition in the sky from purple to blue, quite unnatural.
Should try to make use of the rocks as a leading line to something interesting.
Also be careful of the horizon. Looks slanted in your photo.

 

[Abbot Man]

Vertically or horizontally ? I prefer a horizontal composition, zoomed out a bit more, it gives you the more spacious feel of the jetty (potential interest of subject) on the horizon...

 

[kehjz]

Hey,

Nice work with the ND8 filter and long exposure. Just my humble views...

1. You're right about the lack of point of interest. I'm wondering if you were trying to use the trail of rocks to lead the viewer to your point of interest which is possibly the jetty and the water. Am I right? Anyways, although the use of the rock trail as a leading line is a good idea, the jetty itself is not framed in an interesting way. Perhaps a different perspective either closer to the jetty / further away may do the trick?

2. Your horizon is slanted downwards to the left but you can easily correct this in PP.

3. Composition wise the idea of half top portion being sky and the other half land does not seem to be working here. It would be good if you can have your lower 1/3 with land, showing your subject of interest and the other 2/3 top portion showing a beautiful sky with clouds under long exposure.

4. The railings of the jetty cut across the trees at the horizon. Likely this happened due to a low angle shot. Maybe you could try mounting your camera at a higher level on your tripod to avoid this cut off...

5. The no-entry sign is very jarring and should be cloned out. It is a major distraction IMHO.

6. The sky, clouds and water have been well captured so good job with that!

Hope this helps... Have fun shooting!

thanks for all the tips, yea, about the jetty and the trees, it would be better if i shoot at a higher angle, and the next time i will follow the rule of third here.. yes i was trying to use the rock as the leading line.. but someone was taking picture there, and i don't wan to include him inside, that explains the sudden 'cut' of the rock scene..

If this is just a test shot for your ND8 then why do you need feedback on the composition :bsmilie:

In any case, there is no place of interest in this photo- but I think the potential object of interest is the jetty. It would have been much better to shoot the jetty from a higher point of view so that it leads towards the horizon, rather than it being shot from ground level, as it appears flat. Since it's shot from this height, the jetty also mashes with the trees in the background.

Besides being shot from higher, the jetty could also be more centralised, leading in from-say the bottom left side of the photo as opposed to the left edge.

Using the rock trail as a leading line is a good idea, but the rocks lead to the left edge of the photo and make a sharp, almost 90 degree turn back to the center of the photo, which makes for uncomfortable viewing. A more gradual leading line would be better.



This is upper seletar, near the observation tower.

thanks for the suggestion, will think carefully the next time i'm there again, the point of interest and the leading lines, xie xie

Agreed with Neurospark and Candycaine. The whole scene is very flat and one dimensional with overlapping scenes. Looks a touch messy at the horizon. The sky, in my opinion, i would like to have a bit more colour contrast though. May be graduated filter can help. Cheers.

Jon

thank you for the suggestion, will try to shoot at a higher point of view, so the trees/jetty won't be 'squeezed up' thus messy.. thank you

I find the transition in the sky from purple to blue, quite unnatural.
Should try to make use of the rocks as a leading line to something interesting.
Also be careful of the horizon. Looks slanted in your photo.

i stack 2 nd8, that's why there is a purple tint.. not willing to part my money for the nd110, that's why for now i'm using 2 nd8 to do long exposure.. 1 should be enough i reckon, but i just trying, anyways thanks for the tips, will straighten the picture the next time round..



thanks for all the help :thumbsup:

 

[kehjz]

nice shot.

may i know where exactly is this this spot where you took this shot? :think:

as mentioned, near the observation tower, u can easily see this place when u reach the observation tower,

i like!:thumbsup:

thank u~

Vertically or horizontally ? I prefer a horizontal composition, zoomed out a bit more, it gives you the more spacious feel of the jetty (potential interest of subject) on the horizon...

i was tryin out a lot of landscape horizontally recently due to the 'poison' from my friend of having a UWA, i reckon if i shoot more horizontally i could put off the thought of buying a UWA so soon.. i'm using a sony a230 for now, but the noise control at high ISO is putting me off, so i wan to 'resist' the 'poison' to buy UWA for now.. :bsmilie:

 

[ClemC]

I find the transition in the sky from purple to blue, quite unnatural.
Should try to make use of the rocks as a leading line to something interesting.
Also be careful of the horizon. Looks slanted in your photo.

Just to add on a bit..
The color tint in this picture is quite strong.. just look at an object that is suppose to be white (in this case the no-entry signboard.. it is tinted with magenta.. if/when you PP.. just just to white dropper on this area and your color tint will be removed (if you can see the colour tint.. you can remove manually as well .. but not so easy since there is a very strong magenta tint)

As to the leading line, do note that the rock leads you to the jetty.. BUT there is a NO-ENTRY sign.. (which the eye can easily interpret).. this sign has effectively stopped the leading line.. maybe you want to consider that as well..

Another Note: Since you said you are testing a particular brand of ND8 filter.. I think what you want to do is to try a few more shots with your nd8 filter.. if they all turn out to have a strong magenta color tint.. it should tell you something about the filter

you might want to read DareDevil123 thread on filters

 

[candycaine]

i stack 2 nd8, that's why there is a purple tint..

I don't think the stacking is the reason. Stacking multiple filters will more likely give you vignetting rather than colour cast. The more probably reason is that the Tianya filters in themselves are badly produced and hence give a purple tint.

Fyi, I think ND110 also gives a colour cast- not purple though, if I'm not wrong, it makes the photo warmer than it should be.

 

[kehjz]

Upper Seletar Reservoir by kehjz, on Flickr

i straighten the image and change the white balance with the dropper pointing to the no-entry sign, does it improve by abit? :dunno:

 

[kwttan]

Upper Seletar Reservoir by kehjz, on Flickr

i straighten the image and change the white balance with the dropper pointing to the no-entry sign, does it improve by abit? :dunno:

I think this PPed picture is better than original posted.

 

[AhKar]

I think this PPed picture is better than original posted.

I like the PP too. Initially it feels that it doesn't have that 'mood' compared to the original, but after a while it looks more correct. glad you fixed the slanted horizon, it was very obvious initially. I like how you placed the waterline at the centre with the rocks serving as a line leading to it, and the clouds are well done too.

 

[Abbot Man]

Upper Seletar Reservoir by kehjz, on Flickr

i straighten the image and change the white balance with the dropper pointing to the no-entry sign, does it improve by abit? :dunno:

Much improved :thumbsup: