Project 52 by George (geoz)

[Geoff F]

All work fine, George.

Crowds are usually just an annoyance for photographers but you have managed to nicely include them in the first two images.

[geoz]

All work fine, George.

Crowds are usually just an annoyance for photographers but you have managed to nicely include them in the first two images.

Thanks Geoff. It was reasonably crowded. I can only imagine what it's like at the peak of the season. I've got a couple more that I think are interesting and will post them in a separate thread.

[geoz]

Missed a week so this will turn into Project 52+. A couple from Sainte Chapelle since it's Easter.

This is severely distorted since the walls are flat but I sort of like it. I took a panorama holding the camera high to avoid the crowd.




This is a pretty standard shot.



C&C very welcome.

[geoz]

Here's as series of the donjon (keep) at the Chateau de Vincennes which was built in the 14 century. It has an interesting history including the place where the English King Henry 5 died. It was a heavy overcast day so I think the original is a bit flat. The first is out of the box, the rest are attempts at enhancing it with LR4. Appreciate your C&C and suggestions.

George
1


2 Cropped, sharpened.


3 Sky with the exposure lowered


4 Sepia and vignette

[Geoff F]

With that scene, George, I wonder if you could get away with a selection/mask and actually change the sky.

#3 has a better sky but I wonder if the image might take a fraction more highlight brightness; possibly selectively applied, mostly to the castle. Or a little LCE. Also, there is a little bit of a smudge on the bell assembly when viewed at full size.

And would B&W look better than sepia?

The basic shot is clean and clear enough to take a little more experimental tweaking.

[geoz]

With that scene, George, I wonder if you could get away with a selection/mask and actually change the sky.

#3 has a better sky but I wonder if the image might take a fraction more highlight brightness; possibly selectively applied, mostly to the castle. Or a little LCE. Also, there is a little bit of a smudge on the bell assembly when viewed at full size.

And would B&W look better than sepia?

The basic shot is clean and clear enough to take a little more experimental tweaking.

Thanks for the feedback Geoff. I took this pic as a challenge to see what I can do with it. I'll follow up with your suggestion to mask and change the sky. Up until now I have just be using LR4 which doesn't do masking/layering so i picked up PSE11. Now I need to learn how to use it. Once I figure it out I'll upload a version with clouds. Here it looks in B&W.

[Geoff F]

As an example, I had a quick play around with a similar scene here

Day out of the office

And we discussed similar methods in this post.

Gaussian Blur in Photoshop Elements 9

Don't worry if you initially make a mess of this sort of thing; just regard it as a bit of fun and you will gradually gain in experience.

And once you become proficient in using layers and masks etc you will wonder how you managed without them.

[geoz]

As an example, I had a quick play around with a similar scene here

Day out of the office

And we discussed similar methods in this post.

Gaussian Blur in Photoshop Elements 9

Don't worry if you initially make a mess of this sort of thing; just regard it as a bit of fun and you will gradually gain in experience.

And once you become proficient in using layers and masks etc you will wonder how you managed without them.

Thanks Geoff, This is what I'm trying to do.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a Photoshop Elements tutorial? I've just gotten used to LR4 and now have fallen into another rabbit hole where things are curiouser and curiouser

[Geoff F]

Start with the CinC tutorials to give a good basic grounding in most subjects then try here

http://ronbigelow.com/articles/selec...lections-1.htm

That is the Selections/Masks tutorial in 5 volumes but there is a lot of other information on the site. It does tend to quickly get involved and complicated though. But eventually worth the struggle.

Some parts were written for earlier software but the basics are mostly identical to the latest Elements versions.

[geoz]

Here's the donjon again after work in PSE11. Maybe a bit overdramatic. Thanks to Geoff for his suggestions. Now I've got some learning to do. C&C welcome.

[Cantab]

Yes, a dramatic shot--quite a change in appearance from the original version. I'm undecided whether the bright edge on some of the clouds detracts from the architecture but overall I think it works well.

[Geoff F]

That is the right idea, George. Well done.

Possibly the cloud highlights are a bit bright; but I can't be sure on this monitor.

But what about the flagpole? A tricky job to retain it and it didn't really add anything important.

[geoz]

Thanks Bruce and Geoff,

I agree that the cloud is too bright, especially on the right side. I did quick search through my pics for clouds and found this one.

I tried to get the flagpole but it wasn't easy so gave up for now. I need more practice with PSE11. Since LR5 beta has come out I'm going to switch gears a see what it has and will probably come back to this pic in the future.

[Brownbear]

Lovely photos George.. Although I don't always comment I very much enjoy viewing all your photos.

[geoz]

Lovely photos George.. Although I don't always comment I very much enjoy viewing all your photos.

Thanks Christina, glad you like them and do appreciate your feedback. I do the same, there are a lot of great pictures here including the ones in your threads.

[geoz]

Cityrail somewhere between Paris and Brussels. There was a bit of a reddish spot in the upper right corner from a window reflection that I removed using the Advanced Healing Brush in LR5 Beta. 1/100 sec at f/4.0, ISO 125. C&C welcome.

[Cantab]

An interesting study in horizontal lines. Was your train moving when you took the photo?

[Brownbear]

I like the photo for the composition, sense of movement and the lines (even though the lines include power lines)..

[geoz]

Thanks Bruce, Christina.

Glad you like it.

My train was moving. The one you see was parked. When I saw the original I thought it was a throw away since there was lot of reflection on the window from the light inside my train. I cut about half of it away. Then the more I looked at it the more I liked the sense of repetition in the different parts of the image.

[geoz]

A couple from the Meadowlands Environmental Center this week, about 7 miles (10km) from lower Manhattan. C&C welcome.

First, a bunny, I know it's out of focus -- but high on the cuteness scale.



Reeds



A pier that was damaged by hurricane Sandy.