Rideau River near Watson Mill

[Round Tuit]

For my first post I selected this photo that I took on a sunny afternoon in early March.

I particularly like the sun beaming on the white water. I find however that the mill in the background could stand out more but I don't know how to make that happen. I would also appreciate suggestions on getting rid of the power line at the top and the phone line across the mill.
Any and all C and C will be most welcomed.

Andre

[KingsHockeyFan]

A levels or curves adjustment mask would help bring out the mill in the background. As far as the power lines.....I wish I had a way. The parts in the open sky----easy enough to clone them out with surrounding blue sky, the parts going through the trees---hopefully someone has an answer because I would like to know.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Andre Cloning the wires might be a tedious job for this image, but IMO it is the only way to get rid of them.

[IzzieK]

I have Photoshop CS5 extended so I don't know how to do it in PSCS4. But I googled Content Aware which was introduced in CS5 and this is the best I can find for CS4 --content aware scaling...or you can just as easily use your clone tool ... as Binnur stated in her comments.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture, what will be the final viewing media, online or print. There a number of youtube videos on removing the power lines.

[vaez]

nice capture

[Round Tuit]

A levels or curves adjustment mask would help bring out the mill in the background. As far as the power lines.....I wish I had a way. The parts in the open sky----easy enough to clone them out with surrounding blue sky, the parts going through the trees---hopefully someone has an answer because I would like to know.

Thank you Kris. I will try a masked curve adjustment layer to brighten the building slightly. I might also warm it up a bit.
Andre

[Round Tuit]

Hi Andre Cloning the wires might be a tedious job for this image, but IMO it is the only way to get rid of them.

Thank you for your comment Binnur. I'm afraid that I agree with you that the tedious way is the only way.

Andre

[Round Tuit]

I have Photoshop CS5 extended so I don't know how to do it in PSCS4. But I googled Content Aware which was introduced in CS5 and this is the best I can find for CS4 --content aware scaling...or you can just as easily use your clone tool ... as Binnur stated in her comments.

Hi Izzie,
The only software tools at my disposal are PS CS4 and Lightroom 5. Neither one of them has any "Content Aware" capabilities that I know of.
Thank you for your comment.

Andre

[Round Tuit]

Nice capture, what will be the final viewing media, online or print. There a number of youtube videos on removing the power lines.

Thanks John. I would like to print it at a medium size, somewhere around 10 x 15 or 12 x 18, and frame it in a 18 x 24 frame.
All the youtube videos that I have found on removing power lines use either Content Aware feature of CS5 or various combination of Cloning, Healing and Painting. None of the demonstrated methods would handle the lines going through the trees without a lot of work.

Andre

[Round Tuit]

nice capture

Thank you vaez, I'm glad that you like it.

Andre

[Manfred M]

Andre - you've just given me another subject to photograph in the area. Thanks. I knew about the mill but have never gotten out that way; I just tend to drive right past Manotick when I head in or out of Ottawa.

First problem I see with your shot is the lighting. It looks like one of those beautiful late winter days, which means the sun can be quite bright and the light can be quite harsh. Ff you camera's clock is correct, then you took this just before 2:00PM. The light is really not great at that time of day. Had you been there during morning or afternoon "magic hour", I think you would have had a much nicer light for this type of shot.

The lighting means that your subject (?) the mill, is in shadow. You could try to use the shadow slider in ACR to tone back the shadows a bit, if you are shooting RAW. That might help a bit too, but perhaps not enough.

The wires, the clone tool and a lot of patience is really the way to tackle that. I see you your are using Photoshop CS4; which means you are stuck with the clone tool. Those wonderful "content aware" tools that I use all the time for this type of work came out in CS5.

The last thing you might want to watch is your aperture. You took this shot at f/18, so you are going to see a bit of diffraction softening in the image. I suspect you could have opened up a good stop and still had the foreground in focus.

[joebranko]

Really nice shot. Lightroom 5 has an adjustment brush which can be used to lighten the building and add warmth.

[GBO25]

Andre I use Photoshop Elements 13 and I tried the following….

Made a “new layer via copy” of the background layer and selected Screen as the blend mode for that new layer. This has the effect of increasing exposure i.e. lightening the image.
Then I adjusted the opacity of that layer down until I though the mill looked ok. Next I created a layer mask, inverted the mask (Ctrl -i or Command -i on Mac) so that the adjustments I just made disappeared. Then using a white brush on the inverted layer mask I “painted” over just the mill to bring the Screen blend mode back to just that area.

Next I made a Brightness/Contrast layer and adjusted both brightness and contrast until it suited my taste. Then I did what I’d done in the previous step by inverting the mask before using a white brush on the mask to “paint” back the brightness/contrast adjustments on just the mill and the weir.

What do you think?

