Hey guys, yesterday I made photo with a long exposure on a river. I used kit lens 18-55, Nikon D3500 and some cheap neutral density 8 filters. I wasted a lot of time on editing because I'm not too experienced with long exposure, I have a lack of sharpness on the lens and the ND filters were low quality. Criticize my photo what's wrong, what's good etc. Ps: I am beginner in photography.
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f/18, 4sec, ISO: 100, 18mm
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I hope you have good day 😊
Long exposure on a river
We are using similar equipment (though a d5500 here) but same kit lens I bet, and cheap ND filter set.
Sharpness seems good to me. I always have difficulties with multi-second exposures and shooting branches, specially if there is any degree of wind that day. (dumb wind ruining my 10-stop filter shots!)
I really like the water; movement and silkiness.
Did you happen to exposure-blend the horizon (and up) into the lower half of the image? The branches above the horizon (sky line) seem to have a different contrast then the same tree/branches below. Easy enough to fix with a mask and a contrast adjustment.
My only other suggestion would be to de-saturate the blues just a little bit.
I really like the yellow and green tones you having going on in the foreground.
Just my thoughts of course, nothing more. :)