question about editing

[gagey]

Greetings!

Like the shot. It's unfortunate that you didn't have a more colorful sky but the magic-hour blueish haze is beautiful. The lighthouse contrasts nicely against the horizon. It seems to be pretty sharp but I would have to see it more closely to be sure.

Honestly your original shot looks to be the better of the two. You actually toned down the contrast with your adjustments. You lost a little detail in the lighthouse as well. You also lost contrast on that fantastic horizon line. Overall, I like the mood of the shot but the first one is in better shape.

A good way to approach editing this composition is to enhance its mood. You took this on what appears to be a pretty rainy, cloudy morning. To me it conveys somberness and gives the feeling of being cold and damp and the lighthouse is a symbol of home and hope. I would translate that into enhancements. In this case, the first thing to do is import the RAW into lighthouse. I use Bridge and Photoshop which together is pretty much Lightroom with more toys. I am not well versed with Lightroom. I beta tested it but I was more comfortable with PS and Bridge.

That being said, here is how I would approach this:
(Disclaimer: take what parts you like and dump the rest. This image has many artistic possibilities and I am merely demonstrating one and I am sure there is better advice out there than mine)

Cold, dark, wet, somber, sad, light, hope, home, safe

Using these words as a guide, consider visual translations of those words using the image as the canvas. Think of the image as your color palette and now you are going to highlight the details.

Cold, dark and wet is the sea and sky and blue dominates them both but you have a clear horizon line defining the two. I would intensify the blue in the water and make it a deeper blue but no so much so as to make it look too surreal and then add the slightest bit of purple in the top of the sky but blue would be the dominant color. (Graduated filer in the RAW editor is a nice tool for this). I would also up the contrast in the sky as well to get a little definition in the clouds as well as darken the overall sky a little. Through all of this, it's important to maintain the nice horizon line. The horizon line is a tad crooked so I would rotate the image a degree or two to straighten it out.

Other effects to consider: Doing a slight vertical motion blur on the water right at the horizon line. Possibly adding a little blur to the sky. Kind of a long exposure look

Lighthouse of hope: Warm, Home, Safe, Hope

This is easy. First thing to do is sharpen the lighthouse. Tweak levels and curves to lighten the lighthouse a little bit. The idea is to make it pop in the mid-ground with striking contrast but not artificial-looking. If the image is not very sharp to begin with it may not be as dramatic but less drama is good too.

Other effects: create a little light source gleaming from the lighthouse and use the lens flare filter to embelish it a bit.

Overall alternate idea: Convert it to black and white and tweak out all the detail you can with high contrast and sharpening and then adding noise over it to give it a grainy look.

Hope that inspired!

thank you.....being new to editing it may take me a few times to figure out exactly what you are talking about but i am going to pla around with it more and try to figure it out....i apprieciate your advice and makes me happy the origional looks better maybe i shouldnt be so concerend with trying to fix my pictures as i was thinking.....i didnt try to do much to the edited photo just a few things so i am going to play around a bit more and see if can try to convey what you are saying into the picture

Yes, most (if not all) professional photographers edit their work. That includes those using the darkroom still. However, if you can't take a good photo editing won't save it so I always say to concentrate more on your actual shooting and later on begin to learn editing more.

i like my pictures but i dont know if everyone will agree with me i didnt ever think they looked horrible with out being edited but i think that they all could improve somewhat once i can actually figure out what i am doing with editing

this is terrible - but how do i post my own question?? i have so many and im new to this forum.

you click on create a new thread button

I really like the shot and like an aboce poster mentioned the lighthouse stands out to the pale bluse sky great job

thank you

 

[JasonLambert]

Gagey... Hope you don't mind but I wanted to give it a try.

 

[gagey]

Gagey... Hope you don't mind but I wanted to give it a try.

no i dont mind at all...what did you do if you dont mind me asking? and what program are you using?

 

[JasonLambert]

I used Photoshop to chop the image up into layers and then I used the grandiant tool (black-clear) for the sky at and then also the water (43%). I blurred the water from the horizon back to the peninsula. Then I took the image into Light Room and Saturated the blues a little and took the luminance down in those blues quite a bit. I also bumped the WB temp and tint up just a little (+3 and +1).

