Beauty in the City - C&C please

[Brownbear]

Aperture Priority F9 SS 1/250 ISO 100 Focal length 55 mm

The beauty of the bright colours, patterns, and reflections of an artists 750 sq. foot fishing net caught my attention.

I also photographed this scene closer in with less sky and without the sky but decided that the lines of the net provided a sense of what it was and gave the highrise room to move... However I'm not sure about this composition, and would appreciate feedback on this to help me learn more about composition. I think I need to lose the top right hand corner of the image where the netting fades away?

#1



Question on Processing...

These images were processed in LR, and in the 2nd version I starting experimenting with the the levels tool to adjust the red, blue and green channels individually. I think this made the colours brighter but I also think that this image has a slight purple tinge?

#1A




Rose Coloured Windows

Aperture Priority F9 SS 1/200 ISO 100 Focal length 170 mm

The lines of the buildings, the colours and the possibility of stories in the windows appealed to me.

#2




Question on Post Processing...

The full size images have no clipping in the original or the PSD files. However when I downsize the images to 1200 pixels and apply an unsharp mask (radius .4-.7 at 50 to 100%) seems to introduce a very wee bit of clipping in the images. Is there a way to avoid this clipping when sharpening?


Thank you.

[Mike Buckley]

#1 and #2 are really nice but the first one is really special. Great eye and well executed!

I prefer #1 to #1A because the color balance is more natural. If I was able to successfully clone the net in the top right area, I would do so. Either way, I wouldn't change the composition.

In #2, you've got some glare getting in the way in the purple windows that probably could have been eliminated using a polarizer.

You can always eliminate clipping by adjusting the tone curve. Even so, I would never do so when the only clipping is the result of sharpening. It's very doubtful that any such clipping would ever be noticed. Moral of the story: when the histogram or any other tool indicates a very small amount of clipping, that is not necessarily a bad thing; anything that can't be observed in the image itself is never bad.

EDIT: When communicating with informed photographers, always use the nomenclature, f/9, rather than F9, to indicate the aperture. You always want to be taken seriously and some people, sadly, won't take you seriously if you don't adhere to industry standards. That nomenclature is an industry standard.

[bnnrcn]

Hi christina #1 looks better than #1A and it is a very nice photo

[Brownbear]

Thank you Mike.

Your feedback, as always is very helpful.

Thank you for the feedback on the colour experiment. And yes, I should have a polarizer for all my lens.

The clipping is only seen in the downsized version which I always sharpen in Photoshop, so good to know.

It will be f/9-f/4 etc from this day forward.

Thank you Mike!

#1 and #2 are really nice but the first one is really special. Great eye and well executed!

I prefer #1 to #1A because the color balance is more natural. If I was able to successfully clone the net in the top right area, I would do so. Either way, I wouldn't change the composition.

In #2, you've got some glare getting in the way in the purple windows that probably could have been eliminated using a polarizer.

You can always eliminate clipping by adjusting the tone curve. Even so, I would never do so when the only clipping is the result of sharpening. It's very doubtful that any such clipping would ever be noticed. Moral of the story: when the histogram or any other tool indicates a very small amount of clipping, that is not necessarily a bad thing; anything that can't be observed in the image itself is never bad.

EDIT: When communicating with informed photographers, always use the nomenclature, f/9, rather than F9, to indicate the aperture. You always want to be taken seriously and some people, sadly, won't take you seriously if you don't adhere to industry standards. That nomenclature is an industry standard.

[Shadowman]

#1 preferred over 1A, #2 especially like the colors and pattern.

[deetheturk]

Great images Christina,#1 for me too,the fading of the net does not bother me,well done!

David

[tbob]

The first is superior. The net needs to be white in the areas it currently is as it sets off the colour area.

I tried differing crops, the current is the best.

The apartment (?) towers are also well done as a composition and for colour.

[John 2]

....and no. 1 fro me as well Christina. I wouldn't change the comp one iota. The series of intersecting lines give the comp all the strength it needs. Not sure about no.3 though.