[Round Tuit]

Andre - you've just given me another subject to photograph in the area. Thanks. I knew about the mill but have never gotten out that way; I just tend to drive right past Manotick when I head in or out of Ottawa.

First problem I see with your shot is the lighting. It looks like one of those beautiful late winter days, which means the sun can be quite bright and the light can be quite harsh. Ff you camera's clock is correct, then you took this just before 2:00PM. The light is really not great at that time of day. Had you been there during morning or afternoon "magic hour", I think you would have had a much nicer light for this type of shot.

The lighting means that your subject (?) the mill, is in shadow. You could try to use the shadow slider in ACR to tone back the shadows a bit, if you are shooting RAW. That might help a bit too, but perhaps not enough.

The wires, the clone tool and a lot of patience is really the way to tackle that. I see you your are using Photoshop CS4; which means you are stuck with the clone tool. Those wonderful "content aware" tools that I use all the time for this type of work came out in CS5.

The last thing you might want to watch is your aperture. You took this shot at f/18, so you are going to see a bit of diffraction softening in the image. I suspect you could have opened up a good stop and still had the foreground in focus.

Manfred - Thanks for the in depth analysis of my shot. I did take it on a bright sunny afternoon. I try to dedicate one afternoon a week to "work the angles" on a particular subject. When I find a good shot, I return closer to the magic hour having already figured out the composition. In this case, I came back two days later and took this shot half an hour before sunset and went again at dawn the next morning.



As you can see, the mill and the trees on the left are much better lit but the sparkle has gone out of the water (Notice how the snow melted on the gazebo in two days!). Perhaps if I had been there a little earlier, I might have been able to get both at the same time. I like both shot but for some reason, the afternoon one appeals to me more even though the mill is a bit flat. I will try the approach suggested by Graham (GBO25) to bring it out. Incidentally, the geography of the place is such that the entire scene is shaded until late in the AM. All I managed to get is a couple of mallards!

The lens I used goes from f/4 to f/25 and seem soft at all apertures particularly for distant subjects. Maybe I just can't focus properly!

[Round Tuit]

Really nice shot. Lightroom 5 has an adjustment brush which can be used to lighten the building and add warmth.

Joe - Thanks for reminding me.

Andre

[Round Tuit]

Andre I use Photoshop Elements 13 and I tried the following….

Made a “new layer via copy” of the background layer and selected Screen as the blend mode for that new layer. This has the effect of increasing exposure i.e. lightening the image.
Then I adjusted the opacity of that layer down until I though the mill looked ok. Next I created a layer mask, inverted the mask (Ctrl -i or Command -i on Mac) so that the adjustments I just made disappeared. Then using a white brush on the inverted layer mask I “painted” over just the mill to bring the Screen blend mode back to just that area.

Graham - I like it. I'll use your approach to 'fix' my shot.

Andre

Next I made a Brightness/Contrast layer and adjusted both brightness and contrast until it suited my taste. Then I did what I’d done in the previous step by inverting the mask before using a white brush on the mask to “paint” back the brightness/contrast adjustments on just the mill and the weir.

What do you think?

[davidedric]

Hi Andre,

To bring out the mill using Lightroom, I would paint a mask on the mill with adjustment brush. With Automask enabled it should be fairly easy because it looks as though there is good contrast around the building edges. Then try the Shadows slider which I think will both lighten and bring out more detail.

Something like this (also tweaked exposure, Clarity and Sharpness in the brushed area). Just two or three minutes work to give an idea.





As already said, getting rid of the lines will be tedious. In Lightroom you would use the spot healing brush. You often need to do it a bit at a time, to make it easier to find another part of the image to replace (I.e. Clone or Heal)

Dave

[Round Tuit]

Hi Andre,

To bring out the mill using Lightroom, I would paint a mask on the mill with adjustment brush. With Automask enabled it should be fairly easy because it looks as though there is good contrast around the building edges. Then try the Shadows slider which I think will both lighten and bring out more detail.

Something like this (also tweaked exposure, Clarity and Sharpness in the brushed area). Just two or three minutes work to give an idea.





As already said, getting rid of the lines will be tedious. In Lightroom you would use the spot healing brush. You often need to do it a bit at a time, to make it easier to find another part of the image to replace (I.e. Clone or Heal)

Dave

Thank you Dave - I usually use Lightroom for global adjustments and Photoshop for local corrections so I was not aware of the automask capabilities of Lightroom. I will explore the localized correction features of Lightroom and maybe save me some switching back and forth between it and Photoshop.

Andre

[davidedric]

You are welcome. If you are not very familiar with the brush tool, it can be used both to paint in and paint out with Automask enabled. I find it's often easier to let the mask bleed a little over the edge, and then clean it up with the negative brush. Of course, being Lightroom,it's all non-destructive

Dave