Project 52 by Bob Murphy

[murfdogg645]

My goal with this project is to try and improve, not only my photography, but myself.

[murfdogg645]

This photo i shot 2 days ago at Sandy Hook, NJ. It is a shot of 2 of the houses on Officer's Row from behind(towards the bay). The sun was setting and the colors looked amazing. Unfourtunatly my photo's didnt look as good. So I spend about an hour in CS5 tweaking the image.



As always comments and advice are welcome.



Bob

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I see what you mean about the colours and the cloud formations looks interesting as well. For me the first thing that stands out is that the horizon isn't level. I find also that the the grassy foreground takes up too much of the photo and a tighter crop might work a bit better.

I'm still learning about post processing but perhaps you could try a gradient type edit to brighten the sky and bring out the colours more while keeping the silhouette effect of the houses in the foreground.

Hope this helps

[Donald]

Following on from Malcolm's comment, the other thing to note is that because of the large amount of grass in the foreground, the houses sit on the half way line - probably the worst place they could be. So, if you were to crop out a significant proportion of the grass, the houses would be lower in the frame, making a much more balanced image.

[allenlennon]

its a great shot, how ever there is a blue outline on the houses.

[Shadowman]

It would help if exif data were included so that I don't make the assumption that you were shooting with a high ISO.
shutter 1/200s, ISO 100 (surprised it was so low), aperture f/10, spot metered, subject distance 3.49m (surprised so close), 55mm lens on Canon EOS T1i.


I assume this was shot with the 18-55mm kit lens which are usually pretty good lenses and most of the photo should have been sharp at that aperture. So I am wondering if this is a crop of a larger image that you enlarged?

[ScoutR]

Hi Bob. Very striking colours in your sunset. As already mentioned straightening the horizon and cropping a bit from the bottom will greatly improve the shot.

I'm interested in the blue fringe around the houses. I think it is Chromatic Aberration caused by the contrast between the bright sky and dark houses. The reason I'm interested is because I have this issue on every sunset shot that I've taken. I think in this photo it is so dramatic and intense that it actually gives an otherworldly effect and for that reason I kind of like it, BUT when push comes to shove it's still an aberration so it's something you might want to read about. Here is a link from the CiC tutorials that might help and if you do a google search you will find lots of information, and perhaps the technical people here at CiC might come in with more info. Aside from the camera and lens itself naturally causing the issue, I believe exposure has a lot to do with it also. If I can find more info I will post it.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...orrections.htm

Another think I might try to fix on this shot are the bright spots around the left roof of the building on the right. You should be able to do this by making a selection around that area of the roof, inverting the selection and then using the cloning tool to even out the bright spots. Of course I could be all wrong about the bright spot being a problem, it's one of those personal choice things, but there is something about it that just doesn't look right to me.

All in all though beautiful colours and good idea to have the buildings in silhouette. Hope you have time to do a bit more tweaking. I'd love to see this with some of the edits.

Wendy

[murfdogg645]

It would help if exif data were included so that I don't make the assumption that you were shooting with a high ISO.
shutter 1/200s, ISO 100 (surprised it was so low), aperture f/10, spot metered, subject distance 3.49m (surprised so close), 55mm lens on Canon EOS T1i.


I assume this was shot with the 18-55mm kit lens which are usually pretty good lenses and most of the photo should have been sharp at that aperture. So I am wondering if this is a crop of a larger image that you enlarged?

The original image was much larger. But it had a small tree in the image and also another one of the other houses. I cropped the other house out because i felt it just didn't look right. I'm planning to take another trip out there in the next few weeks and I'm absolutely gonna reshoot this image using a tripod, and possibly going to attempt and HDR.

Thanks for the advice.

[Shadowman]

The original image was much larger. But it had a small tree in the image and also another one of the other houses. I cropped the other house out because i felt it just didn't look right. I'm planning to take another trip out there in the next few weeks and I'm absolutely gonna reshoot this image using a tripod, and possibly going to attempt and HDR.

Thanks for the advice.

Is there a chance we can see the original without cropping, either with or without post processing?

[murfdogg645]

Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/40
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
Metering Mode Spot Metering
ISO Speed 100
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Focal Length 55.0mm
Image Size 4752x3168
Image Quality RAW

[Dave Humphries]

The original image was much larger. But it had a small tree in the image and also another one of the other houses. I cropped the other house out because i felt it just didn't look right. I'm planning to take another trip out there in the next few weeks and I'm absolutely gonna reshoot this image using a tripod, and possibly going to attempt and HDR.

Hi Bob,

The couloured outlines do look like really chronic CA (chromatic abberation), however, I can't believe any lens is this bad and wonder whether, in your hour of playing in CS5, you inadvertently used some inappropriate CA correction on the Lens tab? (And then it got sharpened, which hasn't helped)

Count me as another vote to straighten up and crop.

Cheers,

[Dave Humphries]

Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/40
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
Metering Mode Spot Metering
ISO Speed 100
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Focal Length 55.0mm
Image Size 4752x3168
Image Quality RAW

Hi again Bob,

Is this a significant crop?
I ask because it's really not that sharp and I wondered why the choice of iso, aperture and shutter speed used.
It would stand another half to one stop exposure, which could have been done in ACR/CS5

The aspect ratio suggests you cropped it, but then I wonder why there?
(it is looking out of frame)

Hope that helps,

[murfdogg645]

It's a partial crop, To the left and right behind the seagull were houses that didn't look good in the shot. I was going to adjust the exposure on cs5,but for some reason I never seemed to do it. The reason I use those setting was because that just happened to be what I was shooting at when the bird landed next to me. I got 1 shot and it flew away.

[ScoutR]

Hi Bob, nice pose you managed to get on such short notice. I think if you make the exposure adjustment it will be much better, and then maybe crop the right side to the end of the birds tail so he's not so centred.

Wendy

[Goldcoastgolfer]

It's a partial crop, To the left and right behind the seagull were houses that didn't look good in the shot. I was going to adjust the exposure on cs5,but for some reason I never seemed to do it. The reason I use those setting was because that just happened to be what I was shooting at when the bird landed next to me. I got 1 shot and it flew away.

You did well to get the photo then. I do agree with the others that a bit more post processing is in order to make your subject really stand out.

[Wendy Stanford]

Hi Bob, I agree with the others, I think a crop to make less centered would improve the composition.
For a cropped image it is reasonably clear, the eye is in focus,try a little PP to try and bring the image out a little.

[murfdogg645]

This week i was able to get out for another sunrise shot. decided this week to head down to seaside heights, nj. after i arrived i wasnt very impressed with the colors in the sunrise so i started to shoot anything that happened to catch my eye. out of everyhting i shot that day, this was one of a very few shots that i liked.

C&C welcome.

Bob



Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1.3
Av( Aperture Value ) 9.0
Metering Mode Spot Metering
ISO Speed 100
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Focal Length 55.0mm

[Rob Douglas]

I like the dark tone of this image with the lights highlighting the boards of the bench. Well captured feel of the cold off season Bob.

[murfdogg645]

A shot this morning from shark river inlet.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

This week i was able to get out for another sunrise shot. decided this week to head down to seaside heights, nj. after i arrived i wasnt very impressed with the colors in the sunrise so i started to shoot anything that happened to catch my eye. out of everyhting i shot that day, this was one of a very few shots that i liked.

C&C welcome.

Bob

Looks pretty good Bob. Nicely composed, different textures and tones that make the B&W appealing, and strong lines. The thing I like most is the way you've managed to capture the light that highlights the line of benches all the way to the horizon.

All in all very nice.

The second shot looks interesting but it's a bit small to see the detail. Any chance of a larger version?