how to improve this picture

hanciong · **Joined:** Oct 31, 2011 **Posts:** 112

Hello all,

if you have time, could you take a look here: http://hanciong.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5oqs72, and tell me how to improve that picture. Thanx :mrgreen:

ek22 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:19 pm **(#2)**

I gave you a crit, enjoy.

hanciong · **Joined:** Oct 31, 2011 **Posts:** 112

ek22 wrote:

I gave you a crit, enjoy.

ah, that was you

ek22 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:30 am **(#4)**

Yeah, that's me. I lurk on DA almost as much as I do here. Feel free to friend me or something, I'll be happy to comment on your work.

2-ton · **Posted:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:59 pm **(#5)**

my only criticism would be the rainbow...a rainbow that close would be wider and you would not see the ends going into the clouds. If you want the ends to show, it should be placed way back of the castle, far far away. Not that it has to be so lifelike, but it would help the composition, in my opinion.

molly · **Joined:** Apr 07, 2010 **Posts:** 14182

I think the opacity in the rainbow should be lowered to about half, and placed over behind the castle and reduced in size. Other than that, it is really pretty.

paynekj · **Posted:** Mon Dec 31, 2012 3:50 pm **(#7)**

My major problem with it is that the rainbow is inside out - the violet should be on the inside and red on the outside, but this is a fantasy so who cares

ofnuts · **Joined:** Oct 25, 2010 **Posts:** 4812

A half-circle rainbow requires 84° of angle of view, is perfectly circular, and requires that the sun is directly behind you (the shadow of your head is the center of the circle). This implies that you can't see many shadows, and to get a full half-circle, the sun must be very low on the horizon.

The shadows on Mont-Saint-Michel don't match those of the ship and the mountains.

hanciong · **Joined:** Oct 31, 2011 **Posts:** 112

I actually intend to make the rainbow as some sort of a gate. but it doesn't look that way? T_T

2-ton wrote:

my only criticism would be the rainbow...a rainbow that close would be wider and you would not see the ends going into the clouds. If you want the ends to show, it should be placed way back of the castle, far far away. Not that it has to be so lifelike, but it would help the composition, in my opinion.

hanciong · **Joined:** Oct 31, 2011 **Posts:** 112

Thanx Molly, but what should I do if I want to make the rainbow as some sort of gate? Or do you think I should use a real gate?

molly wrote:

I think the opacity in the rainbow should be lowered to about half, and placed over behind the castle and reduced in size. Other than that, it is really pretty.

hanciong · **Joined:** Oct 31, 2011 **Posts:** 112

Heck I totally miss that :mrgreen:

Next time I will do it correctly

paynekj wrote:

My major problem with it is that the rainbow is inside out - the violet should be on the inside and red on the outside, but this is a fantasy so who cares

hanciong · **Joined:** Oct 31, 2011 **Posts:** 112

Uumm this is obviously not a realistic rainbow, so it doesn't need to follow physics law :mrgreen:

As for the shadow, I will check again. Thanx for your critics :mrgreen:

ofnuts wrote:

A half-circle rainbow requires 84° of angle of view, is perfectly circular, and requires that the sun is directly behind you (the shadow of your head is the center of the circle). This implies that you can't see many shadows, and to get a full half-circle, the sun must be very low on the horizon.

The shadows on Mont-Saint-Michel don't match those of the ship and the mountains.

PhotoComix · **Joined:** Apr 12, 2010 **Posts:** 5870

I don't mind the color of the rainbow because the fantastic context

but i will like here behind the castle, in front give a sort of wrong prospective and in a fantastic context prospective may be weird, confusing ,distorted but i believe should not look wrong

It would be different if that Rainbow was, as in your starting idea, a sort of Portal or gate:
not easy to do , maybe easier in a animation then in a single image,but fascinating as idea

But since you drop the idea of a gate i believe that remain 2 opposite options :

1 as already suggested move it behind (i believe the most simple)
2 the contrary move it REALLY in foreground with the starting below the could (i mean out of view because below the visible, that is a bit more difficult but should also work (and would look closer to the initial project)