[fionaB]

this was taken on turnberry golf course................ kinda liked it so had a wee play.......... what do u think?

[danpen]

I realise it's supposed to be dark and brooding but I think the foreground is a little too dark for me. I do like the signpost silhoutte though.

[Dave]

Bit too dark on my monitor in the foreground & I would crop the foreground so the paths go to just above the corners....or somewhere near Like the way you have the post highlighted & great sky

[Steve]

Yup I will third it that the shot is also too dark for my liking. Its also emphasised by the fact that you have used a frame which has white in it and the lightest shade in the shot is much darker than the frame despite there being a typical daylight sky.

Even if you wish to keep the foreground dark you should consider brightening the sky slightly OR using a dark frame

Dave is also correct about the crop, it needs to lose a fair chunk off the bottom and a good place to crop would be at the edges of the paths, this would introduce natural lead in lines to guide the viewer into the silhouetted sign post.

Its a strong image and definitely has potential, it just needs a few small tweaks and it will be a cracker

[Dabhand16]

I go along with the above comments, but any shot of a golf course is OK in my book

[fionaB]

i see what your saying..... but if i crop it i looks unbalanced by too much sky and the sky is soo good i dont want to crop that as well.......... rock n hard place i think! lol

many thanx all

Fiona

[Dave]

If you aim to get the horizon on the bottom 1/3 line from your crop, it should look balanced ?

[Dabhand16]

I've just scrolled the picture so that the browser window crops the bottom of the shot to the point where the two pathways meet the corners of the frame, and that looks sooooo much better for me.

[Dave]

Easier to show the crop I had in mind :-



Any more cropped off, for me, lost the balance.

Looking at it again though, I think Fiona's orgonal composition may be better as the eye is drawn to the cross over of the paths, which sits on the 1/3 line. You've got this point competing with the horizon for balance

[Steve]

Nope I disagree

I think your crop is better but you just need to crop a little off each side as well

[Markulous]

Think original is too 50:50 on the horizon (which is the stronger divisor), so crop along the bottom - works for me!

Personally, I'd lighten the FG, especially the paths (the strong shadows contradict the darkness); crop further than Steve's, to where paths enter; dodge and burn the sky to bring it out further

[Rob Barron]

I agree with the need to crop the heaviest part of this off and to try and shift the horizon down slightly as it is dissecting the picture a touch too much. I have lowered it and removed more from the right so that the signpost is slightly off centre vertically as well. I have brought up the contrast in the sky just a tad, increased the luminance of the path a shade and taken the darkest grey area of the sky for the colour of the box in order to avoid it being quite as claustrophic.



Just my ideas Fiona, in no way am I saying yours is a bad shot. As I said last week, it's a great shot, just needs a couple of minor tweaks. You have the original so it may be that you can adjust to get a better quality version as mine was working on the low res version. Hope you like it anyway.

Cheers,
Rob