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Christopher Miller
04-06-2009, 08:48 PM
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m244/CAMiller290/BPN/MoonPanoResizeWeb.jpg

I don't usually take landscapes; but when I saw this sunrise with the crescent moon, I decided to take a shot at it. Stitched 4 images together in PS.
Any comments and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Olympus SP-550 UZ
f3.9 @ 1/13, ISO 100
Manual mode, pattern metering, auto WB
Processed in PS CS2; curves adjustment, slight saturation increase, and noise reduction on sky

Robert Amoruso
04-08-2009, 06:09 AM
Hi Chris.

Thanks for joining us in the landscape forum.

You did well with the stitching as I can see no signs of it. Exposure good for the sky and creating a silhouette. The moon is placed well in the image and I guess that is what attracted you to this scene.

Due to the size of the moon (small in frame), it cannot carry the image on its own so needs help from other components. Though the trees on the right have more interesting shapes well defined against the sky, the ones on the left do not. You did well to limit large expanses of black at the bottom of the image, but as presented, there is just not enough visual interest in the image for the viewer. A better option would have been, if possible, finding a large tree sans leaves that could have been placed prominently in the FG of the image with the moon as an accent in the BG against the clear sky.

The clear sky is also working against you here. I do like that you included a bit of the taller tree on the right edge and would have like to seen more of it. Perhaps a vertical of the right section with the trees more prominent would have worked better.

Hope to see more of your work here.

Grady Weed
04-08-2009, 10:06 AM
Christopher, Robert makes very valid points above. Take a look down the posts here in the Landscape forum. Study those images that grab your eye. Look over the comments from other posted replies for what grabbed their eye. Then re-think what you have around your local area to make images of. You might go for 1 week of shooting every morning, or longer, to find 1 image worth sharing with others. Often our emotions draw us to a single "point of landscape view". We are strange creatures at times. What we feel at the moment can effect our creative thoughts, thereby affecting what we photograph.

Whatever you do, don't stop making images or give up a certain discipline of photography. Keep exploring all your options. And thanks for posting your efforts.

Christopher Miller
04-08-2009, 05:33 PM
Thanks Robert and Grady for your advice and detailed analysis. Being relatively new to landscape photography, I really appreciate it. I'll see about posting a vertical shot of this as soon as I can.

Roman Kurywczak
04-08-2009, 07:41 PM
Hey Christopher,
Very good advice given above......will only add.....nice job getting out there when the light is interesting......a few clouds would definitely add to the impact.

Paul Marcellini
04-09-2009, 09:15 PM
Welcome, you already got some great advice. I will also say shoot often. Its the best way to learn. Give yourself assignments, learn to expect what focal lengths will do to scenes. Then when the show starts you will have an idea of what to do: get in close, get low, back up and zoom in, etc. I attached what I found the most interesting in the scene. If you had walked back and zoomed in on that area, It would have compressed the scene and also made the moon larger. This would probably have helped add a better subject to the scene.

Christopher Miller
04-10-2009, 06:06 PM
Thanks for your advice, Paul. I appreciate it!

I've posted a vertical shot of this scene where I was zoomed in more here (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=241903#post241903). Please tell me what you think of it.