Pictures in Corwall

[LouiseTopp]

This is some shots of Cornwall, how can they be improved please? Many thanks.

[Viana]

Have these been processed already? They look a bit overcooked.

If so, can you post the SOOC?

[Nicola]

hi Louise
it's a nice serie of pic
anyway I suggest to post a pic per post in order to recieve more accurate feedback.
in my humble opinion, the first weak point is the light metering on the first and (above all) the second picture: the sky is completely burned out, only the vignetting of your lens let the blue sky appear.
This was a very difficult subject, I know. The ways you have to avoid this kind of problem are:
- make the choice of what is your main subject, expose to it and then compose to it. cut everything else isn't the subject and is over/under exposed
- wear an gradual ND filter on your lens to "darken" the sky
- make an HDR shot
I think that in your 2nd picture you have to choose your subject: if the coast, cut away the sky and even a bit of the sea (and underexpose a bit to don't clip the white waves)
I've written too many points... hope I haven't confused you
hope this helps...
keep on shooting!
cheers
Nicola

[Geoff F]

Well the third one looks good, Louise.

But as Nicola said they are tricky shots. Your basic white balance seems a bit off so they tend to have something of a colour cast. But at the moment we don't know if it was shot that way or this is the result of editing problems.

Details of the original camera settings would help.

But with regard to what we have here, I suggest that a little bit of colour correction would work wonders.

[Donald]

Louise

I think the second one is definite no-hoper. It's too far gone.

I note the comments made by the other guys. So, with those accepted as good advice, I think you've got the makings of a good image with third one. I think the crop works pretty well. The one thing to maybe re-think is just exactly where in the image the horizon should sit. Given the picture that you have, it may be that there's not a lot can be done about it. I think that, instead, it's maybe one that could have done with a bit more thinking through at the time of capture, so that you'd retain that foreground beach detail, but still get the horizon closer to the 'rule of thirds' horizontal. That might have entailed you getting down much lower. Lying flat on your stomach to get an image is always good for attracting attention!

With the interior shot, I think if you weren't going to do a perspective correction, you'd need a rotation to balance up the uprights. It's leaning to the right.

But the other point is that for something like this I think you have to be patient, in order to get the right image. In this one you've got someone just on their way out. I think you needed to wait until she had left before pressing the shutter.

[FrankMi]

Hi Louise, all four images have there own merits, what area are you looking to improve? Composition, technical shooting aspects, post processing, other?

It'll help us to provide you with approppriate feedback for your skill level if we know what you want to work on.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Louise,

The first looks like you have used a grad ND filter (or sunglasses?) when you shouldn't have and on the second; you haven't, when you should

I cannot see any EXIF data, but the focal length looks wide and most have barrell distortion, causing a very slightly sloping horizon to also be bowed up in the middle.

#3 is my favourite, it definitely has potential, but the composition is too central and there perhaps needs to be fore or mid ground point of interest, the waves may do though. With the wave shape as it is, I'd have liked it shot a little further left, with sun towards right more.

HTH,

[GrahamH]

I absolutely love the potential of the first shot. I personally think the best thing to improve them is to mail me the airfare and we can walk around the area together. Always helps to have someone to bouce ideas off. I promise to be quiet so you can bounce as many ideas as possible, just get me over there.

BUT on the offchance that DOESN'T happen, I would have taken two (or more) shots of the first location. I personally feel grad ND filter wouldn't work due to the extreme contour. So with a well exposed sky, wouldn't take me more than a few minutes to replace the sky onto the well exposed rocks.
Stick a couple of people into the water for human interest, and you've got a great shot.

Graham (also willing to go for a swim to help out)

[LouiseTopp]

Have these been processed already? They look a bit overcooked.

If so, can you post the SOOC?

What is the SOOC please?

[Donald]

What is the SOOC please?

Louise

It means 'Straight Out Of Camera'. In other words, posting up a copy of the image as it came out of the camera, before you did any post-processing.

Unfortunately we all fall in to these bad habits of using jargon and acronyms and assume everyone else knows what we're talking about.

[LouiseTopp]

hi Louise
it's a nice serie of pic
anyway I suggest to post a pic per post in order to recieve more accurate feedback.
in my humble opinion, the first weak point is the light metering on the first and (above all) the second picture: the sky is completely burned out, only the vignetting of your lens let the blue sky appear.
This was a very difficult subject, I know. The ways you have to avoid this kind of problem are:
- make the choice of what is your main subject, expose to it and then compose to it. cut everything else isn't the subject and is over/under exposed
- wear an gradual ND filter on your lens to "darken" the sky
- make an HDR shot
I think that in your 2nd picture you have to choose your subject: if the coast, cut away the sky and even a bit of the sea (and underexpose a bit to don't clip the white waves)
I've written too many points... hope I haven't confused you
hope this helps...
keep on shooting!
cheers
Nicola

Hi thanks for your input Nicola. i shot these with a compact camera, but i am hoping to change my old banger for an slr which dpes have the HDR option on. Many thanks.

[LouiseTopp]

Louise

I think the second one is definite no-hoper. It's too far gone.

I note the comments made by the other guys. So, with those accepted as good advice, I think you've got the makings of a good image with third one. I think the crop works pretty well. The one thing to maybe re-think is just exactly where in the image the horizon should sit. Given the picture that you have, it may be that there's not a lot can be done about it. I think that, instead, it's maybe one that could have done with a bit more thinking through at the time of capture, so that you'd retain that foreground beach detail, but still get the horizon closer to the 'rule of thirds' horizontal. That might have entailed you getting down much lower. Lying flat on your stomach to get an image is always good for attracting attention!

With the interior shot, I think if you weren't going to do a perspective correction, you'd need a rotation to balance up the uprights. It's leaning to the right.

But the other point is that for something like this I think you have to be patient, in order to get the right image. In this one you've got someone just on their way out. I think you needed to wait until she had left before pressing the shutter.

Thanks very much. I just looked at your Scottish pictures, they are brillient. i have never been to Scotland before and hear its very pretty. I need all the advice I can get about taking photo's, hope to upgrade my old banger compact to a digital SLR very soon

[Viana]

What is the SOOC please?

Oooops! Sorry, Louise. I live by acronyms.

It means: Straight Out Of Camera, not edited.

I noticed that you labeled each of your pix as edited.

PS—If you ever want to know what an acronym means, just google it. I do that with the ones the kids use for texting all the time.

As everyone said, you photos have real potential. I just wanted to see the originals and try to assist you with PSP (post shoot processing.)

[LouiseTopp]

Oooops! Sorry, Louise. I live by acronyms.

It means: Straight Out Of Camera, not edited.

I noticed that you labeled each of your pix as edited.

PS—If you ever want to know what an acronym means, just google it. I do that with the ones the kids use for texting all the time.

As everyone said, you photos have real potential. I just wanted to see the originals and try to assist you with PSP (post shoot processing.)

Hi I cleaned them up using Google Picassa

[Viana]

Hi I cleaned them up using Google Picassa

Can you post the originals?

[Nicola]

you're welcome Louise!
keep on shooting and sharing on C. in C. forum!
and take a look at the CiC tutorials about HDR(high dynamic range)
photography if you have time. it is a post processing technique in photoshop, you only need at least 3 pictures captured with 3 different exposure values...
have a nice day
Nicola