Is it possible for this photo to look good??

[blash]

I also dislike the boring blank sky and the out of focus foregroud. Solution? Crop.

I like it better in B&W. My stab at it was tweaked by darkening the sky and balancing the rusty metal with Channel Mixer (low, slightly neg value for blue, modest value on green, and higher value on red, all totalling 100) and Levels (raising the middle pointer a fair bit).

Not bad... you might want to tweak it a little further though to get a clearly set white and black point for added tonal range.

 

[captainkimo]

PP or Post Processing can make a dull photo or a good one into a better one. If you're a techie kind of person, post processing like how Amy Dresser or Justin Paguia does their photos could be easy for you.

But if you're a newbie, I suggest Adobe Lightroom as it's very handy. You can choose the adjustments on the sides and magic the photo is reborn.

 

[kreuzberg]

How's this?

If possible, I'd go back to shoot it on a cloudy day. Clouds will make the sky less boring and get rid of the hard shadows on the gears etc.

If possible, park your car or put some kind of prop in front of the building to add a sort of smoother contrast to the rusty gears, which might make it less boring as well.

Wow that looks a whole lot better with a partially cloudy sky, I'll have to go down on a slightly overcast day and retake it.

Was my composition of the original shot ok? Should I just take the same shot but open the aperture up a stop to get the foreground more in focus or would I be better shooting it in landscape and going a bit wider?

 

[~myStical~]

hows this?

 

[swmocity]

what about these

 

[HeY iTs ScOTtY]

i think everyone should give up lol

 

[Jeffro]

Try everything with a new pictures I think this one is getting worn out :thumbup:


Good work and you get to learn alot from each shot!

 

[inTempus]

I think we should try a few more edits.

 

[Battou]

Ok here are my edits. Nothing flashy but....I do have to ask, Was this scanned at a processing lab? I had to clean up a bit more dust than I am used to.

 

[kreuzberg]

Ok here are my edits. Nothing flashy but....I do have to ask, Was this scanned at a processing lab? I had to clean up a bit more dust than I am used to.

Yeah it was, the quality of the scanning is awful, they just couldn't care less. Its not just scratches and dust, I have to crop everyone as their either not scanned straight or there's part of the next photo in the scan. And the last two time they didnt bother scanning them at all so i had to send them back. I guess thats what I get for not having my own scanner...

On a more positive note, everyone seems to enjoy a photoshop challenge and the edits are really awesome! I think my favorite one is swmocity's 3rd one, I really like desaturation and vignetting