Photo evaluation please folks.

[shaggy1969]

I tried my hand at editing a photo today folks.

I am not sure what I was trying to achieve....but here it is.

So,what do you good folks think?

Be honest .............................. and gentle if possible

Regards

Shaggy

[Phronesis]

Hey Shaggy.

If you edited in Photoshop you should of used the bandaid and clone stamp tools to remove the plastic bag in the left foreground.

I would also remove the blue (net?) and the piece of bamboo from the right foreground as they distract from the main focal point lead in which is the footbridge out to the shack.

There also appears to be some sepia toning in your clouds which isn't right.

[shaggy1969]

Hey Phronesis

Thank you for your thoughts,and yes you are correct the plastic bag (easy to remove) and the net (a little more challenging) really should of been removed.

To tell you the truth I hadn't even noticed them.

I downloaded a trial version of Lightroom today to see what it was about and ended up making myself crazy with all the new gadgets.

Many thanks again for your evaluation

[MaxwellsDemon]

Here are my thoughts:

First thing, right off the bat: straighten the horizon. It's too slightly tilted for it to look intentional, instead it looks careless. Also, I can't tell for sure since it's not straight, but it looks like there's some significant distortion too, causing the horizon to buckle upwards a little bit. Lightroom will let you fix that, and usually also has a specially made profile for your camera/lens combo and should be able to autodetect it from EXIF data and fix it for you under lens corrections.

Across the image it's underexposed - eyes can't always tell from the get go as they adjust to changing light levels, but in Lightroom you have the histogram to tell you mathematically what's exposed correctly and what is not. Learn how to read one and then use it to ensure your images are well balanced (or well unbalanced, if you want to go for a certain effect).

Something else that's bothering and distracting is the fact the left side is significantly darker than the right. I know there are dark clouds overhead to the left, but it looks exaggerated and like you either purposely darkened the left yourself, or that someone left their finger on the front of the camera, casting a shadow onto the lens.

It's rather noisy, and seeing as it's daytime there's no good reason for the photographer to have done that. You say you edited it, but did you take it as well? Familiarize yourself with the three variables of exposure and their effects on the final image so you can keep the ISO low and the noise to a minimum, especially in conditions like this. I can tell that you probably did a lot of heavy boosting, which, with an already underexposed image, will also add extra noise in the shadows, but is also highly dependent on camera brand/make.

Composition wise, your subject is not clear. My eyes dart around looking for what I'm supposed to be looking at - not necessarily a bad thing, but they don't hunt in a fun way, but in a tired way. Good photos either have a single clear, emphasized focal point, or many small focal points that keep it exciting. This, unfortunately, has neither. Again, not sure if you shot it or not, but assuming you didn't, you can dodge/burn (aka darken and lighten) certain areas to an acceptable extent to help bring out the subject while pushing away the more intrusive parts of the image. In this case, for example, maybe brightening the little shack while darkening the water and sky a bit can help define the subject.

You've also boosted the contrast significantly, which in itself has nothing wrong with it but in an overcast, drab scene like this it becomes painfully obvious and unreal. Adding contrast certainly adds pop, but there are other ways to achieve this without compromising the realness of the image. The grass is too green, the dirt too orange, when the clouds are that dark.

Nothing personal

[villagefarang]

The file was so small I really messed it up and I was too lazy to go back and fix it up but this is the way I would probably compose the shot. Sorry it is so blurry.

[shaggy1969]

Here are my thoughts:

First thing, right off the bat: straighten the horizon. It's too slightly tilted for it to look intentional, instead it looks careless. Also, I can't tell for sure since it's not straight, but it looks like there's some significant distortion too, causing the horizon to buckle upwards a little bit. Lightroom will let you fix that, and usually also has a specially made profile for your camera/lens combo and should be able to autodetect it from EXIF data and fix it for you under lens corrections.

Across the image it's underexposed - eyes can't always tell from the get go as they adjust to changing light levels, but in Lightroom you have the histogram to tell you mathematically what's exposed correctly and what is not. Learn how to read one and then use it to ensure your images are well balanced (or well unbalanced, if you want to go for a certain effect).

Something else that's bothering and distracting is the fact the left side is significantly darker than the right. I know there are dark clouds overhead to the left, but it looks exaggerated and like you either purposely darkened the left yourself, or that someone left their finger on the front of the camera, casting a shadow onto the lens.

It's rather noisy, and seeing as it's daytime there's no good reason for the photographer to have done that. You say you edited it, but did you take it as well? Familiarize yourself with the three variables of exposure and their effects on the final image so you can keep the ISO low and the noise to a minimum, especially in conditions like this. I can tell that you probably did a lot of heavy boosting, which, with an already underexposed image, will also add extra noise in the shadows, but is also highly dependent on camera brand/make.

