Along the Road

[CBRcowgirl76]

I suppose this should have been more centered on the yellow line, but any opinions are welcome.  Open to all areas of critique.

[Kevin Childress]

I definitely like the idea. And I think you're right about the centering of the yellow lines, at least when you're photographing a straight line of road. If it was a curvy road, that would be a different story inasmuch as you can use those curves to great affect with more interesting composition. Centering of the image aside, consider the vanishing point that your road creates. I think when you have a straight line of road, that the primary vanishing point of the main section of road should eclipse the horizon. Notice you have a very small stretch of road beyond the hill that eclipses the horizon. That small stretch feels somewhat disconnected from the main section of road. I recommend to always evaluate your background, for as far as you can see through the viewfinder, to determine if you need to change your position in order to keep all the major components of the composition tied together. Here you could have lowered the camera position, or even crossed the top of that hill, to keep your road a single coherent stretch. My opinion doesn't necessarily mean that what you have is wrong, its just my opinion for creating a tighter composition. 

I can't decide if the horizon being placed in the center of the frame works here or not. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I think at least to have an alternative image I would have also photographed the scene to place the horizon on the lower third and do what I could to capture more of the clouds. Maybe someone else will have a better idea on that. 

The primary problem with your photo is that it's out of focus. It appears the sharpest pixels are immediately in front of the camera when the sharpest pixels should be at the apex of that hill. I photograph about 90% of the time using a single autofocus (AF) point, and here I would have placed that single AF point on the APEX of the hill. That technique ensures me the area of the scene that is most important is in sharp focus. You shot this on f/8, which at 18mm, should do a fine job of carrying adequate depth of field had the focus been on the hilltop (or horizon otherwise).

Lastly about your final presentation: I think I read in one of your other posts that you're not doing much in way of post processing. I see this image was created in Apple's Photo 1.0. I've never used that program but I think it allows you to make basic adjustments to highlights and shadows. The reason I mention that is the nearly black ditch on the left side of the frame. That's too much black in that area and is a bit distracting. I'd recommend trying to boost those shadows a bit if you can.

[CBRcowgirl76]

What do you think of this?  This was the original photo as far as colors go.  In the one I posted previously I had played with the colors quite a bit and I realized that in the original, the ditch on the left was not nearly as dark.  I cropped it and moved the horizon to the lower third line, and the vanishing point to a third point.  Does it do anything better for the photo?  It's still out of focus unfortunately but there's nothing I can do about that! :(

[Kevin Childress]

In my opinion, the second image is far superior to the first.

[© Tom Cooper]

One of the things I like about this image is the combination of tension and balance.  By putting the vanishing point on the left, it adds a valuable level of tension to the photo.  But having the power pole, blue sky, and that one bright cloud sort of balances the photo.

 

I'm not an expert on leading lines, but this image has many of them by way of the vanishing point.  Not only the road and all of it's lines, but the fences on both sides, the string of power poles, and even the main cloud bank seem to lead the eye towards that rule of thirds point.

[kenfowkes]

I also like the second version best, and think Tom's remarks about balance and leading lines are spot on. I very much like how the darkest part of the clouds almost mirror the road.

[CBRcowgirl76]

Thanks everyone.  As always, I agree with everything you three have said.  I am not very much of a photographer, in that, I don't take a lot of time to plan my photos.  I try to do the best I can with the time I have, because usually I am hiking with my family or on a road trip or something along those lines and those situations are not really conducive to finding the perfect shot.  This one, for instance, we had just stopped along the road on our way home on evening and I got out my camera hoping for a good shot with the sunset.  

On Wednesday, July 1, 2015 at 9:51:09 AM UTC-6, CBRcowgirl76 wrote:

[hvbemmel]

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