Hi All, Well, here are some of my pics from the trip to Scotland. I snapped just over a thousand photos in a few days. Constructive criticism please..... These photos taken with the 18-55mm kit lens on my 1100d Thanks, Betty
My twin sister just moved up there because her husband found a job there. My other sister and mother flew up there with myself to visit her.
3rd one's very dark, although the rest are quite nice, 9 being my favourite, got a link to a larger one? :d
It's just my opinion, so feel free to tell me to shut up, but there are a couple of things that could really help your images. So yeah, unless you're going for a creative angle, any shots with water in them should have the horizon level. If you're like me and only use the tripod for long exposures (or pretending it's a futuristic minigun,) then levelling the horizon in post process is usually the first thing you want to do. As water in real life always finds its own level, seeing it resting at an angle is unnatural. Also, if you're landscaping it up by the sea, there's two times of day when Mother Nature really... gets it all out. Midday, when the sun is directly overhead, gives the water depth and brings out the blues and greens of the water (particularly minty around boats,) and the golden hours around sunrise and sunset. I like the golden hour, as shooting between, say, 11am and 3pm on a normal day will normally lead to blown out highlights and really dark shadows. Anyways, I really hope you don't mind, but I had a play with one of your images. It's a good shot, but horizon and wooden thing to the left. Also, I'm at work, so no calibrated monitor (which is super frustrating.) Rotate - 2 degrees clockwise Adjust For Sky Duplicate layer x2 Auto - Contrast, Tone, Colour Layer Opacity 50% Merge Down Duplicate Layer Dodge Tool - Exposure 7% - Highlights - wall, house, tower Dodge Tool - Exposure 7% - Midtones - top of lighthouse Adjust for land for Land Duplicate Background layer Healing Brush - 37px - 0% hardness (heal out rubbish from shore, watch for pattern repeat) Brightness +40 Contrast -20 Add Layer Mask to top layer Gradient fill, mask off land Merge Down Check adjustments against the background layer and realise the original sky was pretty boss Layer mask Gradient fill, mask off sky, leave lighthouse Resize Smart Sharpen - Radius 0.2px - 100% - Gaussian Blur
Holy crap! That looks much better. Thanks for the advice. Its much appreciated. Do you think you could do the same to the original image? I want to use it as a wallpaper and your edited version is so much better. Pretty please???
Post processing at that level is very advanced and, for the most part, is subjective - whilst Silver's adjustments definitely improve upon the original capture, I'd prefer a warmer and slightly brighter feel to the image: Ultimately it's all a matter of taste.
Heh, well I started to go that way in PS then tracked back to be faithful to the original. Now, at home on a calibrated monitor, I'd definitely go for a warmer look. Tone is one of the things I'd usually do in Camera RAW before it ever hit Photoshop. Oh, and taking pictures in RAW makes you irresistible to the ladies by the way. It's one of the better perks. So, while I'd be willing to 'shop the original (just send a PM,) post processing images is one of the things you're ultimately going to have to learn. If you don't have access to Photoshop, then grab a copy of GIMP, and should you need help, we're all here for you.
Absolutely. I understand that. It was just a quick request because that would take me forever to learn. I like that too! I see that too
Silver51 hit the nail on the head - the best way to learn post processing is by doing it, and getting it wrong sometimes (we've all been there). I make as few adjustments as possible when PPing my raw images; usually it's crop, levels, curves, and sharpen. With the necessary adjustments in each category, a picture can be drastically changed and brought to life. I can see what you might call a magenta cast in that image on mymonitor, but arguably that's how things look at dusk/dawn anyway. But like I said it's a matter of taste - some will like the warmth, some won't.
