Landscape Critique 2 and Framing Help

Following on from a previous post/photo in this section I thought I might also ask the members what they think of this image and specifically what way they might frame it/mount it etc?

I am getting some photos together for friends that want photos for their new house. They like some of my landscapes and I want to do them proud. I got a great postcard framing tip from Morpehous and thought perhaps you could shed some light or advice on this one.

Thanks!

QC

Its an interesting sky Alistair, but you could easily lose the inch at the top. The trees would still be lower than the rule of thirds, which adds to the image. However, foreground wouldn't be lost in the vastness of the sky.

Just my view of course

It's a very beautiful image Alistair and it's very difficult to offer advice on 'improving' it as any such advice will be subjective and none of us will agree!

Only two things spring to my mind:

1. There's a little too much sky in comparison to land - a crop of the top section would help to balance it, despite the sky being so beautifully rendered and having such great cloud formations

2. Some areas of sky are burned out, just above the tree line. Not having the benefit of seeing a RAW file, I don't know if this can be recovered, but I would certainly attempt a re-process by adding some shadow detail and removing some highlights to try and retain detail in all of the sky areas, whilst dragging a little more out of the shadows.

I hope this helps Alistair; the image is lovely as it is but can be improved I think.

Regards
David

This would make a good letterbox crop panorama shot

I don't mind the burned out portions of sky just above the horizon. In fact in some ways it provides a deep contrast to the tree silhuettes.

I'm not really in a position to offer critique etc but I know what I like and I like this

Yes, I'm with Smeggy on that..it's a great shot and all about lines/texture, a tighter crop on the bottom to remove the darker foreground at the very bottom of the frame and a tighter crop on the right hand side to remove most of the vertical cloud pattern...the shot would then have a very strong right to left movement which I think would be even better than what's already a great image...hope this makes sense and please chose to completely ignore it if you don't agree

Simon

I know nothing about landscape composition at the moment but this thread is really helping me see and to improve on an already stunning photo. Nice thread.

Leave it as it is, Alistair - the viewer is looking up the slope into the scene, so the brain expects to perceive a big sky, and it is an interesting one.

Philip

I agree that an inch off the sky would be beneficial. I'd be tempted, too, to crop out the wire fencing on the rt-hand side.