Critique Style: Standard
The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
My first time trying long exposure. I was looking for a quiet place, without distractions (maybe not even a subject), where you can find peace. For me, I like the dark water, framed by light stones and the blurred sky and trees.
Feedback Requested
What do you think about the picture in general, is it calming or relaxing when you look at it?
Technical Details
28mm, F14, 12sec
What I find most calming about the entire scene is the little grasses sticking up in the water. I find the sky incredibly moody, not necessarily calming but beautiful.
The trees, when viewed large look like they are being blown around by the wind and together with the sky give this a stormy image feel more than a peaceful and calming or relaxing feel to it.
The foreground is the least interesting part of the scene for me. It’s possibly too bright as that’s where my eye goes first. I would burn the shells down a little bit.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s not all bad. In fact I quite like this image as is but I personally don’t see it as calming.
I do see the little grass in the water surrounded by calm water to be quite peaceful and relaxing looking. I really love that and I kind of want to make this image about the grass and the smooth water surrounding it rather than the bright shells on the beach and the wind whipping through the trees. That’s just my take though.
I would love to see a landscape version of this because of all of the horizontal lines if you have it.
Ralf,
I think it’s an interesting place worth exploring in different seasons. You have managed to capture a calm surface of the water on a windy day. The sky is beautiful with dramatic clouds and perhaps it would be interesting to see more of it in a horizontal frame of an image concentrated around the clouds. What I find as key objects in your image is the little grass and clouds, I mean that’s what attracts my eyes and keeps them for some time. The grass, such a small object, together with the large and smooth water look very calm. I would arrange the image around that grass as finally it is the main object in my view. I would crop off large part of the foreground and the sky as well. The foreground doesn’t bring much calmness while the sky works the opposite way.
If you don’t mind, I’ve changed the crop of your image and reduced intensity of the sky a little.
Processing example based on the original image:
Thank you, Jacek 
no, I don´t mind at all, thank you for showing me another option. I took the shot in portrait and the picture was already cropped (28mm ), but I could have been closer to the water, that is true
Thank you David
right, my intension was to find (or better create with a ND filter) a calm place. I found it in the water with the small piece of grass. I think, for me, the more “dramatic” top and (to a lesser extend) bottom of the picture, emphasize the quiet water. Maybe in a way, there can be calmness even if there is drama around. That´s also why I chose the tilte the quiet between. Maybe, I was also looking for some kind of poetry in it, but I still need to look way more…
The picture was shot in portrait and also cropped. Here is a landscape crop:
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