Childhood fishing pond . . . before and after

[Kathy O]

This is a photo of a fishing pond near my mom's house where we would go fishing in the evenings. I have posted 2 photos - the edited version and the original version. I would like to know if I have over done the editing.

I like how I can see the details in the sky in the edited version. I think it may be over sharpened. Honestly I got the lightroom 3 just after Christmas and really all I do is play with the adjustments until I think the photo looks better. I am reading up on how to use them correctly, so I do not have to play with them so much, so any suggestions and how to correct would be great and appreciated.

Edited version with lightroom 3



Original

[Geoff F]

For me, Kathy, it is definitely a little over sharpened; but the original needed quite a lot of work.

Personally, I would have worked with different software and used layers plus masks to vary the level of sharpness particularly on the water which I would give much less sharpness.

[ScoutR]

Hi Kathy, I like what you have done with the rework. I think your analysis (and Geoff's) is correct and that it is oversharpened a bit. I just started using LR for sharpening and have the same problem. I've found it helpful to zoom in to 1:1 (top of left hand panel above the navigator) Then play with the sharpening sliders to see the effect. There is some good info in post #2 of this thread. Lightroom import presets
The 1:1 ratio works really good for Noise Reduction too. I can barley see the effect unless I am zoomed in.

Don't feel bad about playing with the sliders. Reading is all well and good but doing and seeing works better than anything. Right now it feels like you are playing, but eventually you will go to a slider and know what it's going to do. Don't get discouraged there is a lot to learn and it all takes time and practise practise practise. Go with the flow, keep shooting and keep playing with those sliders.

Now back to the photo. Firstly I have to say I'd love to live at your Mom's. What a wonderful place. I think I could spend a week and still be finding new things to photograph in just the small area you have shown in the original, which by the way I really like as is without the crop. Yes there is a lot going on but I think it's a great shot to show the context of the pond. The trees the fields the trail and the dead tree across the pond. I think you've composed it very nicely and it would worth working on and doing some of the same adjustments to the whole shot as you did with the crop.

On the cropped image I really love what you've done with the colours and the sky. Aside from the oversharpening the only thing I would suggest is to try and have the dead tree a bit off centre. I know that won't be easy and I can understand why you have cropped it the way you did. If you crop anymore on either side you will be loosing important elements of the picture. All I can suggest in a case like this is to try different ways and then stick with the one you like best. I'll bet that's what you did already though right?

Anyway, I think this is a very nice shot, and very good job on the processing.

Wendy

[Kathy O]

Thank you Geoff and Wendy for your advice and comments it is very much appreciated!

[epmi314]

Kathy,

I love oversharpening. Frankly, I have to be really careful not to do so. You have gotten some really good advice from a couple of people you should listen to. The only thing I would add is given the crop, I would rotate the image slightly clockwise so the backside of the pond is level. I realize you may well have taken a perfectly level image SOOC but the unlevel line of the back of the pond keeps catching my eye and I don't think it would make the trees look stange. Just a thought...

[Myk]

Hi Kathy, firstly I really like your edit. It does look a little oversharpened. A neat tip I discovered while watching videos online somewhere was to hold down the alt key (or option for mac) while dragging the sliders, and it shows a grayscale image that helps gauge what is being sharpened.