The Mentor Marsh

Digital Matt · Apr 26, 2004

This is my first post in the critique forum. I always welcome critiques from you guys, but I thought I'd make it official

I took this photo today just after sunset.

Let me know what you think. I converted it to b&W with the channel mixer and gave it the sepia tone. There was a curves adjustment to bring out the foreground, and another for added contrast as well.

Harpper · Apr 26, 2004

Wow, great shot. I like the mood you captured and definitely using sepia tone helps with that. Adding the pond into the crop gives it a nice touch, but there's something about it that I can't quite put my finger on. Do you have a wide version of this picture?

The picture is really good as it is and I don't think I would change much if it were up to me. You could possibly add a little more contrast in the grass, but that's just being picky. Good work, D Matt.

Digital Matt · Apr 26, 2004

Thanks Harpper

I think I know what it is about the pond that you can't put your finger on. It's not a pond, it's the roof of my car

I didn't want to say anything in my original post, and see if people could tell. When I took the photo, I was hoping to make it appear that way.

Thanks for your comments. I'll take a look at the curve and see if I can push it a bit further. Thanks again.

markc · Apr 26, 2004

Too funny! I was trying to figure out why the grass was all compressed in that reflection. I like it, and the sepia is a nice touch. I'd be currious as to what more contrast in the grass would do, as Harper suggested. The moody sky is terrific. It looks to be a little big lighter in the reflection, though, which draws the eye down there. I think I'd rather have the reflection darker than the sky, so that my eye is drawn more towards the center of the image.

danalec99 · Apr 26, 2004

Top notch!

malachite · Apr 26, 2004

I'd like to see a larger version of this. I'm thinking it needs just a tad more detail that you can only get from just making it bigger. But not too big as your secret pond might become too obvious

I'd hang that on my wall.................

Harpper · Apr 26, 2004

Digital Matt said:
I think I know what it is about the pond that you can't put your finger on. It's not a pond, it's the roof of my car

LOL. It all makes sense now. I was scratching my head trying to figure out what was wrong. I knew something was wrong. :lol:

You did a good job at it though. You almost had me fooled. :wink:

Digital Matt · Apr 26, 2004

Thanks for the comments and critiques everyone

I see what you mean about the reflections Mark. I'll go back and fix that. It'll be no problem with a little gradient mask. I was trying so hard to get detail out of the shadows in the foreground that I overlooked the brightness of the reflections.

Here's a link to a larger version, and I'll edit the version in this post as soon as I can. Thanks everyone

http://www.deviantart.com/view/6827823/

Sorry for the DA link

Moni · Apr 26, 2004

Digital Matt...this one is awsome

Did you photoshoped it?

What did you done?

Digital Matt · Apr 26, 2004

Moni said:
Digital Matt...this one is awsome

Did you photoshoped it?

What did you done?

Thanks Moni.

I converted it to b&W with the channel mixer and gave it the sepia tone. There was a curves adjustment to bring out the foreground, and another for added contrast as well.

I have a Canon Digital Rebel, so everything is Digital, and everything is photoshopped to some extent.

Digital Matt · Apr 26, 2004

I edited the original post to show the retouched image and the original for comparison. Thanks for your feedback guys

pilgrim · Apr 26, 2004

VERY impressive matt! The sepia tone works excellent with this shot, and using the car roof to reflect the sky is crazy talk!
How exactly do you convert to sepia in photoshop? Im assuming it's something super easy, I just can't find it :wink:

pilgrim · Apr 26, 2004

Oh and I like the second one better, The extra contrast is nice.

Digital Matt · Apr 27, 2004

pilgrim said:
VERY impressive matt! The sepia tone works excellent with this shot, and using the car roof to reflect the sky is crazy talk!
How exactly do you convert to sepia in photoshop? Im assuming it's something super easy, I just can't find it

Thanks Pilgrim. The way I get a sepia tone is to convert the image to B&W with the channel mixer, and then use a hue/sat adjustment layer. Click colorize and I usually put the hue somewhere around 40-50, and the sat from 10-30. That's it