Hi Megan, Thanks for your comment about the little fox. I'm agree about the patience and you have the same problem! How nice.. I like your picture of the windmill. Where is he taken in the Netherlands? You'r from Suid Afrika? I think you can read and speak a little Suid Afrikaans (Dutch)? About 14 years ago I meet an Suid Afrikaanse. She and her husband lives in Johannesburg. Very nice people. I meet them in Hook of Holland, Netherlands. and I show them our Fortress at Hook of Holland. Best regards, Geo.
Composition and angle is the strong element here. It looms up out of the ground, facing the oncoming clouds. The fence and outhouse all add some nice context and setting. The clouds are nicely exposed, but at a sacrifice to the windmill. I don't see how a ND filter will help. If you had it set to the horizon then the top half of the windmill would be darker than the bottom half. If you set the filter to 90 degrees with the line on the blades of the windmill, then the left side of the sky would look too different to the right side. I think an exposure more balanced between the clouds and the windmill would have helped, and then some post processing work to bring out the windmill a bit more. As it is, it is a bit dark, but still I like it. Really if you can, go back to this spot on a perfectly lit day and wait for that magic light because your angle and composition are really good, just need to get that light!
Thanks for the advice. I have actually just aquired a copy of photoshop (is this crossing over to the dark side, or normal practice?), and am learning how to use it. On your image the white on the windmill (window frames etc) also seem to stand out better than on the original. Thanks again :)
Megan, I think your image has great potential. Here are a few constructive comments: 1)try cropping out the tree branches on the left side of the frame 2)don't know if your cmera will take neutral density filters, but if the sky had been held back a number of stops, the detail of the foreground and the windmill would have been much more visible, and I think a much more appealing image. 3)If you use Photoshop, you might try "curves" and see if you can bring out more foreground/windmill. I attached a 60 second attempt at a simple crop and use of curves.
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