Sun Moon Lakeby
finch1979Comment by FrankRobinson: Hi Michael, greetings from the Critique Club! I hope you find something useful in this.
My overall impression is that this is a very pleasant photograph of a beautiful spot. You have chosen a good time of day and the composition is very structured. The post processing seems a little heavy-handed though.
Technically: You have achieved a good depth of field, and the focus is pretty sharp - although at this size (800px) the detail suffers - that is not something that you can do much about. I am interested in your choice of aperture - f13 seems unnecessarily tight to achieve this - I would have thought f8 or even f7.1 would be enough. That would have allowed you to have a faster shutter - your current shutter speed is (for me) an odd choice: too slow to guarantee sharpness if windy, too fast to give the glassy effect on the water.
Artistically: It is a very well composed shot, clearly utilising rule of thirds, with the sun well positioned and a nice diagonal from the boats. The trees are unfortunate, but nothing to be done about them. I would perhaps have cropped off the extreme right as the town over on the other side breaks up the peaceful line between the water and mountains.
PP: Not a lot to say, but it does seem a little over-saturated, particularly the reds. Some of the boats have started to look a little 'blocky', which I have noticed strong reds are prone to in digital, so I might have toned that down a little.
In summary, this is a very pleasant shot of a pretty scene but is processed to be a little too punchy for the peacefulness I think you are going for.
Photographer found comment helpful.