C&C - mountain landscape, photoshop help needed!

mikedadude · May 24, 2011

Hello.. so I dabbled a bit with photoshop to improve these pictures.. please tell me what I can do to make them better, or if I've missed something?

Photo 1:

Original:

Changes: I added a new adjustment layer (brightness and contrast), set brightness to 48, contrast to 32. Then used the reflect gradient from top until the bottom of the sky. I then made the front slope a new layer, added a new adjustment layer (brightness and contrast) and set brightness to -45, and contrast to -14 as it was a bit overexposed. I then made a new layer with the area around the avalanche slides and changed that brightness to -15 as that was a bit overexposed as well.

Photoshop edit:

Photo #2

Original #2:

Changes: Not as much as first one, added a new adjustment layer for brightness and contrast: brightness: 23, contrast: 14. I then made a new layer with just the foreground and used auto colour to try to stop it being so blue.

Photoshop edit #2

I think the first one looks significantly better, whereas the second needs a bit more work?

fokker · May 24, 2011

In my opinion the first one looks better before the edit (you sure you haven't mixed up the original and edit photos?)

spacefuzz · May 24, 2011

I agree the first one looks better before the edit. The edit has the sky too much of a light blue color. You might be able to try B&W conversion on it and make the blue channel black, that could provide some drama vs the snow. If you have a lens hood that could help the light reflections next time.

2nd ones composition doesnt do much for me.

mikedadude · May 24, 2011

Edits are the right way around..

KmH · May 24, 2011

Which version of photoshop do you have? Are you aware of ACR?

What file type were the originals made in. JPEG has little, if any, editing headroom?

Do you know what dodge and burn are?

KmH · May 24, 2011

mikedadude said:
Photo #2

Original #2:

Changes: Not as much as first one, added a new adjustment layer for brightness and contrast: brightness: 23, contrast: 14. I then made a new layer with just the foreground and used auto colour to try to stop it being so blue.

Photoshop edit #2

Quick and dirty. I used the adjustment brush in ACR 6 (Camera Raw) on the badly under exposed land (increased the exposure 1.75 stops), and left the sky alone. I then used the dodge tool in Photoshop CS5 on selected parts of the mountains. I then made a mid-tone contrast adjustment in lieu of sharpening, because the image is quite small.

gsgary · May 24, 2011

The shot is too tight to start with you need a wider lens

mikedadude · May 24, 2011

KmH said:
Which version of photoshop do you have? Are you aware of ACR?

What file type were the originals made in. JPEG has little, if any, editing headroom?

Do you know what dodge and burn are?

Photoshop CS4 (version 11.0).

The camera is saving them in high quality JPEG's. I know of dodge and burn, but don't really know of their relevance in photo editing. Don't know what ACR is (but google tells me its adobe camera raw).

I also like the edit!

mikedadude · May 24, 2011

gsgary said:
The shot is too tight to start with you need a wider lens

Both pictures? Or just the second?

Big Mike · May 24, 2011

The camera is saving them in high quality JPEG's. I know of dodge and burn, but don't really know of their relevance in photo editing. Don't know what ACR is (but google tells me its adobe camera raw).

First step, set your camera to save your images in RAW format (if your camera will allow that). That will allow you to really use ACR and have the most potential when you move onto the editing stage.

Dodge and burn have been staples for photo editing, for at least 100 years. You could also call them 'selectively brightening or darkening your image'. So instead of applying edits that change the whole image, you make edits to select parts of the image.

Trever1t · May 24, 2011

Keep it simple. My opinion is your over thinking the edit.

KmH · May 24, 2011

ACR (Camera Raqw) is a parametric editor. That means it doesn't actually alter the original pixels. Since you have CS4 your Camera Raw is ACR 5, which is the same ACR 5 that Lightroom 2 uses as an edit rendering engine.

In CS4 you can also avoid altering original pixles (or 8x8 pixel square MCU's in the case of a JPEG) by using 'adjustment layers'.

Unfortunately, even a JPEG Large has already had about 80% of the color data the image sensor captured, discared by the expiedient of converting a 12-bit (4096) or 14-bit (16,384) original capture to an 8-bit (256) color depth.
To make matters worse, the original pixels are also converted into 8 pixel by 8 pixels squares. Those 8x8 pixel squares are called - Minimum Coded Units (MCU's) further limited editing headroom.

Dodging is used to lighten a portion of a photo, and burn is used to darken a portion of a photo. CS4's tool box has a Dodge/Burn tool. It's under the Blur tool and above the Pen tool.

Click on 'Layer' at the top of the workspace. In the drop down box select New > Layer and in the dialog box set the blending Mode to Soft Light. Right under that put a check mark in the box that now reads 'Fill with soft-light neutral color (50% gray)' and click OK.
The 50% gray fill is so you can see in the layer thumbnail where in the image you have added an edit. I make one layer for dodging and a second layer for burning. You can also use the other blending modes like Overlay, Hard light, Pin light , etc.