Just got my D60, any opinions of this shot?

[hitnrun7]

Hi everyone,
I just got a D60 yesterday and finally went out to play with it today. I took some shots down at the lake and uploaded the shot which i thought is the best. If you could please give me any advice or just simply comment on the image it would be greatly appreciated. I should note that this is moreless my entry into photography, aside from the pictures that everyone ends up taking throughout their life.

I uploaded two versions to different sites, both have the same image just a different resolutions for those of you on slower connections. I only did some minor editing in Photoshop.

Thanks.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hitnrun7/3454692874/ -- This is the lower resolution image if you don't want to wait

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1226/boardwalk.jpg -- This is the full resolution image if you don't mind waiting

 

[Razeus]

Looks blurry/out of focus to me. Perhaps a tad bit underexposed. Looks like it was shot with a P&S.

 

[Ryan1524]

Looks underexposed. Were you metering the sky?

 

[hitnrun7]

Looks underexposed. Were you metering the sky?

I believe i was. Keeping in mind that i really played with this is PS... I will upload the original so you can actually see the photo not the photoshop.

EDIT: here is the original file: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hitnrun7/3453938321/sizes/l/

 

[GoCubsGo]

It's under exposed. You shouldn't use matrix metering when you're shooting a scene like that. It's not the worst though.

 

[Ryan1524]

Yeah, the original is better, but still underexposed. Lighten everything about one stop and maybe use a gradient mask to keep the sky from blowing out.

 

[hitnrun7]

Here is the exposure up 1, using the RAW file. Excuse the lack of photoshop skills, but how does one make a gradient mask? I wasn't able to put on in this pic.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hitnrun7/3453963449/

 

[mrgreen4242]

Exposure aside, the composition is a bit uneven. The sky takes up most of the frame, but there's nothing really happening there, and the only thing that might be considered a subject is the partial skyline that sort of falls of the edge of the shot.

The technical details of photography are one thing, but more important is making something compelling. This shot really isn't compelling at all. I recommend reading "Learning to See Creatively" which as I believe is by the same guy who wrote "Understanding Exposure", which you should probably read too.

Have fun and keep practicing!

 

[hitnrun7]

Thanks to everyone who has contributed advice or constructive criticism. Quite frankly, i was expecting to be ripped to shreds.... I will keep practicing.

 

[Ryan1524]

Boring or not, I couldn't resist playing with it. I hate Robotics so much. Jacobians, Control Law and force dynamics needs to DIE. Anyway, here's what I've done to your picture.

There's too much empty space in your picture I think, and the bottom left and the right side of your picture barely has anything. So it's hard to contain the viewer in the frame. I'm still working on getting my landscapes right too.

 

[hitnrun7]

So i did do the gradient mask right... Ryan, i completely agree i also somewhat hate robotics.

 

[hitnrun7]

Anyway, looking through the rest of the shots i found two more that, if you don't mind i would like some criticism on.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hitnrun7/3454859188/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hitnrun7/3454044697/

Thanks