[IzzieK]

#1 for me too Christina....

[Geoff F]

When it comes to editing, Christina, I have never happily got along with using Levels. So I always use Curves which, once you understand it, gives so much more in the way of fine control. Particularly if, when needed, you combine the Curves with an adjustment layer and vary the blend mode etc.

There isn't anything wrong with any of your examples and editing for a personal artistic effect is perfectly acceptable; even if it slightly stretches the real life scene a little.

[Brownbear]

Thank you John, David, Trevor, John 2, Isabel & Geoff for your comments and critiques.

Trevor... It is an apartment building.

Thank you to all for your comments on #1. I think I just tried to crop the image thinking that perhaps a cropped version might be better to focus in more on the idea, so it is nice to know it works as is.

John 2... I agree and indeed I think #3 is a little odd, but I liked the colours and patterns. An experiment and exercise for mountain scenes.

Geoff... Thank you for advising. I always use curves but for some reason I thought I would try out the levels tool for a change - my husband thought the image looked brighter so I thought I should post the image for feedback in case I wasn't seeing something I should. I do know that I like my images to look natural so it is helpful to know that the colours are a bit unreal. PS Two years later, and I finally understand layers and even adjustment layers. Blend modes is on my to learn list.

Thank you to everyone. The feedback has been immensely helpful, and everything all I needed to know about these images and my creative editing foray. Now I am going to move on to my problem mountain scenes.

[Mike Buckley]

FYI: Some apps have the curves tool and the levels tool built into one tool. It is generally considered a best practice to set the black and white points using the levels tool and to fine tune all of the other tonalities using the curves tool. In other words, ideally, both tools should be used whether they are combined in one tool or not.

[Brownbear]

Thank you Mike.

I processed these in Lightroom (except for sharpening), which I believe has levels tool built right into the curves tool. If I try adjusting the individual colours again I will have to study up on this or perhaps I will just try it in Photoshop CC where the tools are separate.

FYI: Some apps have the curves tool and the levels tool built into one tool. It is generally considered a best practice to set the black and white points using the levels tool and to fine tune all of the other tonalities using the curves tool. In other words, ideally, both tools should be used whether they are combined in tone tool or not.

[FootLoose]

I love the first shot, Christina. Beautiful colours and composition. I only wish it was a tad wider on the left to include the point of the net there.

I like the second also for the colours and lines. Perhaps a slight rotation to make the buildings appear vertical (one click of the button in ACR, I have recently discovered)

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christina,

It's all been said already so the only thing I can add is lovely clean sharp images !

Grahame

[Brownbear]

Thank you Greg and Grahame.

Greg

Here is another shot which shows more of the netting on the left. The original includes more on the right hand side, with sky on the side of the building but because the netting in the right hand corner fades away so much I cropped it out.



Grahame

Sharp Great to hear. Thank you.

[Mike Buckley]

The very first photo still works by far the best for me.

[Lightroom] I believe has levels tool built right into the curves tool...perhaps I will just try it in Photoshop CC where the tools are separate.

It doesn't matter whether the two tools are combined into one tool. It only matters that setting the black and white points should be your first edit step after setting your white balance. Your next edit step should be setting your tone curve.

You are correct that Lightroom makes it possible to set the black and white points and the tone curve in one tool. That's at least true if you are using the tool that allows you to set the anchor points in the curve. I don't know about the method of adjusting the curve using sliders.

[Brownbear]

Hi Mike,

Good to know.

Thank you for sharing. I will set these points right after the WB, followed by the tone curve from now on.

I'm using the anchor points.

The very first photo still works by far the best for me.



It doesn't matter whether the two tools are combined into one tool. It only matters that setting the black and white points should be your first edit step after setting your white balance. Your next edit step should be setting your tone curve.

You are correct that Lightroom makes it possible to set the black and white points and the tone curve in one tool. That's at least true if you are using the tool that allows you to set the anchor points in the curve. I don't know about the method of adjusting the curve using sliders.