[shuttermum]

This is my first ever post on the forum so please be gentle. I took this while on holiday in Victora. Thanks for looking

[Dave]

Welcome to Pixalo

Well I would say :-
- good use of the opening to frame the rock behind
- good composition having the main rock on the 1/3 line, giving a nice balance to shot
- good use of reflection in water to provide lead in to shot

Keep those shots coming

[Les Meehan]

Hi and welcome to the fray!

Baring your soul takes guts and that is what makes us better photographers.

Dave has summed this image up nicely and the only thing I would say is that maybe retaining the complete reflection of the cave mouth in the water would have been interesting. This would have been easy by simply pointing the camera down slightly, there is sufficient room at the top to be able to lose a tad from there.

I can see that this may have lost the top right corner bit which does actually add something since it balances the bottom left corner.

Compromises, a thing of the past with digital methods. Take two shots and pinch a bit from one to stick on the other. In this case, the top right corner could have been added to the alternative view.

Getting a bit complex I know but we don't know your level of experience yet Shuttermum.

Cheers

Les

[stupot]

I echo what Dave and Les have just said, there's alot of members to this site and its only small amount of these members that post pictures so congrats on that and keep them coming

It a nice shot and pleasing to the eye which is what photography is all about, it makes me wanna be there.

[shuttermum]

wow thanks so much for your comments!
My level of experience is well pretty minimal at best I don't have a great deal of knowledge of photograophy i love taking photos mostly of my 4 kids at this stage i would like to better myself though and learn more.
Thanks again!

[Sailum]

Beautiful dramatic shot. Does make one want to go there. Can't say much to change--the large dark area on the left might add a little drama if you could bring up a little detail to lead into the main open area.

[fionaB]

lovely shot and i can only repeat what has already been said, i would liked to have seen a little more detail coming out in the realyl dark bits of the rock but it is a minor thing, you shuld be well chuffed with the shot, tis a good un!

Fi

[j sotelo]

I tried this But I think it does look more dramatic the way you had it..I did this by turning it into smart object and tweaking it in Photoshop CS3

[Boofers]

Hi shuttermum, you've taken a good step by posting, and a brave place,,"Photo Critique". This entire site has added a wonderful insight to the dimensions of framing my shots. You have a well composed picture here. I think that knowing like I do about shadows, I might have inched in or zoomed in a little to minimize it's effect, leaving just enough to add the feeling of an open area. Exposing for the bright sky and shadow's can be very difficult . Keep up the good work

[Rob Barron]

I like the composition of this shot so well done on posting this as your first shot Shuttermum, a very creditable effort

I have had a little play at bringing out the detail a bit more, especially in the dark areas and bringing more of the colours out of the rocks and sea. I shalln't post it unless you say as you haven't got your Image Edit button showing. We do this if we are telling people we are happy for them to 'pimp' our photos but of course it is your choice. To do it, you just need to go to your control panel area (near top left of this page you will see an option 'User CP') and then click on 'Edit my profile'. You will see a check box at the bottom of that page saying something like 'I am happy for people to edit my images'. Check that box and it will put a little button image in your details on the left when you post a picture.

I am not saying that because you have to, only so that you know how to if you wish. A lot of people are unaware of it when they first join, that's all

Anyway, if you do put the button up, I'll post my pimped version for you to take a look at.

Cheers and a warm welcome to Pixalo.

Rob

[Rob Barron]

As you've now got your button showing, I;ll give this one to have a look at.

basically i pushed the colours slightly and selected the water reflection to make that stronger. I also lifted detail n the black area but burned the top right hand corner down so that it didn't draw the eye away from the main focus.

I left the lighter areas at bottom left and above that to the right as it provides a natural leading line towards the main area of rock with some detail in the roof of the cave area to provide interest without detracting from the main focal point.

I rotated by 0.25 of a degree, the horizon was almost level but not quite so I wanted to straighten that up, essential for sea horizons.

I like this picture a lot, well composed and with plenty of interest in it. Well done

cheers,
Rob