Winter Colours in Japanese Garden

[kdoc856]

I was struck by the subtle shades of colour in this scene, particularly the different greens. But I'm not at all convinced I've translated it well enough to be appreciated, and I've looked at it too long now. I'm interested if any of you have any suggestions? Feel free to have a go at an edit-there's a lot of stuff people might try differently. Thanks for viewing.

[splashy]

This picture is very nice the way it is. The greens are stunning.

[JPS]

Hi kevin,
thanks for the invite to have a little play with your picture, I'm still learning so love good pictures to work on.
I like your picture as it is as well, so wouldn't normally do anything with it; but to aid in my learning curve I had a try.
Thanks for sharing and allowing us to have a go.
Be gentle I'm still learning

[michelleh]

Hi John,
How do you edit other people's photos? After posting my chapel in the mountains I have just been looking at everyone's photos and competitions and tools. So much to learn.
Kevin, I'm a newbie here so I don't know if my comments are worth much but I do love all photos taken in the snow. We don't get much of this in the part of South Africa I live in. I also like all the different greens of the fir trees, the bridge and the snow coloured rocks.

[JPS]

Hi John,
How do you edit other people's photos?..............

Hi Michelle,
If you 'right-click' on the picture in the forum that you want to edit, then use the 'save picture as' from the drop down menu to save it on your computer; I normally start by saving the picture to my desktop. Then open the picture in your PP program and make any changes you want. Once finished use the 'Save as' to save the altered picture, using a different name onto your computer, then just load it back onto the forum as per normal, for comment.
As long as the original poster is happy for you to do this, there should be no problems.
Regards
John

[splashy]

I still like the original better. But you did a nice work on it.

[kdoc856]

Thanks, Mike, John, and Michelle for viewing and commenting.

John, I should have added a postscript to my editing invitation- you have to tell me what you did so I can sponge off your ideas Looks like you reduced the exposure all over, particularly in the background, and added a slight gaussian blur to the background. It does accentuate the foreground grouping, which is normally something I'd agree to but in this particular shot I used a deeper DOF and higher exposure throughout because I wanted tofeature also the different shading in back. I'll need to study the differences for a bit. Hopefully we'll get some more opinions. Thanks so much for taking the time- my shots are ALWAYS fair game to play with.

Michelle, newb or not doesnt matter. Some folks just have a great photographic eye even if they are not practiced in the actual techniques to make it happen. My wife has no patience for the technical side, but has very confident opinions of what she sees and a very clear vision- if she points at a scene, I look long and hard to see what she is seeing, and her edit suggestions are rarely something that I wouldnt try.

[Mike Buckley]

Really, really nice image, Kevin. It's so nice that any changes that are made are probably simply due to taste.

The one thing that I noticed is that for such diffuse lighting, the bright tones seemed to be unnaturally bright. So, I darkened them just a tad to give the image a different, perhaps softer mood.

[kdoc856]

Thank you, Mike. I did lighten those selectively, and was probably a tad heavy-handed. I think the move towards subtlety is the correct one, and I thank you for taking the time.

[Didace]

I'm a long way from trying to edit others photos, and in any case I have no idea what to do here, but I keep trying to focus on the front tree on the island (it is an island, isn't it?) and it just fades away into the background as you go up. It seems like the similar colors plus the snow on the branches both on it and in the back make it difficult to focus my eye on the tree. Nothing you can do now but perhaps a change of view point would have been beneficial.

[Mike Buckley]

I keep trying to focus on the front tree

For me, the subject is the bridge, not the tree. That's one of the reasons my version darkened the tree.

[kdoc856]

I see what you mean, Didace, that is certainly valid. I think John tried to address it by keeping the foreground sharp and the background blurred; I tried to to separate them by locally increasing the exposure of the foreground tree relative to the ones behind. You have pointed out one of the real challenges of photographing trees- they all seem to merge unless there is real separation and isolation. Can be very tough to do, and the compromises aren't always completely satisfactory- I think this shot is one of those. Thanks much for taking the time to view and comment. You have a good eye.

[rpcrowe]

I love an image like this that has multiple images within it. Here's my try...

[Kathy O]

I like the softer color edit but prefer the original crop. This is a very welcoming photo!!

[Lon Howard]

Beautiful shot, Kevin! I liked Richard's tighter crop to keep my attention from wandering from the bridge. Otherwise, just darkened the yellows. Thanks for posting.

I love copying other people's ideas

[cthermans]

I like the orginal picture and the snow looks great, so often snow comes out looking grey and for me the bridge is what I noticed first. At this time of the year all the different greens are great to see.

[kdoc856]

Thanks all. It's so interesting to see how differently people interpret. I like the tight crop in its emphasis on the island, but it does lose the communication that it is an island. One of the reasons I composed it as I did was to include the smaller bridge to the left, and to include the surrounding water all around. All these versions are valid, and quite fun for me. Thanks to everyone for their opinions and edits.

Cheri: I completely agree that snow can be quite tricky to make white without over-exposing everything else and blowing detail. I use ETTR very carefully for snow shots, and check the histogram and blinkie alerts till I'm right at the edge. They look like the dickens when I first upload them, but are fun (albeit time-consuming) to rachet back down. I'm glad this worked for you

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Hi,
A bridge,even a small Japanese one could be a link between something and ...something ,i.e. between something real and something unreal.So lasso tool on the upper part,then Ctrl J for a copy,then,Filter-Blur-Smart blur.Here a window is opened.We put Quality at High and Mode at Overlay Edge.The sliders move to 25 for radius and threshold to a value as your taste i.e 30.

Then Create a new layer-Color to modify the colours of this new background.
Be A happy Year!