Three for CC

[Msteelio91]

Went for a walk in DC, nothing serious, open to thoughts and suggestions

1: Cool house, image is level, house not so much.
In the Middle by Matthew_Steele, on Flickr

2: Forgotten car on the streets of DC. Looked like it had been sitting for years. Was contemplating B&W for this.
Forgotten by Matthew_Steele, on Flickr

3: Nothing special, just liked the scene
Sunday Lunch by Matthew_Steele, on Flickr

 

[Vince.1551]

Some brief suggestions:

pic 1
1. Subdue excessive foreground highlights (burn) 2. Left and right building needs some gradual tonal burning to bring out some tonality
3, level image horizontally
4. Increase saturation in sky

Reason: it is always ideal to bring out your subject matter which in this case I believe is the house in the middle. Proper burning around the peripheral area helps to bring out gradual tonal difference that can lead the eye straight to your subject else the image might look flat (with potential exceptions for landscapes). A stand-out image is normally where the subject has an implied 3D effect.

Pic 2
1. Bring out shadows
2. Burn highlights on the road
3 gradual tonal dodge and burn from left side of car (presuming it is the subject) with brighter tones on the right end of the car to bring up potential highlights from reflection of the sun, if any.
4. Subdue peripheral highlights by burning.
5. Smart sharpen
6. If subject is the car, move closer to the car if possible to encourage viewer to easily identify the subject matter.
Reasons : lightings like this are often tricky with extreme tonal differences in the image. I'll normally take a centre-weighted exposure of the car and reduce EV by half a stop to 1 stop. Any highlights from the peripheral region can be fixed in post process and since we need to choose what we want to tell in the picture most likely we need to sacrifice parts of the image which in most cases, the non-subject portion of the image. Burning with tonal gradation is critical as different light levels in the image needs to lead your eye to the image. Aim to create a perceived 3D image of your subject with with tonal differences. If the intend is to shoot a scene of the area I'll just use matrix metering and reduce EV by 1/3 and burn and dodge in post process.

Pic 3
1. Level image horizontally by using the words from the canopy
2. Increase saturation
3. Burn peripheral region with tonality
4. Dodge and burn the middle of the restaurant 5. Aim to create a tunnel effect (a frame within a frame) Reason: suppressing exposure in the peripheral region discourages the viewer's eye from straying. Creating a light tunnel in the middle of the restaurant directly leads the eye to that area as our eyes naturally moves towards looking at bright things. Increasing saturation adds flavor and richness to the image.

All three images have relatively extreme highlights and lowlights. Which was why I suggested lots of burning and some dodging. I'll encourage to focus on the subject matter in every image and to bring out the subject. The subject should not be obscure else the images lack the 'storytelling' impact of a fine image (with some exceptions for landscapes).

A good image often gives immediate attention to the subject matter and have distinct tonal renditions. This is indeed brief. To go further you'll probably want to affirm your style of photography and the usual focal length that you normally 'see' things and etc and etc ... Have fun

 

[Msteelio91]

Some brief suggestions:

...
Have fun

"Brief" hahahaha. Thank you, I'll look at your suggestions upon returning from work. Skimming over, I saw a lot about burning and killing highlights, I agree and attempted this but the sun was extremely harsh that day. Will try again.

 

[Vince.1551]

"Brief" hahahaha. Thank you, I'll look at your suggestions upon returning from work. Skimming over, I saw a lot about burning and killing highlights, I agree and attempted this but the sun was extremely harsh that day. Will try again.

I have to apologize as I type I only have a mental image of the photos as I'm using phone but more or less it's there.

 

[Msteelio91]

"Brief" hahahaha. Thank you, I'll look at your suggestions upon returning from work. Skimming over, I saw a lot about burning and killing highlights, I agree and attempted this but the sun was extremely harsh that day. Will try again.

I have to apologize as I type I only have a mental image of the photos as I'm using phone but more or less it's there.

So I read it all and I definitely agree with what you're saying. There is a very high contrast in tones due to the way the sun was. I think bracketing may have been a good idea here but didn't have the time to really set these shots right. Believe it or not, these images are level, feel free to DL them and check haha. They definitely give the feel of a skewed horizon but that's just the subjects. I'll give these edits a shot tonight. Thanks Vince!

 

[Vince.1551]

Tricky lights. They pop up every time