City of Goldby
shinryunComment by snaffles: Greetings from the Critique Club!
This is quite a nice shot, clearly you have a tripod and know how to use it, which is a huge plus. Your lens's wide-angle end works very nicely and you have good dof going on, decent comp following the rule of thirds, lovely colours...(do be careful though, the HDR is a little obvious and you do not want the pp to detract from your image)...so where did you go wrong?
Simple. This is a cityscape, and the challenge is for landscapes. (Yes, I know, some entries are basically seascapes but include enough shoreline to call it a landscape). Many voters here are very literal in their interpretation of the challenge, and give it a lower vote than they may have otherwise.
In terms of technicals, you mention using noise reduction. I hate to say it as I shoot Nikon, but Canon does have phenomenally better ISO performance. You could have cranked up to ISO 640 or higher, and had a slightly overexposed photo to which you could have added black, without having so much NR to deal with.
I see this is your first challenge here, so don't get discouraged. Pay attention to what the winning images look like; hey, go through all the challenge images, starting from the very last page and working your way up to the first. That will help you see what goes over well here and help sharpen your eye as to what to shoot for future challenges.
Feel free to PM me,
Susan
Photographer found comment helpful.