Can't decide on this shot! (Really need some opinions)

[Sarmad]

Okay so here's a usual landscape shot I have taken and I can't decide on it if it is good, I know photography is subjective and there's not particular criteria for a 'good' shot but I just need some opinions.

I love the foreground here, it is so bland and minimalist, yet has a lot of detail and a great sense of movement, but i really don't like the background, that house and trees look okay, but those mountains seem plain boring, and unsymmetrical to me. There's no drama, and it just looks bad. Also, maybe the distance between rushing water and the river bank is too long?

Tell me what you think!

P.S: I uploaded a low quality file but I have one in much better quality too.

 

[DrumsOfGrohl]

The foreground is nice, but I agree, its too far separated (by distance and by tone) from the rest of the photo. I'd crop the waves out in favor of putting more emphasis on the house. I'd also edit out the shadows in the bottom left of the frame, to the left of the waves.

 

[The_Traveler]

What is the center of interest in this picture?
What are you showing the viewers?

 

[Sarmad]

What is the center of interest in this picture?
What are you showing the viewers?

I wanted to get a good landscape, by putting emphasis on the foreground waves and the house and trees. Other objects did not turn out good at all so they have ruined the photo I guess.

 

[weepete]

Not really my cup of tea I'm afraid, it's a rather ordinary shot which shows a lot of nothing in particular. The positives are that it appears sharp enough and well exposed with a decent range of tones and the layering effect of the mountains is quite nice. However your foreground is in that in between area of sharpness with the shutter speed being to fast to have nice blur but too slow to render the waves sharp which makes it look a bit accidental.

 

[Peeb]

Okay so here's a usual landscape shot I have taken and I can't decide on it if it is good, I know photography is subjective and there's not particular criteria for a 'good' shot but I just need some opinions.

There is a subjective element, yes- but there are definitely criteria for good photography.

I'm working hard to learn and understand 'the rules' so that if I'm uncertain I can follow them, and if I'm certain, I can intentionally break them to create the image I want.

 

[The_Traveler]

What is the center of interest in this picture?
What are you showing the viewers?

I wanted to get a good landscape, by putting emphasis on the foreground waves and the house and trees. Other objects did not turn out good at all so they have ruined the photo I guess.

You aren't really certain what is important except in very general terms.
You need to decide what is important then compose and expose around that.
The big waves are down in the corner, the house is very small in the frame, there isn't anything interesting in the shapes and flows of the hills.
The light isn't casting decent shadows and the color is sort of pallid.

Not every spot at every time can make a good image

 

[Peeb]

Not saying this is better, but just to stimulate discussion I've monkeyed around a bit.

Used the PSE dehaze. Cropped out much of the left side (shadow on the water was distracting to me) and the top (took away from the waves) and I de-browned the water.

With the disclaimer that I have absolutely no taste, this is what I would do, as I like the view towards the shore with the water in the foreground. Crop out the water and leave the sky in if you are going for the mountain/sky thing.

EDIT: the dehaze process overcooked the colors, so I edited to desaturate a bit.

 

[KmH]

You may have been able to mitigate the haze between you and the mountains by putting a Sky 1-A UV filter on your camera lens.
Tiffen 55mm SKY 1-A Filter

Using Photoshop Camera Raw:
Basic panel
• Contrast +15
Presence sliders
• Clarity +50
• Vibrance + 30
Sharpening panel
• Sharpen - Amount 25, Radius 1.5, Detail 25, Masking 0
• Adjustment Brush - set to a tone of blue to brush color on the river.

Using Photoshop tools
• Burn tool settings - Midtones, Opacity 75%, Protect Tones - Applied to the entire sky.
• Burn tool settings - Midtones, Opacity 30%, Protect Tones - Applied to the entire far mountain to mitigate the haze.
• Dodge tool settings - Midtones, Opacity 30%, Protect Tones - Applied to the entire middle hills to maintain a lighting ratio with the far mountain.
• Spot Healing Brush tool settings - Content Aware - eliminate dust bunnies in the sky.
• Crop tool - cropped away lower portion of image frame to eliminate the waves and to promote a more panoramic aspect ratio.
Image > Canvas Size - added very narrow black border to the image frame

 

[Sarmad]

I don't think it is a good photo at all. I love the waves so I don't want to crop them but if I only put emphasis on the waves that would be kind of meaningless.

I like the edits but still they are not anything astonishing, the faults mainly lie in the composition and original scene so there's a limit to which it can be made better. But these opinions really helped me a lot and now I know much more and would definitely bring this discussion in my mind when i get to shooting again.