1st post - sunrise attempt

[Anne22]

Yesterday I had to drop my daughter at the airport so thought I would attempt some sunrise photos, sadly the sun was a disappointment.

[Anne22]

As you can see I have no idea how to upload photos ...... !!

[Geoff F]

Have a read of this post which should explain everything concisely.

HELP THREAD: How can I post images here?

And don't worry about struggling when first attempting to upload images. It is something which we all encountered. And anybody who says they initially found it easy is either a 'clevercloggs' or a 'stranger to the truth'.

ps. those photos are quite good. If the sun was directly visible it would be too strong.

[FrankMi]

Hi Anne, hoping that I won't offend by my offering feedback, on the first shot having the horizon in the center of the image rarely works well and as there is a more interesting foreground than sky, I would suggest seeing how it looks to you with some of the sky cropped out to put the horizon at closer to the 2/3 point in the image. Nice capture!

The second shot has a really high contrast causing loss of detail in shadows and highlights. If you can do some post processing with layers, make an overexposed copy layer to pick up the detail in the pier and clouds and an underexposed copy layer to pick up some of the detail in the sky. Blend all three images into one, using the best looking parts of each layer. Let me know if you need want more help on how to do that.

Sunrises are surprising in that to get the best colors and textures in the sky, you actually have to take the pictures before the sun is above the horizon!

[Anne22]

Thank you Frank, not offended at all I will chop out some foreground when I get home. Unfortunately for photo 2 I don't own any editing software, I only have what is on iPhoto and that is not much at all! I was trying to get the pillars to stand out and look like silhouettes as they had birds on top, I did crop one but the quality was not that great.

[dje]

Hi Anne

Could I suggest you do follow up on Geoff's advice re posting for these images. They are really a bit small at present. The first one in particular does look promising to me but I would like to see a bigger version.

Is it Shorncliffe pier by the way ?

Cheers Dave

[Anne22]

Hi Dave, it is Shorncliffe Pier. I thought the rules said that the images had to be under a certain size ..... I am too new at this! I will read Geoff's link and try and re-post.

[dje]

Hi Dave, it is Shorncliffe Pier. I thought the rules said that the images had to be under a certain size ..... I am too new at this! I will read Geoff's link and try and re-post.

Ann I think it will re-size it automatically if the file size is too big.

Dave

[Donald]

Ann I think it will re-size it automatically if the file size is too big.

Dave

Yes it will. I generally upload at 1024 pixels on the longest side, but for an image like this you could go to 1500 or 1600. The site will automatically re-size to 700 for the version that goes into your post. But when it (the iamge) is clicked on and opened up in the lightbox, then you get ti at the larger size.

[Anne22]

One last go ! Sorry people ....

[Donald]

One last go ! Sorry people ....

BINGO!

Well done. Now we can really see it.

[Viana]

Yesterday I had to drop my daughter at the airport so thought I would attempt some sunrise photos, sadly the sun was a disappointment.

Actually, the photo had great potential, Anne. I adjusted it in Lightroom to bring out the glow, denoised and added a small star filter in Photoshop.



This is an example. Obviously, if you work on the original you can do much better.

[Anne22]

Thank you Veeahnah ..... what a difference

[dje]

Nice shot Anne. One thing I have found with this sort of shot is that they do benefit from some pp work usually. It's probably because the lighting conditions are difficult to start with. You have got the exposure right though and that's a good start.

I notice you mentioned you didn't have any serious pp software. I was in the same boat when I joined this site and I soon realised that pp software was an essential tool in presenting images in their "best light" so to speak! I'd certainly recommend that you invest in some software.

Here's another slant on pp treatment of your shot. Increased the reds slightly, brought up the shadows a bit, darkened the right hand side of the image in the vicinity of the sun, added extra sharpening and a small amount of tone mapping.

Cheers Dave

[Donald]

Anne

It's good when a couple of people who know what they're doing with post-processing offer you different interpretations of the image. It shows you what the possibilities and options can be.

Clearly, the final image has got to be yours and only your interpretation can stand as your work. But you now can see what is possible and the idea of you thinking about being able to enhance your post-processing skills, is a good one.

[Anne22]

Thank you everyone .... I don't actually need to buy any software .... just post the image here and everyone does the work for me

[dje]

Thank you everyone .... I don't actually need to buy any software .... just post the image here and everyone does the work for me

Sorry, your free introductory offer has expired ! It will cost you bigtime from now on

[joewatt]

HELP THREAD: How can I post images here?

ps. those photos are quite good. If the sun was directly visible it would be too strong.

I heartily agree. I particularly like the first one.

[Anne22]

Sorry, your free introductory offer has expired ! It will cost you bigtime from now on

You will be pleased to know I made a spur of the moment decision and bought Lightroom today - should be delivered in a few days ..... so next week I will drive everyone nuts with my questions on how to work it!

[Donald]

This woman is getting the bug!!!!!