Evaluate my photo of Bali beach

[MarvinKh]

Hi all. Please critique the photo, composition, lighting, post processing or any other technical issues, as harsh as you like as to improve my photography. 

Setting is not sure coz I stitched over 20 shots and making this somewhat panorama, and high megapixel ~75MP, this is of course, the scaled down version. 

Self evaluation, flat composition (should I crop differently?) 

- sloppy photoshop

- too HDR looking 

 

Thanks everyone for your time! 

[phuketrichard]

washed out water, way to over photo shoppped for me

[MarvinKh]

2 hours ago, phuketrichard said:

washed out water, way to over photo shoppped for me

Thanks. I will have to work on it. 

[optad]

Very busy with the whites top and bottom. Maybe less is more .. but you have skills i don't.

[MarvinKh]

2 minutes ago, optad said:

Very busy with the whites top and bottom. Maybe less is more .. but you have skills i don't.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree with you now then I think about it, less is more. I'd better not get too overboard with stitching n huge megapixels output, I doubt I'd print billboards anyway. 

[optad]

Its a nice pic. Don't listen to me!

[shaggy1969]

My god man,that image is huge!!!

 

I would say,on the whole it is a good attempt!

 

A couple of things that did catch my eye,were the harshness of the brightness in the waves and also midway down the right hand side of the waves,something went amiss with the stitching,but that would be only to be expected on a fast moving subject,like waves.

 

 

[Melli]

I like the sky, it so clear and blue!

[MarvinKh]

On 1/19/2017 at 2:34 AM, shaggy1969 said:

My god man,that image is huge!!!

 

I would say,on the whole it is a good attempt!

 

A couple of things that did catch my eye,were the harshness of the brightness in the waves and also midway down the right hand side of the waves,something went amiss with the stitching,but that would be only to be expected on a fast moving subject,like waves.

 

 

The right side u mentioned wasn't there, i cloned some waves n filled in. It was a sloppy job, need to work on that. Thank for the feedback, I'll try harder or, go smaller :) 

[HeikoJT]

yes, too HDR looking, too much colour, water washed out, not focussed either on sky or sea (golden ratio !)

Edited March 28, 2017 by HeikoJT

[HooHaa]

highlights in water blown, sky over saturated colorwise. 

no real issue with composition, but its just far too overcooked.

[HooHaa]

7 minutes ago, HeikoJT said:

yes, too HDR looking, too much colour, water washed out, not focussed either on sky or sea (golden ratio !)

 

regarding your composition comments, i think the whole thing is quite rule of thirds. 

i think the blown water just distracts from it all by dragging the eye too far down.

[HooHaa]

oh, people on the beach are over sharpened.

[Johnny M]

Love the sky you captured

[morrobay]

The only thing wrong with that photo is that I am not in it. 

[Farangwithaplan]

Hi, it is great doing panoramas as I can see you do. Take all my points with a grain of salt.

 

1. It is over exposed and under exposed. Your highlights (whites of the clouds and water foam) are close to blowing out. The pandanas (?) plant on the upper left is under exposed. There is no detail in it. It is important to have detail in that as you have made it one of the lead in features to take your eye further into the image. Unfortunately it is in shadow.

 

2. That outcrop on the right hand side is offering nothing to the image. It is distracting and I would have cropped it out. It is better exposed that the tree on the upper left, though. In general you have tried to cram in too much into the image with the foreground items in the left lower, left upper and right lower.

 

3. I know you mentioned you stitched this but the horizon looks uneven and doesn't seem to be horizontal.

 

4. You have over sharpened or added far too much clarity (lightroom feature). Less is definitely more.

 

5. I think I know what you are trying to do with the extra saturation to get the bluer than blue skies. You need to purchase a circular polarizing filter (CP Filter). Less than $100 US will get you a reasonable one. If you get a large size such as 77mm or 82mm you can use reducer rings to use it on lenses with a smaller diameter. Look here for a quick intro. https://petapixel.com/2018/09/04/when-and-how-to-use-a-polarizing-filter/

 

They really are one of the few add ons that an inexpensive, in regard to camera gear, and add a lot to your work. I think after using the CP, your oversaturation issues will disappear.

 

Now that above all sounds a bit rough,  but you have found a good location for an image. You have a fair image that needs cropping. Keep enjoying your work. You might like to try a similar image about 30 minutes before sunset to get some warm colours for a change in image type.

 

You could also look at an inexpensive wide angle lens. I don't know what body you have, but you might even be able to find a manual exposure lens. It will save time on the stitching. To stitch effectively you need to either a new body with stitching features and a fair tripod that is leveled and preferably has a rack to maintain direction.

 

Thanks for sharing the image.