Lake Norman Sunset

Hey Patti!

I like the warm tones in the reflections and the minimalist composition. Oh, and welcome to NPN, friend!

Patti, you have the right idea in that it is a very simple photograph. Your main focus point, the rocks, need to be something with a little more interest, something with more of a story, and you might move in little closer to draw the viewer in. Another thing you might try is using a longer exposure to smooth out the water if that is what you are after.

Hang in there, I myself am still learning the craft of photography so we are all in the same boat, just at different levels. Welcome to NPN!

Patti,

Welcome to NPN and the ES&S Gallery! Don't worry about being a beginner because we are all still learning - it never stops.

I like what you have seen and captured here. I like the positioning of the the rocks and already you learned that you don't always want to center your main subject. As we always say, It depends... But by not centering the rocks you allow the color and the ripples in the water to be showcased as well and I like how you composed this.

Technically, it appears a bit soft. You didn't mention if you used a tripod, but judging from a shutter speed of 1/20th, it's quite difficult, if not impossible, to get a sharp image hand-holding a camera at that shutter speed.

Not sure what photo editing software you might have, but you can also sharpen the images for presenting on the web that may give the appearance of sharper images.

I like the colors here and the interaction of the opposing ripples in the water and around the rocks.

Welcome aboard and don't be shy about posting or sharing your opinions on other images posted here.

Lon

Welcome to NPN Patty, Lon summed it up best. Your composition works very well, and I think a tad of sharping would really make it pop. Hoping to see more post from you, a lot of great photographers here that will help you any way they can.
John

I like your idea here, and the colours are certainly pleasant. I think it would have been really neat if you had gone with a long exposure (eg. 15"+), thus smoothing out the water completely and leaving the rocks as the only sharp item within the frame.

To me, the "softness" looks more like a result of jpeg compression as much as anything. You shouldn't have any trouble getting this below 200kb in size while retaining very high quality, assuming you have decent processing software. If you have Photoshop, using the Save for Web & Devices feature is invaluable when preparing shots for here or other websites.

Anyways, welcome to NPN.

Nice and simple. Good first post.

- Dan.

Thank you, everyone, for your comments and suggestions!