First try at Landscape C&C welcomed!

Pitvar

Pitvar

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Hello all, mainly taking wildlife photos but knowing I lack an "eye" for composition I thought I'd see if I could improve my landscapes - bought a 10-20mm Sigma and using a remote release and have a 10 stop filter. Key things seem to be light, light and light, closely followed by level horizons and I've also decided to try and photograph one or two places fairly consistently to compare my efforts and try different light. So far had a couple of goes at Point of Ayr - not helped by the fact that the whole lighthouse leans and it being very windy both mornings so far :) but I have had some beautiful light, got some windblown sand blur and got the shutter speed completely wrong with the 10 stopper - rescued slightly in Lightroom! Things I know I can try differently next time include: use the 10 stopper on Aperture priority and play with the ISO so it'll take a 15-30 second exposure for wave/cloud blur [until I'm confident to try full manual settings!] get close to the lighthouse for a different perspective and try and get more foreground interest/something to draw the eye in more. All and any comments/critique/suggestions welcomed especially what else I might try?


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If I can be honest, I'd ditch the 10 stopper till you get more comfortable with basic composition. It hasn't really added anything to the shot and the time it took to set up and PP could have been better spent.

By the rules of conventional composition the subject is too central and the foreground is lacking any real interest, the problem with uwa is either getting close enough to the subject to fill the frame or finding something to fill the front of frame.

The third has the most promise, the water line provides a nice lead line but the lighthouse is a little lost.

The light in the 1-3 and 5 is great so you've got the right idea in that respect. I'd say you need to closer and find something to fill out the foreground and just practice more.
 
Thanks steveo_mcg sounds good advice - I'll have a look at the foreground on my next try and as you say ditch the 10 stopper for now, cheers
 
Another thing to try is have a look on Flickr at an area you know and see how others have approached things then try your own interpretation.
 
Thanks James - I did try the rocks as a lead in but got the angles wrong so I'll definatley give that a proper go next time and I'll check the focus.
 
As mentioned earlier I think getting rid of the 10 stop filer will be a good move depending where you are the time of day will help a lot especially warm red light from sunset/sunrise
Getting those warm colors on pic 3 would certainly help as the colors would reflect off the sea and also bounce off the subject and give interesting tones to the complete pic
That's just my opinion though yours may differ but practice and practice until you get what you like.
 
I've put the ten stopper away and had another go in Scotland this week so if any are worthy of critique I'll post then up - I did have a play with longer exposures at dawn in place of the stopper...cheers
 
Not sure I've done much better but I: ditched the filter, thought more about the foreground, looked at some shots of where I knew I might go - and managed the attached - sadly the sunset I was waiting for never developed good colour. Have I overblown the processing and is the foreground too fussy - I at least thought it was a different go at a well known shot? I now also understand the importance of a very clean front element - there were dust and rain spots all over...

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