Cool, glad you don't mind, like I say I appreciated the feedback I have lots of variations of this shoot, I'm sure given time I'll find a combination of exposures I'm happy with for print! Probably 1 more shot to come from that day....
For this particular image I was really trying something different, as lately I am getting bored with following the rules of composition which dicate that the focal point should always rest on a third. There is no doubt it works, but the last thing I would want my photography to become is formulaic. However there is also the issue of wide angle distortion to consider - I have shot this windmill with the camera tilted up/down, and with the windmill towards the side of the frame before, and the distortion is ugly and a bugger to correct. That kind of necessitates it being nearer the centre to avoid having to do tedious extra post-processing.
I did try it with a more panoramic crop, about half way up the current field line, and that worked quite well, but the issue with that was I lost the dynamic sense of the foreground. Do you think a crop would work?
I hope none of this sounds in any way defensive as that's the last thing it is! I'm all about discussion of images as one is always blind to one's own art. I have read your critique with interest and thank you kindly for it and encourage you to leave more in future if you so desire. I want to post this critique to the image as I would also be interested to see what others thought, however dA is giving me the choice of "Fair" or "Unfair", and I'm afraid I can't bring myself to click fair as I don't think the objective or shooting conditions were fully considered (the windmill is the only stationary constant in the composition between the swaying foreground and rolling sky, I meant this to be a kind of "timeless" anchorpoint.... also the fact that it was pissing rain and to even get a clear shot without rain on the lens was an achievement!) For this reason I don't feel that your critique, although thoughtful and greatly appreciated, was wholly fair.
I have lots of variations of this shoot, I'm sure given time I'll find a combination of exposures I'm happy with for print! Probably 1 more shot to come from that day....
