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Thread: The Serenity of Dawn

  1. #21
    Stagecoach's Avatar
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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Is it pretty, yes. Have you gone too far with the blues, no.

    Are you going to frame it and hang it on the wall Christina because its perfect?

    Grahame

  2. #22
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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Thank you to all for your comments and kind words - Kaye, Daniel, Ali, Nandakumar, Mark, Terri & Grahame!

    Daniel

    I likely braced myself on something, and/or held the camera tight between my hands when lying prone (can't recall for this shot) and used my elbows for stabilization.

    Ali and Mark...

    Thank you for sharing processing programs that work well for combining images with different exposures, and Mark for your kind offer to share your promo code. I just recently acquired the Cloud program which has Photoshop CC and Lightroom, which I'm still learning, so these are enough programs for me. I will try this again, using a tripod and eventually I'm sure I will learn how to merge exposures with good alignment. I managed one decent merge of two exposures just a little while ago. I also plan to purchase gradient filters so eventually no merging needed.

    Kaye...

    I must confess to having to walk my bike up some of the hills. I know how you feel. I'm a morning person and find it very hard to motivate myself to get out and try sunset/night shots.

    Grahame...

    Thank you. Your comment is over the top, kind. However, truly appreciated and it inspires me to try something different in post processing again. You must be fond of the colour blue I will print a small 4x6 test on blank paper to test out the blue, ie; real or too, blue.

    Thank you to all!

    PS I will try the b&w edit, and perhaps another colourful version this weekend when I have more time to play.

  3. #23

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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    I don't know how I missed earlier that your image is not straight, but I did. It's easy to make images that have reflections straight during post-processing by ensuring that a point in the source object lines up exactly with the correlating point in the reflection. Also remember that your camera has a built-in electronic level called "Virtual Horizon."

  4. #24
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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Hi Mike,

    As always, thank you for advising.

    I did use the lens correction (auto fix) in Lightroom, and I did look at the trees to see if the tops of the trees line up with the tops reflected in the water. On the right hand side of the image the trees look very straight to me, and a little less so on the left hand side of the image. If I straighten the image by rotating/cropping will it not make the trees on the right hand side of the image crooked?

    Can you let me know what trees you are looking at that seem crooked?

    Also thank you for the reminder about Virtual Horizon. I forgot about this and I will look it up in my manual and read up on it, today.

    Truly appreciated!

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Buckley View Post
    I don't know how I missed earlier that your image is not straight, but I did. It's easy to make images that have reflections straight during post-processing by ensuring that a point in the source object lines up exactly with the correlating point in the reflection. Also remember that your camera has a built-in electronic level called "Virtual Horizon."

  5. #25

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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Click your image to view it in the Lytebox. Then click and hold it to move it to the right side. Position the reflection of the trees on the right side so the lowest (tallest) reflection is at the edge of the monitor. Notice that the corresponding source tree is to the left. You'll find the same relationship of every treetop in the scene, indicating that the image needs to be rotated to the right.

    My post-processing software's straightening tool allows me to draw a line between any two points to level an image. I don't know about your LR or PS CC.
    Last edited by Mike Buckley; 2nd August 2014 at 03:32 AM.

  6. #26
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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    You can straighten an image in LR5 under the Develop Module (Lens Correction)



    Bruce

  7. #27

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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Quote Originally Posted by Digital View Post
    You can straighten an image in LR5 under the Develop Module (Lens Correction)
    It's a relatively crude tool, but it becomes easier to level the image if you open the View menu and select Guides and/or Grid.

  8. #28
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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    I am not sure about PS; however PSE has a tool for straightening images.



    Bruce

  9. #29

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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    To straighten the image in PS, you need to select the image (command+A on a Mac), then use edit>transform>rotate. It also helps to add the grid (command+'). When I look at the tallest trees on each side, they seem to be out by a very small amount but they are about the same to my eyes. If they are different, you need to use perspective instead of rotate.

  10. #30
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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Thank you Bruce, Mike and Tony for the tips on straightening.

    Bruce I did use the lens correction in LR for straightening in the original post. In this hopefully now straight image I used Tony's method. Thank you Tony.

    Straight? (I also made the blues a little less bright)

    The Serenity of Dawn

    An attempt at B&W as suggested by Greg

    The Serenity of Dawn

    I used a yellow filter, and I played with the greens, aquas and blues to try and bring out what I felt should be brought out. However, I don't care for the B&W image because it looks to real and somber... ie; it changes the mood.

    Note for Greg... Thank you for suggesting b&w. Even though the image doesn't feel right to me, it was a good exercise. I think I just have a personal preference for light and airy b&w images and I couldn't manage it with this scene.

    Note for Mike...

    Thank you for the reminder on the virtual horizon. I tried a twilight hour of the city scape last night and it was a very helpful tool. I also purchased an LED light from the dollar store and it sure made it easier to see what I was doing.

  11. #31

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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Quote Originally Posted by Christina S View Post
    I used a yellow filter, and I played with the greens, aquas and blues to try and bring out what I felt should be brought out.
    Very well done! That's exactly what one does to tweak black-and-white images and you brought out the detail and nuances very nicely.

    However...it changes the mood.
    My experience is that changing to monochrome will always change to or at least emphasize a different mood, not necessarily to a mood that is less or more attractive but definitely resulting in at least a slightly different mood. I think that has to do with the psychology for most of us whose eyes see in color when we suddenly view an image that is not in color.

  12. #32
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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Thank you Mike. It is encouraging and very nice to hear that you think I did a good job of the b&w. One day I will figure out how to manage to convey the right mood.

  13. #33

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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Good job on the conversion, Christina, I though there was risk of losing some of the details in the darker shadow areas of the reflection but you have done a good job of preserving them. In fact, your 'tweakings' seem to have brought out a bit more detail in the mono version - or maybe that is just my eyes. Well done.

  14. #34
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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Thank you Greg! Truly appreciated. I did know that I should see detail in the b&w version, but possibly a post processing fluke. I will try it again, on another day, when it is suggested to me that I might try it.

    Quote Originally Posted by FootLoose View Post
    Good job on the conversion, Christina, I though there was risk of losing some of the details in the darker shadow areas of the reflection but you have done a good job of preserving them. In fact, your 'tweakings' seem to have brought out a bit more detail in the mono version - or maybe that is just my eyes. Well done.

  15. #35

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    Re: The Serenity of Dawn

    Black and white looks awesome!

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