Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
So where is everyone at with photos taken with phones? I have become a believer in the mantra that the best camera is the one you have with you over the last several months, and since I always have my phone with me, I’ve tinkered with trying to take “serious” pictures with it. Here is a sunset shot from a viewpoint near Anacortes, WA. I did my best to line up the fence in the foreground with the horizon to give a sense of standing and looking out from the viewpoint. The only editing I did was to crop it to fit on a 16 : 9 desktop and tinker with the “HDR” and saturation a bit with the free version of Photoscape X. What do you think?
Technical Details
Hi Chris, I enjoyed the visual flow from the lower left to the sunset. The colors in the sky and reflections are terrific. The tree in the center does a nice job of carrying the view from the railings into the image. For me, there is a bit too much foreground … does not seem to add to the story. Did you happen to get closer to the rail to include some of the drop-off in an exposure?
The use of HDR seemed to work in most places, but the resulting lack of contrast in the foreground does not work for me.
Nice work. BTW, are you involved in one of the Western Washington photo clubs? You would be a very welcome addition to any of them. Look up NWCCC.
Hi Chris - I am with you on the idea that the best camera is the one you have with you. Glad you went for it on this image. I has a nice feeling to it. I do not care for the over-HDR effect of the foreground however. Our eyes don’t see a scene with this much detail when we are viewing into the sunset/sunrise. I would bring that exposure down a bit. Even though it was a grand idea to include the fence to give us a feeling of being there, and it does work to do that, it feels a bit static to me. Perhaps because you frame the horizontal part of the fence so evenly on L and R sides. It does give a symmetry to the foreground, and the two oblique lines of the fence rails draw us towards the center and into the background. I am not fond of what the phones do to sunset/sunrise colors at times. I get ones like this, too; they appear a bit greenish to me. That can be adjusted of course. Overall the scene has a nice feel to it, and I would encourage you to keep on seeing and using your phone when necessary. Then again, it doesn’t take much to carry a camera and one lens to be ready for scenes like this. 
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The light, and the flow of water leading to it work very well. I’ll add to the thought that while the distant view is wonderful, the foreground is jarring in comparison. My eye immediately wonders what an image take at the edge without the fence would have looked like.
