Posted by Andrea Hadley on October 8, 2009 at 11:55 AM
This photo was taken in Hoosier National Forest near Tell City, not on a path and I was working on reflections (wasn't having any luck finding animals). I know that vine/tree thing is in the way but I haven't done anything else to the photo except resizing, if anyone has any advice for editing it, please do tell. Unless it can not be fixed due to the vine. I know it's not the best, but I'd like to use it for practice.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on October 8, 2009 at 11:56 AM
first off, wow that's huger than I thought it would be let me resize it a little more and see if I can make it smaller.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on October 8, 2009 at 11:56 AM
okay if this doesn't work, I'll delete this post
Posted by Drew Fulton on October 8, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Andrea,
I am not exactly sure what you are asking here. Are you looking for basic processing help or something more specific like removing the vine you mention? What do you mean by "fixed"?
Hello Andrea,
Unusual dimensions, about 5.5 inches by 11.5. (1 to 2.11 ratio)
Same question as above...what type of comments do you want?
Exposure looks OK, composition is a subjective thing, but I would have positioned my view so that the vine was more off center.
Were you using a tripod?
Frank
Posted by Austin Booth on October 8, 2009 at 2:16 PM
If you were not using a tripod that would be my number one suggestion for next time. It doesn't quite look sharp although that could just be jpeg artifacts showing up from over compression because I am seeing some of that too. I would definitely do some sharpening on it. There is a cool technique for sharpening for web if you have photoshop where you resize it to about 1.5-2 times the target size, run the regular sharpen filter once or twice and then shrink it down to the target size for web display which will help make it look much sharper.
Other than that I would maybe do a slight amount of curves or levels to increase saturation and contrast but it already seems to be pretty well saturated and contrasty.
If you really want to get in depth with the editing you could learn a new technique such as Tony Kuyper's luminosity masks to help tone down the lights a little bit and increase dynamic range which seems pretty confusing at first but is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
There are a lot of things you could do, you just have to decide what your vision for the image is and how to go about doing it.
Posted by Don Miller on October 8, 2009 at 3:34 PM
The reflection is out of focus. If you wanted it sharp you need to stop down more and/or place focus closer. I would also try shooting from a lower position to change the relation of leaves and reflection.
As far as overall sharpness, you don't benefit much from a tripod if you can keep shutter speed more than 2X focal length.
As the trees change in the next few weeks you have many chances at better subjects.
Posted by John Wheatley on October 8, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Boy howdy. I'm not sure what I would do with the top of that picture, that diagonal tree is kind of a torpedo amidships. However, try a composition that captures the water and places the implied junction of the diagonal vine with its own reflection on the top 1/3rd rule line . That is, crop off about the top 40% of the top and see what you get.
Might work.
After that, I would play around with muting contrast look at the artistic possibilities of slightly desaturing some colors and saturating others (reds and oranges). You may not get anything you like, but it might just give you some ideas for the future.
Nice to see somebody who is trying to learn.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on October 8, 2009 at 8:05 PM
Well I'm looking for the opinions of others, see what you think of it and what you would change. There is some definite advice on here, the only problem is it will probably be almost another week before I go back, I didn't even notice my errors til I got home (an hour away from this tranquil place) and now it's going to be raining here for the rest of the week. I can see a lot of my errors now, I didn't use a tripod, my lens hasn't been focusing very well lately, I'm going to have to clean it. That was my first time to Hoosier National Forest and I don't plan on it being my last, even during winter. It will be subject to my photo work indefinitely. thanks again.
Posted by Bill Brennan on October 8, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Andrea, look for the "shot within" on your next visit with your tripod. Really like those Hoosier reds as a focal point if you can return in time.
Bill Brennan
Posted by Andrea Hadley on October 9, 2009 at 10:53 AM
I'm hoping and praying this weekend I can go back, the weather is going to lighten up for the weekend, and stay good til next Thursday, but business has been busy. What I dislike is that it looked good at the moment when I was taking the shot, but then I get home and see that it didn't work out like I planned. Of course I've heard this before, especially for beginners and I keep telling myself to work every angle and be patient as hell, but when I get there I'm completely lost in the beauty and tranquility that I take a couple shots and move on, I should be smacked upside the head for that
Andrea,
The longer you stay in that place, the more you will see.
Sometimes you start to see many different opportunities in one location. Take your time and move around, changing your position, and lenses. I shoot many images in one location, different manual exposures, different lenses, different views. Experiment with diferent depths of field.
Enjoy!
Frank
Posted by Andrea Hadley on October 9, 2009 at 5:27 PM
That is the one thing I MUST improve on, patience. Of course I also need to read the rules there because that pic was off trail and I do that a lot. Next time I go I will definitely be spending more time in one place, I'm seriously thinking about going early tomorrow morning, leaving my house around 5a.m. because my hubby wants to be at work by at least 9 or 10, so I'll only get 2 or 3 hours again.. we're just so busy at work that when I do take off away from there, I only have a couple of hours, Wednesday I would've had 2 hours more if I hadn't been asked to babysit a dog, which sucked 2 hours of my time. But yeah I definitely need to work on those really important things. Thanks again.
Discussion
12 repliesI am not exactly sure what you are asking here. Are you looking for basic processing help or something more specific like removing the vine you mention? What do you mean by "fixed"?
Drew
Unusual dimensions, about 5.5 inches by 11.5. (1 to 2.11 ratio)
Same question as above...what type of comments do you want?
Exposure looks OK, composition is a subjective thing, but I would have positioned my view so that the vine was more off center.
Were you using a tripod?
Frank
Other than that I would maybe do a slight amount of curves or levels to increase saturation and contrast but it already seems to be pretty well saturated and contrasty.
If you really want to get in depth with the editing you could learn a new technique such as Tony Kuyper's luminosity masks to help tone down the lights a little bit and increase dynamic range which seems pretty confusing at first but is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
There are a lot of things you could do, you just have to decide what your vision for the image is and how to go about doing it.
As far as overall sharpness, you don't benefit much from a tripod if you can keep shutter speed more than 2X focal length.
As the trees change in the next few weeks you have many chances at better subjects.
Might work.
After that, I would play around with muting contrast look at the artistic possibilities of slightly desaturing some colors and saturating others (reds and oranges). You may not get anything you like, but it might just give you some ideas for the future.
Nice to see somebody who is trying to learn.
Bill Brennan
The longer you stay in that place, the more you will see.
Sometimes you start to see many different opportunities in one location. Take your time and move around, changing your position, and lenses. I shoot many images in one location, different manual exposures, different lenses, different views. Experiment with diferent depths of field.
Enjoy!
Frank