2016 Project 52, 2nd quarter by Judith Noble (Urbanflyer) C & C desired always

Week 17--Joshua Tree National Park--more practice at PP

This is a cell phone photo. In the original the compositional problem I saw was that the rock on the far left was too close to the eyed rock which was my focus. In addition the branches that poked out from the left rock were a distraction. There were minor issues with tones as well.

Original SOOC

http://i68.tinypic.com/2hg68sm.jpg

Image after PP

http://i63.tinypic.com/14wygi0.jpg

This is an interesting piece of experiment you are doing with your project. The texture and shadows improved with pp.

Good job! You seem to have created space between the dinasor rock and the rock in the left, almost as if you changed your pov!

Nicely captured and composed.

Hi Judith,

Yes, that's a good call on the compositional aspect and generally*, its implementation.
* There's a minor issue with a 'sawtooth edge' down in the brush on the left.
I guess like the observer of someone painting a wall, I should "Oi, you missed a bit" :D


With regard to the tones adjustments, I now see, especially over on the top half of right hand side, in front of the large rock, a darkened halo just inside the edge of the image, which looks odd to me.

HTH, Dave

PS
Good pics from your cell phone!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dave Humphries

Hi Judith,

Yes, that's a good call on the compositional aspect and generally*, its implementation.
* There's a minor issue with a 'sawtooth edge' down in the brush on the left.
I guess like the observer of someone painting a wall, I should "Oi, you missed a bit" :D

I think you are right. I will correct it this evening. It is a bit lost in the brush.


With regard to the tones adjustments, I now see, especially over on the top half of right hand side, in front of the large rock, a darkened halo just inside the edge of the image, which looks odd to me.

I am not seeing it yet but will look again this evening. I appreciate your close inspection! Really!

HTH, Dave

PS
Good pics from your cell phone!

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Thanks Joe, yes--if I had seen the issue at the time I could have stepped over right three steps and not had to make corrections!

corrected the edit Dave pointed out. I am not seeing the halo. Feel free to post a copy that points it out.

http://i64.tinypic.com/27yzv6b.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Urbanflyer

I am not seeing the halo. Feel free to post a copy that points it out.

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Sorry Judith, 'halo' was not the best word to use, since you're probably looking at the edge of the rock and it's not there, but on the flat side towards us. And you get 'a thousand words' instead of a picture. :o

If you compare the flat sunlit face of that rock in the top right corner between the SOOC and either edited version (view in LyteBox), I see a dark smudge* across the top touching the top edge of frame and then it goes downward, parallel to, but not touching, the right hand edge of frame. Once you have seen it there, with repeated switching between SOOC and edited image, you'll note the same darkening effect continues down in to the bushes, then goes back along the bottom edge of frame towards the left hand side. It also goes across the sky at the top of frame, but doesn't seem to be present in the left hand side.

* Even 'smudge' isn't the best word to use, since there's no smearing or softening of texture.

To help you imagine what to look for ...
If I were to try to deliberately make this effect, I would use a wide, very soft edged brush and 'burn' the image pixels with about 50% opacity and one stop exposure decrease.

It might be a manually applied vignette (via layer mask?), but then the width of the image was increased (on RHS) after application.

HTH, Dave

PS
Yes, you found and fixed 'the missed bit' :)

Thanks, Dave. Now I see what you were talking about. Will have to go back and see what I did to cause it.

Week 18--Hiking in Death Valley--C and C always welcome

This was taken with my hiking camera--Nikon Coolpix S9700--in the middle of a very bright day. My goal in post-processing was to bring back some of the geologic color lost in the bright sun and to retain the sense of scale while increasing the visibility of the figure. I am getting better at masking as it was necessary to avoid losing the sky and cloud colors while adjusting the earth colors.

Original image

http://i64.tinypic.com/9914bd.jpg

Image after post-processing
http://i65.tinypic.com/2cnuzif.jpg

That edit is working for me, Judith. You have nicely brought out the colours and textures but the scene still looks natural.

The edit looks better Judith, the crop has improved the image a lot :)

Yup, I agree with the others, very nicely done - no "if"s, no "but"s

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geoff F

That edit is working for me, Judith. You have nicely brought out the colours and textures but the scene still looks natural.

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Thanks!

thanks~

thanks much--feeling much more confident with masks

The edit has improved the contrast and the crop has brought the hiker more to the foreground. QED!

Oooohhh......I love this one. Both the edit and the original looks good. And the scene is so simple...

Have been traveling, largely without internet, for the past month. Now that I am home I have some catching up to do!