Latest Travels

[Toddyh]

Just thought I'd share a couple of images from my latest travels to the Victorian High Country.

[Toddyh]

Edited the above on my phone. Had another go on the computer for (I think) better results.

[seaslug]

Very relaxing. That last shot's a beauty!

[Alan]

Looks like a hard life . Enjoy before it gets a bit chilly.

Processing on #3 gives it a bit more life - but also looks slightly over cooked in the shadows - I like the sky - maybe somewhere between?

I'd also consider cropping a bit off the bottom?( and in #1 also plus some off the top too for a more pano feel)

Cheers

[Toddyh]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions guys.
How's this?

[Alan]

I think the first one was better the way it was?

I prefer the crop on the second one.

Hope you don't mind, but I had a play to try to coax out some more detail.

Too many adjustments to list, but Shadows and Highlights, curves, reduce saturation in the blues, cyans and reds, dodge and burn. Slight 'Soft Light' Layer, slight Gaussian Blur around the edges.

Might be too much

Looks like a nice spot - I didn't notice the dog before

[Toddyh]

Thanks Alan. It looks good but seems to have lost some authenticity if you know what I mean.
Would still like to know exactly what you did if you don't mind.

[Alan]

I do know what you mean - but also consider that the human eye compensates for varying/contrasting light levels and I suspect your first photo may not represent exactly the light levels you remember? I was just trying to address the unbalance in what the camera captured as to what it looked like at the time.

I can't remember all the micro adjustments, but the major ones were what I described. I did duplicate the layer and selected only the foreground and mid ground to work on, as I thought the sky was fine. After various adjustments to saturation, shadows, brightness, contrast and dodge and burn , I then gradually erased parts of the top layer on the boundary with the sky to soften the transition.

Users of Light room would have found it easier with adjustment brushes I'm sure.

Cheers

[Toddyh]

Thanks for that Alan. I have Lightroom 5 but am fairly new to adjustment brushes. Might have a play later.
I've also just noticed that the image appears darker on the internet browser than in Lightroom or in photo viewer. Is that common/normal?

[Toddyh]

Had a quick play with the brush

[Alan]

Better - still looks way too saturated and blue (and dark in the FG) on my monitor. The sky is nice, but I think the people are also important elements in this photo, and as such, need to stand out more imho

Would be good to get some other feedback/comments/suggestions.

Thanks for having a go

ps not sure why it appears darker on your/my Browser sorry. I've heard that others have had that problem too. Have you tried linking from another site eg Flickr

[Toddyh]

Here's the same as above but from photobucket.


and just to make it easy to compare, the one from the post above




I don't think it's the host site making the picture seem darker. Must just be the browser.
Thanks Alan for all the advice and suggestions.

[Alan]

They look identical to me

[Toddyh]

And the final draft

[Alan]

Reds still look overdone - but otherwise looks much better on my monitor. Did you try a bit of subtle dodging of mid-tones on things like the logs, people/dog, grass, fire place?

One can fiddle forever

Would be nice to get a few more comments/suggestions - the trouble with so few active members . It does make posting something a rather fruitless exercise

[Isac]

As promised - I hope you don't mind. I used the freebie Lightroom opposition called LIGHTZONE.

[Toddyh]

Thanks for having a go ISAC. Seem to have lost some of the colour?

[Isac]

On my monitor it looks OK but every monitor looks different. Here's the edit with Lightzone which is adjusted using the sliders - real easy to give a colour boost.

[Toddyh]

Is that a free program? Possibly worth a look

[Isac]

All Freeeee !!! You have to register before you download, but it's a super program - try it here.