Cottage 2, Couldn't resist going back,

[JemC]

Hi all,
I could not resist going back and trying again under different conditions (against better judgement i might add), also took it from a different viewpoint than last time as well as shooting in RAW,
I don't think i have done to bad however the white part of the cottage is not quite right but was at a loss as to how to adjust that as i am still learning photoshop, not mastered the resizing thing yet either
Please all C+C is welcome as i find this an invaluable part of learning
hope you like it

[dje]

Hi James

For a start, you had much better weather this time ! I think this image is of a higher quality than the last, sharpness and detail are much better IMO. However I think you've over-done the colour saturation. IMO the water and that small section of light green grass on the shore are way over-saturated and the trees could be wound back a bit also. I think the composition is OK but others may have some thoughts on that.

It's got the makings of a very nice image with a bit more work on the pp.

Cheers Dave

[stg]

A stripe of land between two bodies of blue is too much info in this case. Cropping the sky gives a more interesting composition. And I detect human presence near the house, which is a bit distracting. I suggest you clone this out.

[shreds]

It is a gorgeous view although I tend to agree that it is oversaturated. I might try taking out all but a very thin strip of sky and water and frame from the left hand side, cloning out the orange figure etc at the same time and making the house the main subject 'buried' in the great depth of trees?
Only my thoughts.....

[FrankMi]

Hi James, I'm glad to see that you went back and shot again. A subject like this can stand to be explored more than once as you perfect the view that you want to communicate. If the building is to be the subject, then I feel it needs more prominance in the composition. If the lake is the subject, then you may want to explore having some of the close shoreline included to give a sense of depth.

[JemC]

Hi
Ok, have made a couple of adjustments, lessened the saturation, cropped out the sky and some of the water, also cropped a little more off the left hand side, also resized the image i think!
thoughts and critique good or bad please

[Geoff F]

Personally, James, I don't think there is a lot wrong with the first example and I prefer it to your second attempt.

Yes there is a little over saturation in places and possibly a little too much water so a slight crop of the bottom and right side would be worth trying.

But I think you have overdone everything in the second image.

I would try the saturation variation on an adjustment layer plus mask so that the effects could be selectively applied.

Alternatively create a duplicate layer and set the blend mode to Soft Light or Overlay at around 50% opacity (or a little less) then possibly add a mask and adjust this to give a selective enhancement. I suspect this may give a 'softer' result than just excessively increasing the saturation

It is really just the water and narrow strip of bank which is the main problem, as others have pointed out.

And one very small point which irritates me is the two tiny white specks in the water towards the right side bank. Possibly birds on the bank and water. I would definitely clone that away.

[stg]

James, hi again. I think you have to choose between the sky and the water and since the latter is more interesting (plus it probably gives us the reason why this cottage is there), the sky has to go. Check this version below in which sky has gone, frame got a more "squarely" shape by cropping the right side a little, saturated blue was tamed by adding some red and a little Hard Light applied to the trees for more vivid colors. Also, I simply smudged humans out of view.



EDIT - What's this tiny blue strip doing in upper left corner? Arrrggghhhh...

[shreds]

James,

I think you have got it just about spot on here. The water is much more realistic for the 'blueness', (it is never azure in Britain due to our weather), but everyone will see it slightly differently even on the same calibrated monitor, so make it 'right' for you. Its the only way!

[JemC]

Hi Steve
I like what you have done with it, Thanks
I must say though this photography thing really makes you use your brain so much involved and such a steep learning curve with some of it, but i think that is what makes it fun and interesting, one day, maybe i will master it and photoshop...

Regards James
ps thanks to everyone else for their views.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi James,

As Ian says, in many ways the second is better, but there's something going wrong in your workflow with sharpening, not a quick fix if you're still finding your way around as we don't know what you're doing and describing it takes ages and the order of doing things is important, but hang in there and we'll get you through it.

Did you want to describe what you did from opening the RAW? (if you can remember)

Cheers,

[MrB]

James, this looks an idyllic place to stay. The cottage appears to be an interesting building for another photo variation - a medium (100 - 200) telephoto shot, possibly something like this -



It would be wonderful if it could be photographed in the morning (or evening, depending on the position of the sun), on a completely calm day to capture its perfect reflection in the lake, and with vertical wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys.

Philip

[arith]

Its a close thing to get it right, but I think a bit closer with regard to composition, and a little desaturation of the water.

[JemC]

Hi Dave
sorry to say i have no idea what i did, it was kind of like a kid with new toy...press this press that, i wonder what that does moment.
lesson learned from it though,need to pay more attention to what i'm doing
there will be lots of other images coming this way over the months that i'm sure i will need assistance with.

Regards
James

[Geoff F]

I think there are really two different photos from this scene.

One which concentrates on the house and another which is a general autumn shot. In the latter instance I quite like the sky being visible and with the house just playing an ancillary role to all that rich foliage colour.

The only problem with the overall scene is those branches in the top left corner. But I think those could be 'pruned' without too much difficulty.

But we really need the original straight from the camera shot to work with. It is so difficult to do corrective work over previous 'enhancements'.

[Dave Humphries]

sorry to say i have no idea what i did, it was kind of like a kid with new toy...press this press that, i wonder what that does moment.
lesson learned from it though,need to pay more attention to what i'm doing

Understood

When you're ready, start here; Overview: Digital Photo Editing Workflow

Cheers,

[JemC]

Hi all

Really appreciate all the advice,help and tips,
Dave, thanks for that link,
Geoff, this is the original, dull and lifeless really....

[Geoff F]

James, I've had a quick play around with your original and I would do something like this to create a general autumn scene.



The main item here was to create a duplicate copy and set the Blend Mode to Soft Light with a slight reduction in opacity. In this case I thought that using Overlay Mode was a little too harsh.

Then a few slight tweaks with Curves and a bit of selective sharpening.