English street. Processing recommendations.

outlier · Jan 30, 2007

Hi Everyone,

Love this site! This is my first picture to post. I took it using a 35mm film camera on holidays with the negative scanned in (I now use a Rebel XT DSLR). There is currently no processing whatsoever done on it other than compression. Any thoughts on processing or cropping etc. would be very welcome. Thanks! Sorry for being such a newb but just noticed that I can't attach the file!! How do I show you the photo?

cal_gundert05 · Jan 30, 2007

You can't post pics from your hard drive onto this site (which is what it looks like you tried to do). You may want to look into getting a photo host, free or otherwise.

outlier · Jan 30, 2007

JonnyVPA · Jan 30, 2007

thats a really neat shot... a little underexposed and/or noisy.... but awsome composition

outlier · Jan 30, 2007

JonnyVPA said:
thats a really neat shot... a little underexposed and/or noisy.... but awsome composition

Thanks JonnyVPA! I really like it too but I'm not sure why. It just looked right and I had to take a picture (you know that feeling when you just know it has to work). I waited a few minutes to get the red double decker busses in the frame to give it more of a definitive English context but I knew the moment I saw the mailbox that I had to take a picture.

The sky was a problem though. I'm worried that if I compensate for the darker underexposed foreground that I'll totally blow out the sky. Anyone have any thoughts on the best way to fix that? I've never used photoshop but I have some programs that came with my new camera (Rebel XT) that let you play with the contrast etc.

I'm not sure what noisy means- do you mean grainy or busy? If it's grainy, is there some way to fix that?

outlier · Feb 1, 2007

JonnyVPA said:
thats a really neat shot... a little underexposed and/or noisy.... but awsome composition

Okay, very new to this processing stuff. Played with it a bit. Is this better?

cherrymoose · Feb 1, 2007

I like the second version better, although there's not much of a difference visible to me. I do enjoy the angle though, and photographing red objects has always caught my eye. Good job.

JIP · Feb 1, 2007

its still very noisy and the sky is washed out.

neogfx · Feb 1, 2007

Regent St?
Nice composition.

outlier · Feb 1, 2007

neogfx said:
Regent St?
Nice composition.

Thanks! Not sure what street it was. I was visiting briefly in London and took a few shots with my old Minolta 35mm. This one with a 28mm lens I think.

outlier · Feb 1, 2007

JIP said:
its still very noisy and the sky is washed out.

Thanks JIP. I tried isolating the sky in my program and darkening it slightly. If I go much darker it looks very unnatural to my eye and I don't gain any detail in the clouds (just looks washed out and more grey). I used the 'de-speckle' feature which I hoped would clean up some of the noise but apparently that hasn't happened. Any thoughts on what to do? I've done film photography as a hobby for years but very new to the digital side and the potential for post processing. I really enjoy seeing what others can do with this software and would like to acquire some skill with it. Any hints would be very welcome.

theRossatron · Feb 1, 2007

outlier said:
Thanks! Not sure what street it was. I was visiting briefly in London and took a few shots with my old Minolta 35mm. This one with a 28mm lens I think.

I think it's Oxford St. Nice picture! I'd maybe have stepped a step or two to the left to stop the post box blocking out the buildings so much.

outlier · Feb 1, 2007

theRossatron said:
I think it's Oxford St. Nice picture! I'd maybe have stepped a step or two to the left to stop the post box blocking out the buildings so much.

Yes, I wish I had taken a few more from various angles but as a film guy with a limited budget for film, I had gotten used to framing up one shot and hoping for the best. I don't think it blocks much of the buildings but it does block the street and part of the sidewalk. Another problem would have been getting splattered in traffic if I'd stepped into the street for a different angle.

andyC · Feb 1, 2007

theRossatron said:
I think it's Oxford St. Nice picture! I'd maybe have stepped a step or two to the left to stop the post box blocking out the buildings so much.

I think it would better is the bus wasn't half obscured by the post box, but I do like the post box dominating the shot. I agree about the sky being washed out.

It's Regent St by the way (looking towards Picardilly Circus)