Composition wise, your subject is not clear. My eyes dart around looking for what I'm supposed to be looking at - not necessarily a bad thing, but they don't hunt in a fun way, but in a tired way. Good photos either have a single clear, emphasized focal point, or many small focal points that keep it exciting. This, unfortunately, has neither. Again, not sure if you shot it or not, but assuming you didn't, you can dodge/burn (aka darken and lighten) certain areas to an acceptable extent to help bring out the subject while pushing away the more intrusive parts of the image. In this case, for example, maybe brightening the little shack while darkening the water and sky a bit can help define the subject.

You've also boosted the contrast significantly, which in itself has nothing wrong with it but in an overcast, drab scene like this it becomes painfully obvious and unreal. Adding contrast certainly adds pop, but there are other ways to achieve this without compromising the realness of the image. The grass is too green, the dirt too orange, when the clouds are that dark.

Nothing personal

Thank you for taking the time to give me your honest and valued opinion MaxwellsDemon,it is appreciated.

I am a pure novice but am keen to learn anything and everything from you more experienced ladies and gents.

The photo I posted was trial and error at playing around with effects (failed miserably )

Original photo below,what could of been done to make it better?..........and please don't say delete it

This is my attempt at trying to bring the drab original photo to life.

[shaggy1969]

The file was so small I really messed it up and I was too lazy to go back and fix it up but this is the way I would probably compose the shot. Sorry it is so blurry.

Thank you also for taking the time and effort VF.

I still have a long,long way to go

[samuijimmy]

Here is my attempt...in LR, sorry it has my copy-write in there, was not sure how to prevent that ! (without a lot of bother!)

Light Room is definitely a learning curve.... but there are a number of good tutorials... online... one just has to remember the steps!

Mastering the cloning key was a chore.... to get rid of the bag and oil can!!!! I used the punch button too....

Edited September 18, 2013 by samuijimmy

[Tywais]

My attempt. First straightened the horizon. Next, removed the spherical distortion (curve) that appears to be from a wide angle lens. Cleaned out the trash/net. Set the curve levels (histogram) and tuned the hue/saturation and added some vibrance to it. Slight blur tool for cleaning the clouds up. Done in Photoshop. Top - original, bottom - my mods. Stayed away from over cooking it (sorry Samuijimmy ) but saturation could take a boost. Tried to keep it looking natural and not overdone HDR style unless one is leaning towards the more artistic look.

[Tywais]

Or for the artistic look, how about Monet?

[samuijimmy]

over cooked....... I like that Tywais!! .......I'll turn down the oven

Looking at the same pic on my laptop (Mac air) now.... the image colours look different than when I worked on the Thunderbolt screen...(yes over baked!!!) . This is always a blight with me, when viewing or even using different screens...they are not same same!

[Tywais]

over cooked....... I like that Tywais!! .......I'll turn down the oven

Looking at the same pic on my laptop (Mac air) now.... the image colours look different than when I worked on the Thunderbolt screen...(yes over baked!!!) . This is always a blight with me, when viewing or even using different screens...they are not same same!

ICC Profiles and monitor calibration is the key. How to calibrate your monitor.

[samuijimmy]

over cooked....... I like that Tywais!! .......I'll turn down the oven

Looking at the same pic on my laptop (Mac air) now.... the image colours look different than when I worked on the Thunderbolt screen...(yes over baked!!!) . This is always a blight with me, when viewing or even using different screens...they are not same same!

ICC Profiles and monitor calibration is the key. How to calibrate your monitor.

One thing I noticed editing a few images, last night, was that those in RAW format... edit much better/ clearer.... (even in Picasa) I suppose that would be obvious... . It just eats up a lot of space on the computer, ....until I find the time and patience to go through and do a huge deleting job of useless images...

I suppose that is why DAL's images are so much better now... as he uses RAW although I cannot remember if he's using an editing program now?....

I was aware of calibration, Tywais, trying to get two different screens the same, is almost impossible especially a small Mac Air screen, to be same as the larger Thunderbolt screen.....

I still battle with LR on several fronts ... just need to use it more! .... too lazy to go through the learning curves

Of course too, the pocket Samsung camera, I use just for convenience does not give the option of RAW format ....

One day I may be as good as People like Fabianfred, Villagefarang, Shaggy, Oilinki, you and Kan Wan~~!!! and a number of others whose names not coming to mind at the moment!