Help me select /edit a photo for a canvas print

[daveparm]

Hey, let me preface this with letting you know that I am not an expert by any means, and barely get by with a t3i basically used just for travel.

I was recently in Italy and took a few pictures of a lake that is visible from the town my mom/aunts grew up in. It was a bit overcast so that didn't help. I would love to get this printed on a canvas (maybe 8x10 or one size bigger) and give it as a gift to my mom and aunts who lived there as children. My problem is - I have no idea which one will print the best, and if any editing would help. Any suggestions which one is best, and should I do any editing? I do have Photoshop and can follow directions. Thanks!

Pics here: Postimage.org — free image hosting / image upload

 

[tirediron]

They're all rather similar, but I would go with 1362 simply because I find the brightness of the large piece of rock in the right foreground rather distracting. I would absolutely do some processing on whichever image you choose, including, but not limited to:

-Leveling;
-haze reduction (clarity);
-Slight saturation boost; and
-Subtle curves adjustment to increase contrast.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi and welcome to the forum,
Wow, I love that landscape. I also love that you included the rocks into the picture - by purpose or not . Foreground is always important when taking wide landscape shots.
I gave it a try. A must for this image in my opinion is a panoramic format, so I cropped it to a 2:1 ratio. I did quite a few changes, almost all of them done in lightroom (even the cloning of the power pole and lines), so it will be too much for directions.
To be honest I was a little surprised on how much I could do with this image considering it is a jpg - anyway: shoot RAW next time (at least for important images).
I also though since they lived there ages ago, maybe some sort of B&W would be nice

 

[daveparm]

cool. thanks! I could have sworn I shot this in RAW as well but I guess I didn't. any other thoughts?

 

[TCampbell]

1362 has a strong tilt (lake isn't level) so it needs some correction there.

Offhand, what I notice is:

1) Put a gradient ND filter to bring down the brightness slightly on the sky and boost contrast in that area to increase the drama. Lightroom can do this -- it's fairly easy to do.

2) Lightroom can help de-haze the image a bit (it probably wont get completely clear, but it will improve it)

3) The image needs a chromatic aberration adjustment. When I zoom in to full size at your posting site I see the railway and telephone wire both have a red fringe on one edge and a blue fringe on the other (indicating chromatic aberration). CA is fairly easy to correct in software such as Lightroom.

Lastly... this will be a bit of work, but you can "clone out" that telephone pole and wires to improve the image.

Very nice images, btw! That's a gorgeous landscape. I hope your mom & aunts love it (I'm sure they will).

 

[KmH]

cool. thanks! I could have sworn I shot this in RAW as well but I guess I didn't. any other thoughts?

You probably did.
Raw images can't be posted on the Internet, though you can link to the Raw image data file if you have it hosted somewhere on the Internet.
Actually, a Raw image data file isn't actually a photograph until the file has been put through a Raw Converter application.

 

[ParkerPhoto]

Keep in mind, when doing a canvas gallery wrap, the edges of your photos will be wrapped around the canvas. So, if details around the edges are important then they'll be on the sides of canvas. Depending on where you're having this done it could range from 1-3 inches of wrap (per side). Which means you could have up to 6 inches "cropped" on the sides. Something to consider. I prefer 1339 - better composition and the clouds balance out the photo. Also, it looks like the horizon is crooked and I'd fix that first (along with removing the telephone poles).

 

[Peeb70]

First attempt:

 

[Peeb70]

#1340 without the telephone lines. After de-hazing, I pushed the color tone a bit warmer, gave the lake (hopefully) a little more 'pop'. Colors seemed a bit over-the-top so I desaturated just a hair as well.