Barberton

[terri]

Canonrebel, I like your composition here. I like the framing of the branch and the bushes in the foreground. But - with all due respect, I find this much photoshopping just ghastly. I suppose it's just personal preference, but for me there is a huge difference between using the PS gradient filter to simulate a polarizer, and just obliterating any natural color of the water. This is another one of those images that seems at war with itself: the foreground looks natural, but the sky is purple and what is reflected in the lake is....well, not purple and in no way a reflection of the sky. Again, if this is exactly what you're after, then it's personal preference, but to me it's an image ruined by a heavy hand in PS. I'd like to see it stand alone, or with the bare minimum of tweaking.

 

[canonrebel]

Canonrebel, I like your composition here. I like the framing of the branch and the bushes in the foreground. But - with all due respect, I find this much photoshopping just ghastly. I suppose it's just personal preference, but for me there is a huge difference between using the PS gradient filter to simulate a polarizer, and just obliterating any natural color of the water. This is another one of those images that seems at war with itself: the foreground looks natural, but the sky is purple and what is reflected in the lake is....well, not purple and in no way a reflection of the sky. Again, if this is exactly what you're after, then it's personal preference, but to me it's an image ruined by a heavy hand in PS. I'd like to see it stand alone, or with the bare minimum of tweaking.

Terri, I agree with your comments absolutely--not only in this post, but in most of your other posts as well. It is with due respect that I appreciate your comments. I have no defense for the exagurated post processing--I wouldn't even try to defend it.

I have a 6-node home network and none of the 6 monitors have a common calibration among them. So I really do not know absolutely what I look at. But I'm today making arrangements to acquire a monitor calibrator.

I look forward to your comments on future submissions.

ThanX

The Rebel

 

[terri]

Why, thank you so much! I was worried I might offend you which is the last thing I'd want to do.

btw, there is nothing for you to "defend": you stated plainly you've had PS for a matter of weeks, and you are currently exploring it. That needs no defending in my book. It is unquestionably an amazing tool.

 

[nannabug]

Ba-da-bing! Postcard picture perfect. Very, very nice. Might try playing around with layering a few clouds into that brilliant blue sky. And then again... maybe not.

 

[DanielK]

On photoshop tips: I firmly believe that less is more. Not because I'm a purist or don't like PS or anything of the sort. I love PS and have been using it for 10 years. I say that less is more because that's usually what it takes to get a good finnished result.

I know I've done some heavy handed PSing in here on others small and compressed images, but that's only to rough out a point I'm making about a compositional aspect or a point about color that I want to make abundantly clear. I wouldn't dream of being as obvious in post production editing.

The best tip I can give is to take some classes and use PS, even a little, everyday. And don't worry about getting frustrated with it. That's very normal for everyone who uses it.

Probably the biggest tip? When PS is churning away for a few minutes while doing a filter or saving or printing? Get up and get some coffee. Or go outside and look at the trees. Or stretch for a few. Something. It's easy to spend an afternoon with PS and not do anything to change your perspective. It's good to view what you are doing with fresh eyes as often as possible.

Oh. And never save PS changes to the original. Always work on a copy.

Just some ideas. I'm sure there are a thousand more better ideas that I haven't even thought of. It's a fairly deep program.


Daniel