I would appreciate any and all comments and criticisms

[flashback]

[Tringa]

I think your photo of the coins and notes is really good, Jack. I suggest brightening it a bit, but as it is now, it has a very nice feel to it.

I think I can see why you photographed the stream as you did - the main fall, the tree behind and the spreading out of the stream below the fall suggests the shot you took.

Can I suggest a shot at an angle as an alternative. I also think it looks over sharpened.

Dave

[MiniChris]

First one is a simple fix whereas the green cast is removed and a slight curve adjustment made to pop the colors a bit more. The second one...no can do much with.

Not sure how you are saving your files but they are quite large and exceptionally oversharpened. 800 dpi on the longest side is more than sufficient.

[flashback]

My bad, this is the one I wanted to upload. I did reduce the size to ~800 on the long side.
Most of what you see are hemlocks, which gives the picture the green cast. I did try to pump up some of the
leaf color. Is this one any better?

[flashback]

Dave and Chris,
Thank you, I appreciate your comments.
As to the first (waterfall), I actually posted the wrong picture. If you have the time please let me know what you think.
Regarding the second (coin) pic, the originals were very bright and harsh. The picture as posted was something I happen to like, that had a 'mood' to it I was looking for.

Chris, when you say 'no can do much with' how exactly are you meaning it.

Thanks to you both again, appreciate your taking some time to help me out.

Jack

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi Jack, love the second image, i wouldnt do anything to it at all, the second posting of the waterfall is much better colour wise but looks a little to sharp to me.

mark

[dje]

Jack I think your second posting of the waterfall is a lovely shot.

Cheers Dave

[flashback]

Mark,
Thank you. As for the second waterfall being 'a little sharp', could you explain that a bit more? I don't mean as in defend your opinion but what is it that you see that suggests it's too sharp?
Thanks again for your comments,
Jack

[flashback]

Dave,
Thank you very much!
Jack

[MiniChris]

Dave and Chris,
Thank you, I appreciate your comments.
As to the first (waterfall), I actually posted the wrong picture. If you have the time please let me know what you think.
Regarding the second (coin) pic, the originals were very bright and harsh. The picture as posted was something I happen to like, that had a 'mood' to it I was looking for.

Chris, when you say 'no can do much with' how exactly are you meaning it.
Means I tried to rework the image for better tonal quality, color, etc and there just wasn't anything to work with. At least, I should say, it is well beyond my PP skill level. I would leave the second posting of the waterfall as is, but would also warn against over-sharpening. Not knowing your workflow or PP program, it's hard to know what oyu did, but it appears to me, each pixel is really bumped hard to the edge.
Thanks to you both again, appreciate your taking some time to help me out.

Jack

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi Jack, now thats a bloody awkward question! Sharpness is a matter of opinion and as you know is added to the image on PP it defines edge detail and if over done makes the images too crisp or edgy.... to me the image just seems to pop that little bit to much, but maybe its just me and you havnt sharpened it at all

[Viana]

I agree that the landscape images are over sharpened.


Have you considered using the Lab Mode of sharpening, Jack?


I love the coin and paper money idea. I have a ton of money saved from travels abroad, many of no longer existing currencies.

[FrankMi]

As for the second waterfall being 'a little sharp', could you explain that a bit more?

Hi Jack, Other than personal taste, one indicator that an image may be over-sharpened is the presence of halos (usually black or white) that would be most prominent at points of high contrast. Even without pixel-peeping at high resolution, take a look at the image in the lightbox. Notice the black border around the rock in the stream at the bottom center of the image? That is a result of sharpening. Once you see it, look at other high contrast locations, like up around the left edge of the waterfall. When I do sharpening, I look for these (and other) signs of over-sharpening and back off the sharpening values until these signs no longer appear.

If you shoot in JPEG, rather than RAW, it's not uncommon to see these indications of over-sharpening in the SOOC image as the camera does sharpening while converting the RAW image to a JPEG internally. The only option you have for most camera-created JPEG images 'may' be the ability to increase or decrease the amount of sharpening when you shoot. I haven't found a camera yet that allows you to turn off sharpening for JPEG images.

I hope this answers your question!

[Mark von Kanel]

PHEW! was a little worried for a while! whilst i like to think that i kind of know where to point my camera and when to push the button my PP is at best best beginner level! Thanks Frank for a quantative assessment of sharpness rather than my " it looks to sharp to me assessment " ive learned a lot thanks