Landscape shot C&C

Wailin

Lads I know there's been some interest in a C&C thread and I would be interested also for helpful advice and tips. Anyway, this recent photo I took is one I'd like some thoughts on. Nothing special to be honest but I do like it. The thing that I'm wondering about is the bright area in the sky (and water). Would you clone this out to get a more balanced tone throughout the image or leave as is? Another photographer did mention the unbalance but personally I think it adds to the image...after all, it is how it was seen! Cheers.

magicbastarder

i think it passes the first test (well, my first test) on these sort of landscapes - if you can see the strings, it's a big thumbs down. any dodging and burning (if present) does not show any obvious haloing.

uck51js9zml2yt

Nice phot. Where is it?
The white pulls your eye up instead of into the photo.
Perhaps a bit of burning to tone the white down?

magicbastarder

actually, it may just be an optical illusion, but the horizon seems ever so slightly rotated clockwise.

Wailin

magicbastarder wrote: »

actually, it may just be an optical illusion, but the horizon seems ever so slightly rotated clockwise.

Nothing ruins a landscape shot more than halos and visible signs of dodge and burn, so totally agree with you there.

I thought that too with the horizon but the jut of land on the right was much closer than left and curved. Using the ruler tool actually rotates it even more clockwise!

Wailin

Jayda Howling Vegetarianism wrote: »

Nice phot. Where is it?
The white pulls your eye up instead of into the photo.
Perhaps a bit of burning to tone the white down?

Upper lake, Killarney. Brought the camera on a recent family holiday....wife was ecstatic!

Never thought of toning down the brightness, only cloning it out. Thanks I'll give it a go and see how it looks.

The_Gatsby

magicbastarder wrote: »

i think it passes the first test (well, my first test) on these sort of landscapes - if you can see the strings, it's a big thumbs down.

What does see the strings mean?

magicbastarder

if you can see obvious signs of post-processing, like halo-ing from dodging and burning - it's quite common to see them and is a big turn-off (for me, at least). a well processed photo is one that is not obvious that it's been processed.

Myksyk

Nice shot. Might look four-quadrant-uber-symmetrical if it was cropped from the left so that cloud line in the sky was dead centre?

Wailin

Thanks Myksyk. Like this?

Myksyk

Yup. Cool. Very unusual ... and messes with my head much more!

CabanSail

It is a nice shot. To my eye it was a bit too central and lacked a bit of contrast. Have added some contrast and cropped but I hope retained the natural feel of the shot.

Checked before posting an edit. This is from a screen grab, working from RAW would be better.

Wailin

Thanks Cabansail. Strong contrast, a tad too much for my taste but my version did need more (but as you stated, raw version would look much cleaner). I do like the crop and change in perspective. I normally have the horizon in the upper third like that, (rule of thirds an all that!) but I did like the "mirror" type look in the original. Looking at them now, I prefer your crop. More lift and vibrance looks better definitely, and again, raw would be far cleaner. Thanks for the input .

CabanSail

Can easily drop the levels a bit but this was working from a screen grab. Moved the horizon up as that reflection is very nice and the valley in the distance works to centre the attention.

CabanSail

After access to the original.

Wailin

That's really nice Cabansail. Much more interesting with the crop compared to the 50/50 horizon in the original. More contrast, light and vibrance makes a big difference too. Cheers for that.

uck51js9zml2yt

I think photo of the week should be shared with W & C

Wailin

:pac::D