Editing photos? Over analyzing?

[AmyM]

I always think, well this looks okay like this but I wonder how it's "supposed" to look, photographically and technically speaking.

I took a few shots about an hour before sunset last week at the lake and I was wondering if you might have some editing tips for me. How would you adjust these? What would you do differently next time when you actually take the photos, like open up the aperture, etc...?

Crazy question- the reflection of the sun on the water- is that something that's not what you want in "good" sunset shots? Stuff like that is what I always rack my brain over

The colors look different in each one (kinda flat really LOL) because I took them at different times. Amazing how different the sky can look in less than 30 mins.

 

[Linz]

I'm no help with the technical stuff, but I love the 2nd one! Beautiful!

 

[Jennilyn]

I would think it would look weird without the reflection in the water...it's an impossible thing to avoid and looks natural.

 

[ColleenSwerb]

I love the lens flare on the 3rd one

Other than that, I'm not much help, lol.

 

[LeeAndra]

I am most drawn to the first one because of all the 'lines' in the photo.

The sun is appropriately not centered/in line with the rule of thirds. In addition, the lens flare is a nice contrasting line to the other traditional lines in your photo: the tree line & the far shore. The reflection is also a nice contrasting line which leads my eye to that big headstone.

You can go so many places with that: sun (life) vs. tombstone (death). Add to that the sun is setting (dying) close to the cemetery. Very cool 'thinking' shot for me.

The coloring is also great here because there is enough light for me to pick out the headstones, but it's still dark enough so I'm fully focused on the sun. The sun's tones seem pretty spot on to me.

The second photo is too Hallmark-y/poster on the wall for me. The colors are more traditional and the sun is centered.

The third photo is cool, but the colors are off compared to the first one, and you took out the lovely headstones/cemetery.

HTH!

 

[Paula]

I love the first one too!!

 

[Julie Billingsley]

I think your photos are great. The only thing that I'd do is play with the curves and do something like this to them. But that is just my taste, yours are already beautiful and you don't need to do anything.

 

[scrappychic]

Wow, I'll have to try sunset pics sometime! They're all gorgeous, but I like the 2nd one the best.