I like the way it came out!

Oh... and I made the horizon level.

And I should have masked the thing in the water... Draws my eye right to it. Gerrr.... Oh well.

 

[TomBlaze]

one question i have actually kind of applies to this forum!
to TOMBLAZE -
in regards to getting a good shot of the sky and the clouds...this is something i constantly try to do! however, it seems like if i expose for the clouds, then the people who im shooting are too dark but if I do the opposite, the sky is blown out. how can i prevent this from happening?!

See below for my rendition. This was a quick 5 minutes in photshop. Nothing special but it gives the idea of where I was going. Unfortunately, this image is very compressed so it looks a little jagged. Working off the original RAW image would have netted far better results.

The key to good outdoor shooting is filters. Graduated filters, Neutral density filters and circular polarizers. Google them to find out how they apply to different scenarios. Other tips are to use a tripod, use mirror lockup, set a timer or remote shutter and for shots like this favor small apertures (f/11-f/18). This will increase exposure time but also pull out more details. A surdy tripod is the most important part. The goal is to eliminate anything that can cause the camera to shake.

As far as getting the best exposure with what you have, in a situation like yours, I would have exposed for the darker portions of the image (It is easier to compensate for overexposure than it is for underexposure during editing). In this image though, it looks even enough that using center-weighted average metering mode and exposing at the horizon line may have also netted a fairly even exposure. Learn about exposure lock. You can point the camera at a spot where you want it to calculate exposure then lock that info in and recompose to get your frame set up and subject focused.

Using an 18% gray card for a custom white balance helps as well.

 

[gagey]

I used Photoshop to chop the image up into layers and then I used the grandiant tool (black-clear) for the sky at and then also the water (43%). I blurred the water from the horizon back to the peninsula. Then I took the image into Light Room and Saturated the blues a little and took the luminance down in those blues quite a bit. I also bumped the WB temp and tint up just a little (+3 and +1).

I like the way it came out!

Oh... and I made the horizon level.

And I should have masked the thing in the water... Draws my eye right to it. Gerrr.... Oh well.

one question i have actually kind of applies to this forum!
to TOMBLAZE -
in regards to getting a good shot of the sky and the clouds...this is something i constantly try to do! however, it seems like if i expose for the clouds, then the people who im shooting are too dark but if I do the opposite, the sky is blown out. how can i prevent this from happening?!

See below for my rendition. This was a quick 5 minutes in photshop. Nothing special but it gives the idea of where I was going. Unfortunately, this image is very compressed so it looks a little jagged. Working off the original RAW image would have netted far better results.

The key to good outdoor shooting is filters. Graduated filters, Neutral density filters and circular polarizers. Google them to find out how they apply to different scenarios. Other tips are to use a tripod, use mirror lockup, set a timer or remote shutter and for shots like this favor small apertures (f/11-f/18). This will increase exposure time but also pull out more details. A surdy tripod is the most important part. The goal is to eliminate anything that can cause the camera to shake.

As far as getting the best exposure with what you have, in a situation like yours, I would have exposed for the darker portions of the image (It is easier to compensate for overexposure than it is for underexposure during editing). In this image though, it looks even enough that using center-weighted average metering mode and exposing at the horizon line may have also netted a fairly even exposure. Learn about exposure lock. You can point the camera at a spot where you want it to calculate exposure then lock that info in and recompose to get your frame set up and subject focused.

Using an 18% gray card for a custom white balance helps as well.

thank you both for the info ...i think i need to learn to edit and understand more how to do this myself ...i apprieciate you taking the time to show me i really hope this will help me greatly

 

[gagey]

not sure if either one of these are getting any closer but i am trying...i am going to also look into ordering some books so i can learn to edit better and understand better

 

[KmH]

this is terrible - but how do i post my own question?? i have so many and im new to this forum.

Go to a forum section threads list and click on the "New Thread" icon at upper left.

Keep your eye peeled for "stickies" at the top odf each forum section thread listing:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...forum-functions-pictoral-guide-using-tpf.html