A few attempts at landscape

[rokkstar]

Hello all,

I thought I'd post some landscape images for C&C as I usually shy away from them due lack of pleasing results.





Cheers

[spartikus]

not really sure what you're not pleased about!
great punch and colour in the second one, same contrasty feel to your landscapes as your other work!
more please!

[pharmer]

Very good shots

Nice composition on all

Taken in high midday sun? Heavy polarizer effect - Maybe even nicer if taken at dawn or dusk

Only compositon change I can suggest is remove the beach in photo 3 - looks a bit dirty/messy - pristine white sand always looks better

[Alpha_7]

Nice stuff Matt, I'd be pleased if they were mine.
Composition is good, but I'm not so keen on the colour of the water, for me the sky is almost over powering it, I'd prefer a more balanced approach (if that even makes a modicom of sense).

[stubbsy]

Matt

Seeing these I can see why you shy away from them. NOT

Image #1 is a cracker. Brilliantly strong leading lines and that gorgeous aquamarine water that looks like it's straight out of a TV commercial. If I was to nit pick (and they're tiny nits) I have a problem with that big white cloud in top left which unbalances the image with its dominance. And I'd like nature to take away those ugly brown/green blemishes in the water

#2 - well to be honest I'm still blown away by #1, but getting back to #2 this doesn't work for me. The sky is great, but the foreground interest isn't there. I flick between the large boat on the RHS and the tiny one on the LHS. Compositionally I'd have ignored rule of turds on this and chosen neat and in the middle.

#3 - almost as strong compositionally as #1, but I'd like some foreground interest (a couple strolling along, a child making sandcastles, some beach umbrellas) to anchor the middle of the shot. That said, I think this is a very striking image and I'm being hypercritical

All in all I'd say your great photographic skills are well in evidence here and these are no argument for shying away from landscapes.

[blacknstormy]

Bloody hell (to take a line out of our new tourism advertising campaign ), what are you complaining about man!!!! They are great photos - I love #1 - feel like I'm standing on the jetty on the way out to the end.

more please

Rel

[wendellt]

probably the last one is most interesting becasue the dramatic clouds compliment the aangle of the walkway

each picture has a secondary subject element liek in pic 2 the boat, usually when i compose there is a main subject and just to make the image more dimensional a secondary subject, but i only take shots of spannign simple scenes with these two elements, that's a trick to create interest and visual interplay, beign a designer yourself i am sure you are familiar with it

in your images there is too much goign on in the background for your main and secondary subjects to work effectively they look 1:1

to create a dramatic landscape doesn't necassarily mean getting everything in, sometimes you have to frame thoughtfully to get less in

for example i have a 12mm lens sometimes when i take a wide shot i get heaps of elements in that doesn't make for a great landscape
i usually shoot at 24mm framign only the most interestign bits of a landscape

anyway my thoughts only

[rokkstar]

THank you very much for the kind comments guys.
I still feel im not very good at them, and strike lucky sometimes - this being one of them.

[owen]

Hi Matt. I love the last one, that shot is great. I think the sand provides enough of an interest in the foreground otherwise anything more would compete with the awesome structure in the clouds. Lovely colours both in the sky and the water. Mind if I ask where these were taken?

Cheers,
Owen.

[dooda]

They're all taken from a sort of standing viewpoint. Try crouching sometimes and pointing upwards, or get in closer to some of the foreground elements. THe blue is way too strong for me in all of these.

[macka]

I think the first one is fantastic, but I would perhaps have gotten down lower for it.

macka

[Finch]

Matt

No.1 for me, too. This shot really draws you into the scene. Great colours and nice use of wide-angled lens.

If this isn't your usual 'thing', it should be!

Nice work

Cheers

Michael

[mudder]

G'day,

Don't shy away anymore, these are really good... All have stunning color, assuming a polariser was used?

#1, Great lines, tempted to get lower so the left railing is more of the subject and higher in the frame, horizon same level but the rails higher (if you know what I mean doh ), hmmm might be tempted to darken the top 1/3 of the sky with a gradient (overlay blend mode) it'd even up the darker blue area too, would also lessen the highlight on an edge of a frame... Terrific lines and shadows in the water...

#2, terrific sky! Needs something more in the foreground/middleground though, but not sure what... sorry

#3, This is another good'n. something about the sand is distracting my eye though, try cropping the sand out from the bottom and just past the second pair of pylons of the pier on the right, see what you reckon...

[rokkstar]

Mind if I ask where these were taken?

Owen, these were taken at Sorrento near Melbourne.

Thank you for the constructive critique guys, really appreciate it. I'll add a final one into this thread from the same shoot. This is another side of the same pier, but I went for a lower perspective and as I was shooting more into the sun the polariser effect wasn't as strong.



Cheers

[sydneywebcam]

Number one is my favourite from the trio. Just love that long jetty stretching out to the horizon with the clouds mirroring it.

With number two the sky is starting to look a little unnatural for me with the high saturation.

I feel number three would be perfect with a crop to the water line so that the jetty starts in the right hand corner.

Great work.
________________
Cheers,
Paul.

[MATT]

Got to say , Number 2..

Fantastic colours.

I would also like to see No.3 cropped with no sand.

Thansk for sharing these

MATT