Eden's Garden

[mobilewarrior]

1.in what area is critique to be sought?
This picture was taken at afternoon at Ipoh's Sam Poh Cave temple garden. As i am a complete newbie, i would like to seek feedback on various aspects of photography be it composition, techniques.

2.what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
I want to depict that this is a serene and beautiful garden on earth. A place you can truly call nature and place where your heart mind and soul can be at peace.

3.under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Picture is taken using HDR technique, with 3 exposures at 1pm afternoon sun, slightly overcast. I took this picture at that time because I felt the garden have a lot of greeneries with fishes and turtles in the pond (tho not visible here)

4.what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
This picture though has a much higher saturation is because i want a more dramatic feel and ...also i am partial colour blind....so my visual range is limited. Of course, i welcome suggestions and any way to overcome my deficiency esp in photography

 

[crystal1993]

Hi,

To be honest the sky doesn't look peaceful to me. Maybe you can go back in a different day whereby it's not overcast? It should be better.

Just my 0.01cent. =p
Still a newbie too. Haha.

 

[EADGBe]

Nice thoughts:

1. This is a very colourful picture;
2. It is very oriental in nature - almost like a shot from a Chinese period movie;
3. The 'lines' draw to the center of the picture;

Not nice thoughts:

1. Not a suitable title as in Eden, there are no buildings;
2. I would not spend time meditating here because the waters appear muddy;
3. The 'lines' must draw my attention to something but that is absent;

Not an expert but I like looking at scenic shots. This is promising. Keep it up!

 

[ngck12]

Do work more on your composition before applying more advance PP like HDR.

Overall picture - Way too messy. Less is more.

 

[mobilewarrior]

Many thanks to your critiques.

agree title is not suitable. perhaps an oriental title/story.

i thought the lines lead to the Guanyin sitting almost near the centre..

C

 

[daredevil123]

HDR is way overdone and made the picture very fake and unappealing. And the HDR is done pretty badly with haloing every where, objects and vegetation that glows like radioactive material and sky is just horribly done.

Some rules of nature still need to be followed, the sky looks so dark compared to the reflection of the sky in the water. Ask yourself, is that physically possbile?

And this is just on your technical execution... I did not even talk about composition yet. But when the technical execution fails so badly, no one will bother looking at the composition too much. Sorry. Try harder next time.

 

[pinholecam]

A bit over done on the HDR. Otherwise, I like it. It can be appealing for those who like this type of more 'glaring' HDR shots.

Since you are partly color blind, it may play to your strength by doing it in B/W?
Just a suggestion.

 

[mobilewarrior]

the intent of this picture is not to show realism but an idealism. definitely, this picture will not fit into a "purist" perspective as echoed in some very severe criticisms here.

to take real pictures, i would not even bother to do any HDR in the first place. Hope this clarification can straighten some misunderstanding

 

[sinned79]

the intent of this picture is not to show realism but an idealism. definitely, this picture will not fit into a "purist" perspective as echoed in some very severe criticisms here.

to take real pictures, i would not even bother to do any HDR in the first place. Hope this clarification can straighten some misunderstanding

learn your basics before you attempt HDR.

i am sad to say, this is again one of the HDR failures i have seen in this forum. But on the good side, at least you did not turn the image into a 'end of the world' photo.

visit this link:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hdr&w=all (of cos not all are good examples but there is some pretty good ones)

have some ideas on composition, exposures/light control etc master them first then go to HDR techniques. HDR is not just combining 3-5 different exposures together so simply.

 

[daredevil123]

the intent of this picture is not to show realism but an idealism. definitely, this picture will not fit into a "purist" perspective as echoed in some very severe criticisms here.

to take real pictures, i would not even bother to do any HDR in the first place. Hope this clarification can straighten some misunderstanding

What I mentioned has nothing to do with being "purist". And none of the criticsims here are every close to being "severe". But if you think it is in line with "idealism" to have reflections that are brighter than the source of light itself and have sky that looks patchy/dirty/weird/depressing and have vegetation that glows, and call it serene and peaceful... then I have nothing more to say.

I will no longer critique on any of your works since you seem to be not very receptive to any negative critique. Good luck with your pursuit in whatever direction you are headed in photography. Hope you reach your ideal nirvana one day.

 

[Wurdelak]

nice colors, but i think the sky is burned too much that it's disturbing. just my opinion.

 

[candycaine]

also i am partial colour blind....so my visual range is limited. Of course, i welcome suggestions and any way to overcome my deficiency esp in photography

TS,

In what way does increasing saturation help you overcome your deficiency in photography? As far as I know, colourblindness means you can't tell certain shades apart. Boosting saturation is not going to help at all.

Composition-wise, I did not like how the leading line of the building on the left-hand side and the trees on the right-hand side led straight to an obstructive clump of rock in the center.

DD123 has already mentioned the poor HDR. I would like to second that- and note that HDR is a tool for expanding your dynamic range, but is hardly an aesthetic device, especially with regards to portraying concepts like idealism, unless your ideal world involves dull skies, glowing plants and glaringly shiny water.

 

[Alpina]

please pay attention to little details like the car parked in the left hand side of the picture.
i will not touch on your HDR technique and composition as it has been mentioned before.

 

[mobilewarrior]

Points noted. Sorry for my previous remarks.
No intentional harm just that I am more outspoken.

I will learn to be more realistic in taking note of colours and technique and composition. I will just hav to walk first before trying to fly.

Nevertheless thanks all for sharing yr comments I wil try to learn.

 

[allenleonhart]

HDR is way overdone and made the picture very fake and unappealing. And the HDR is done pretty badly with haloing every where, objects and vegetation that glows like radioactive material and sky is just horribly done.

Some rules of nature still need to be followed, the sky looks so dark compared to the reflection of the sky in the water. Ask yourself, is that physically possbile?

And this is just on your technical execution... I did not even talk about composition yet. But when the technical execution fails so badly, no one will bother looking at the composition too much. Sorry. Try harder next time.

i concur with daredevil. hdr is badly done. it looks like a nuclear wasteland:sweat:

 

[ovaltinemilo]

just to share my view,
compo is too busy to feel peace...usually, BnW and monotones tend to bring me peace...or something less striking...

 

[stein]

Image is too cluttered to be serene. Try another perspective which shows a more 'open' space.

 

[night86mare]

stray light jumping everywhere, sign of overdone hdr.

mcuh too cluttered. composition needs a load more work.