Beached Camero

[gravespinner]

This photo has caused me some problems. The horizon is horizontal but the car was on a slight downhill. I wanted the background to be enough in focus that you knew where it was, but it became quite washed out. I adjusted it to give some cloud definition, and sharpened some. Any thoughts on how to make it better would be appreciated. Thanks for looking.

 

[JonK]

I boosted contrast and pumped the red channel in curves.

 

[JonMikal]

I boosted contrast and pumped the red channel in curves.

Jon, please read the following link: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19301

 

[fightheheathens]

you need the sun behind you IMO

i feel as if the car is too dark.

 

[JonK]

Jon, please read the following link: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19301

Thanks JM...
Apologies gravespinner...should have consulted you first.

 

[gravespinner]

Jon K - my apologies, should have put OTE since I was asking for help.

and Jon M thanks for keeping an eye on things.

Thanks for the help. I did play in curves but obviously not enough. Now I will get rid of that small boat over the hood, because it looks like a dirt smudge.

 

[JEFFB]

I would like to see that shot improved by having that car parked in my driveway. I love it, I want one.

But really is it your car? I would suggest just reshooting it if thats the case, if not, then it does look like there is plenty there to work with, just a little more work with the levels, and maybe seperating some layers will allow you to bring out the car while leaving the bg as it is. You are probably right to try removing to boat, since there is no need of it in there. And that little speck above it too.

Jeff

 

[manaheim]

hmmmm...

Ok, I'm not completely happy with what I did here, but it's a start... oh and what the HECK is with the underside of the car, anyway? Did you do something to the image? The grass and stuff looks odd?

Anyway, here's what I came up with...

And here's what I did...

- shadow/highlight tool - 68% highlight, 5% shadow
- brightness +5, contrast +20
- unsharp mask, amount 67%, radius 1.0 pixel, threshold 4 levels
- used rubber stamp to get rid of that black dot in the left hand sky
- tweaked the blue in the sky just a bit using color balance

I think the biggest problem is just that the light is in the sky and behind those clouds, so the car is just in darkness. Remember the human eye/mind can compensate for this whereas the camera does not. Gets you everytime.

You can obviously do a LOT to recover from problems like this, but the more you do the more the image takes on the Frankenstein effect and you start to notice (for example in my image you can see the halo effect from the sharpening, particularly around the roofline.)

 

[JonMikal]

Jon's version is best at this point IMO. to take it further, i would mask the car and increase the levels to make it pop more; altering the sky and water much more will ruin it.

 

[pursuer]

Here is my attempt, Jon's version was good but I think adjusting the red channel left the ashphalt and water with a hint of red tint.

I applied a 2% shadow adjustment
and then selectively increased the saturation and lightness of the red in the car using the hue/saturation tool and the eyedropper.
I hope this helps