The toughest jump

[andrewaxford]

Hi i have been trying my pp skills(?) on this image and need some C+C. I some times wonder if by trying to get high impact images i end up over doing it?
Thanks Andrew

[pnodrog]

Andrew it has great perspective and is a photo worthy of PP attention. It looks as though you have lightened the rider and parts of the scene by dodging. I find often after dodging with it set to mid tones I need to go over the area and burn in the shadows a bit to restore local contrast. The rider parts of the horse and the top of the fence might be improved by burning with the burn tool set to shadows and about 8% transparency. You may need to go over it a couple of times but you will have more control if you do it gradually.

There are of course many other ways of achieving/restoring the local contrast and the best approach will depend on how you did your initial pp.

[Geoff F]

I suppose, Andrew, we really need to see the original to make a comparison.

As far as I can tell from this edit; the rear end of the horse is crisp and well exposed but the head, and everything else to the left, seems somewhat soft and more pastel in colour.

Almost as though you have used a gradient mask going across the scene to add some LCE or something similar.

[andrewaxford]

Thanks Lpaul that was exactly what i had done. I have been back over those areas and applied a bit of burn shadows and it has made those areas look better i think.
Thank you

Geoff i dont know what a gradient mask is but i have tried to do a local contrast adjustment and then masked out the rest of the picture on the version i have just posted. I think it seems to bring that side of the picture sharper.
Thanks
Andrew

[pnodrog]

Much better - it did not really matter for the tree as it looked a bit like mist but the rider now has black boots and the bridle looks better.