C&C Octopus

[TommyGuido]

Looking to expand my knowledge and just starting to feel my way around image processing. I entered this shot in one of the mini competitions as well to see where I stand in the group. Apparently good.

I am using a MacBook Pro and LR4. I really didnt do much except manipulate a few of the basic setting.
I did crop out a bit of the coral from the image. Because of the actual condition of some of the coral in the immediate area, some of it doesnt look quite nice and I did not know how to do anything with it except crop some of it out.

I do like the look of the octopus though, kind of reminds me of 'Kilroy is watching' drawings from World War Two

Since I am new at attempting image manipulation, any comments/suggestions on additional tweaks I could have done to refine it more.

[Bobobird]

Great image. The Kilroy look is great.

2 points -
the front rock is a bit too bright and is pulling for attention.
the eye - perhaps selectively brighten and sharpen it a bit.

[TommyGuido]

the front rock is a bit too bright and is pulling for attention.
the eye - perhaps selectively brighten and sharpen it a bit.

Is there a certain tool or plugin I am supposed to use if I only want to make an adjustment to just a portion of the entire image as you suggest?

[Donald]

Is there a certain tool or plugin I am supposed to use if I only want to make an adjustment to just a portion of the entire image as you suggest?

Tom - See my post on your Koh Haa thread about layer masks.

[ktuli]

Tom,

I have to agree with the other comments here. That rock in the front is far too large and bright. Given your subject - which are cryptic and usually hiding to begin with - you need to find a way to really pull them out of the image and separate them from the background. For a diver, it is easy to pick out what is what here, but for a non-diver I am sure this image would take a few seconds to figure out what they were looking at (if at all).

This shot reminds me of a shot I shared here (#3). Getting the octopus to occupy the majority of the frame is one major thing you have to aim for with a shot like this, so I would recommend cropping more of that coral in the front.

Definitely look into Donald's layer mask stuff. I tend to use that kind of stuff very sparingly (I'm not a huge fan of PP work), but it is definitely worth learning and having in your toolbox.

- Bill

[Steve S]

Another nice image tom. Adjusted the colors, saturation, contrast, sharpening, and added a couple vignettes to help draw the eye to the octopus.