Critique of the week: my photo of the Corpach wreck

This week's Critique of the week is one of mine. I took it on a trip this summer at the old fishing boat wreck at Corpach, near Fort William, on my phone (a Galaxy Z Fold6). I got down low and close to the bow, with the pebbles in front, the water off to the left and a big grey sky overhead.

I ran it through Artluni's photo critique once and didn't tweak anything. The critique is AI-written, so I've quoted it directly and added what I'm actually going to do about each point.

What it liked: the low angle

Artluni said: "The low, close viewpoint makes the hull feel tall and imposing, which suits the subject well." It also liked the light, saying the thick cloud and "the cool grey-blue cast" build "the sombre mood without any hard shadows."

Takeaway: if a subject is big and heavy, get lower than feels normal. Crouching a couple of feet from the bow did more for this shot than anything I did afterwards.

The big one: the dark side of the boat

The main fix was the hull. In its words: "Right now that area is blocked up and the grain is lost." It suggested lifting the shadows in editing and pulling "the brightest parts of the sky" down a little, and named the usual mistake straight out: "exposing for the sky and letting the boat go black, which is what happened here."

Takeaway: on a phone, tap on the subject before you shoot, not the sky, and accept a slightly brighter sky. Then check the hull zoomed right in. As Artluni put it, "the wood grain should be visible without the sky turning grey and flat."

Level the horizon

It flagged the waterline: "The sea line runs downhill to the right," and drew a corrected line on the image.

Takeaway: turn on the grid in your camera app. If you've already shot it, rotate in your editor until the far shore sits parallel to the frame edges, then crop off the wedges in the corners.

Sharper foreground pebbles

Last point: "The stones are slightly soft, and since they fill the bottom third they carry a lot of the texture." It suggested focusing about a third of the way up from the bottom edge.

Takeaway: when the foreground fills a big chunk of the frame, tap to focus into it rather than straight on the main subject.

If you want more on getting useful feedback, I wrote a guide on how to get feedback on your art.

Your turn

You can try 3 free critiques on Artluni, no card needed. And if you'd like your own photo or artwork to be a future Critique of the week, email it to [email protected]. I'll only feature it with your permission, and you'll be credited.