What can I do to improve this?

[dive3dj]

Hello,

This is an photo I made at an area which is very much one of my favourite spots. I quite like it, having recently rediscovered it (it was taken in 2006, since when my photography has taken a back seat until recently) but by the same token it disappoints me in some way that I haven't been able to define, and thought maybe you guys could help.

Brief technical details - its shot with e-1/14-54 mk1 at 14mm, aperture priority, pattern metering, wide open at 1/50th ISO 100, RAW, "hard" sharpness but nothing else. I converted to jpeg and resized for the forum but applied no other PP. It was shot at 10:30pm!

It was shot on the West Coast of Sctoland at a place called Ardtoe.



cheers

Dave

[IainMacD]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

Hi Dave
I hope you don't mind, but I ran it through Lightroom and lifted the shadows, upped the saturation and added a grad filter:



I feel it could do with cropping but the only thing I could come up with is a square format:



Obviously processing a low res jpeg is not the best way of doing this but you get the idea.
What processing software do you use?

[benvendetta]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

That's an improvement on the original.

[dive3dj]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

cheers Ian,

Certainly brings the boat in the foreground ito the image better, which to my eye tkes the image closer to the thought I had about the scene.

I guess I was trying to get across an idea of a peaceful setting where you can be active / busy / immersed in an outdoor life. Holidays there lead you to a very different life from the frantic city / mobile devices / computer etc. I have also been struck a couple of times by the fact of being engrossed in a (mundane) taskwhilst an amazing view unfolds...

Processing...um... I've got Olympus Master 4.10 from a million years ago, and Paint Shop Pro 8 from a similar vintage. PSP was just about the first software I ever bought, and I've started using it again having repaired the PC that it was on. I'm not over the moon about it, though...

Thanks for the efforts!

[dive3dj]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

That's an improvement on the original.

Yeah, it is.

I'll have a bash with the Master software...

Dave

[dive3dj]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

erm...got a long way to go, I suspect...



Cropped and tried to do Ian's lightening thig but limited knowledge. I'm more of an OOC type of person, mostly due to being lazy!

D

[gazza95]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

Dave, you need to apply a "Graduated filter" effect to darken the sky much more while keeping foreground lighter. While playing I also found the boat in the foreground confusing and quite like a cropped version. Have also added rather a lot of saturation.

Gary

[DonB]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

Hi Dave. Personally, I like the original photograph and did not think it overall needed treatment, except for the boat in the foreground. This is the 2nd point of interest to the natural beauty, but I think it was a little lost. So I used a brush in ACDSee Pro7 to bring up the mid tones of the boat. I also touched the brush on the other 2 boats, and a little of the foreground rocks. The rocks could have been lightened a little more perhaps.
I believe the selective method kept the integrity of the image without exaggeration of the rest, but that's a personal preference.
This took a couple of minutes, but if it were mine I would spend more time on it. The brushes in ACDSee are very easy to use, much easier than LR which I also have.
Cheers,
Don

[Zuiko]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

I like what Iain has done to the sky but I prefer the very subtle processing that Don has done to the boat and the rocks.

[dive3dj]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

Yeah, I'm with you Zuiko, combination of both has hit the spot.

Thanks, everyone, free photography lessons !

[Kami]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

All lovely shots and treatments. I prefer the version with foreground boat cropped out.

My suggestion, but not being able to get at the EXIF I might be talking nonsense. Did you take this at the wide end of the zoom ? If so, how about using the long end of the zoom, and scrambling down to a lower level, but away from the foreground boat (probably not possible). That would close up the apparent distance between the boat and the lovely background, enlarge the background, and ... Robert is your Uncle ?

There's a chap here who has some good ideas on landscape photography, who posted on this topic just a few days ago:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C977pT2rmpY"]Choosing The Right Perspective And Field Of View - YouTube[/ame]

[Beagletorque]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

I prefer a darker version too, so I had a play! I was surprised to find another gent sitting in the photo on the right......

[pdk42]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

Dave, you need to apply a "Graduated filter" effect to darken the sky much more while keeping foreground lighter. While playing I also found the boat in the foreground confusing and quite like a cropped version. Have also added rather a lot of saturation.

Gary

Yes, totally agree with this crop. I found in the original, I was always flicking boat to horizon, boat to horizon etc and wondering which to look at. With the boat gone, the eye flow naturally to the distant mountains picking up the smaller boats on the way. Some cropping on the right might help too to get the aspect ratio more square, but it's a judgement thing. With or without this extra crop, it's a cracking shot!! I like it a lot.

[Naughty Nigel]

Re: What can I do to improve this?

I liked the original. It had a certain 'magic' about it that made me want to explore beyond the horizon. The yacht in the shadows added to that mystique.

For me, the extra foreground light and detail takes away some of that magic and makes it more like a regular postcard shot. However, I do like the additional colour and saturation in Garry's version above.