La casa de los abuelos

[Catalina]

[Donald]

Catalina

Can you give us some information to help us make comment?

What camera were you using? Do you know what the settings were - Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, Metering Mode? All of these contribute to how the picture looks and suggestions fro improvement are going to be consider them.

[Designer]

File name: 34srq1l.jpg
File size: 154823 bytes (640x480, 4.0bpp, 6x)
EXIF Summary: 1/250s f/5.6 ISO100 5mm

Camera-Specific Properties:

Equipment Make: SONY
Camera Model: DSC-P32
Maximum Lens Aperture: f/2.8

Image-Specific Properties:

Image Orientation: Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution: 72 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 72 dpi
Image Created: 2003:04:10 17:26:23
Exposure Time: 1/250 sec
F-Number: f/5.6
Exposure Program: Normal Program
ISO Speed Rating: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Metering Mode: Pattern
Light Source: Unknown
Flash: Flash, Compulsory, Return Not Detected
Focal Length: 5.00 mm
Color Space Information: sRGB
Image Width: 640
Image Height: 480
Rendering: Normal
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Auto
Scene Capture Type: Standard

Other Properties:

Resolution Unit: i
Chrominance Comp Positioning: Co-Sited
Exif IFD Pointer: 256
Compression Scheme: JPEG Compression (Thumbnail)
Equipment Make: SONY
Camera Model: DSC-P32
Image Orientation: Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution: 72 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 72 dpi
Resolution Unit: i
Image Created: 2003:04:10 17:26:23
Offset to JPEG SOI: 2379
Bytes of JPEG Data: 4464
Exif Version: 2.20
Image Generated: 2003:04:10 17:26:23
Image Digitized: 2003:04:10 17:26:23
Meaning of Each Comp: Unknown
Image Compression Mode: 4
File Source: Digital Still Camera
Scene Type: Directly Photographed

[Designer]

Catalina; here is a shot that has mixed blessings. As it is, the shot shows the house in context, which is very nice, but the tree obscures part of the house, so I would move closer to frame the house without so much landscape.

[rpcrowe]

Catalina, this is a very nice record of your grandparents home. However there might be some changes both in the original shooting and the post processing, if any; that I might have made if this were my image. I hope you don't mind these suggestions which are, in fact, only suggestions from one photographer to another.

Shooting:
As far as composition goes, I would have tried to get a bit lower and shot from a little more to the left so that the tree on the right frames the house but doesn't obscure it. I would have tried either to get the boy walking a little earlier so he was walking down the path rather than half of him being obscured by the flowers. Shooting more to the left would also eliminate the area to the right of the tree which, IMO, doesn't add anything to the image...

The date stamp indicates that you are most likely shooting with a P&S camera. Unless you have a valid reason for wanting the date printed on your image, I would turn off the date stamp. I think most P&S cameras have that capability.

Post Processing:
All of my images are post processed to one degree or another. It is very seldom that I get an image straight out of the camera that satisfies me totally. There are expensive and complicated programs to use (such as Photoshop CS6) and less expensive but very powerful programs such as Photoshop Elements. Some of our members seem quite happy using GIMP which is a free download. Often cameras come with some type of editing program...

Simple stuff any program could accomplish without a great deal of operator skill...

That said; this is what I might do in post processing. I am listing this in what I would expect is their order of importance...

1. I would rotate the image just a tad clockwise so that the roof line of the house is parallel to the top/bottom borders of the print...

2. I would crop the image a bit closer to remove the area to the right of the tree; eliminate some of the sky and much of the hill to the rear of the house...

This would validate the Rule of Thirds by placing the main subject, the house, is on the top third, and in this cropping the trees seem to frame the house.

3. I would use the "clone stamp" (or whatever your editing program calls the tool which can replace one part of the image with another) and remove the portion of the boy. There is not enough of him to make a contribution to the image and his red shirt is distracting...

4. I'd use the same tool to remove the date stamp. This is only my opinion but, I don't like date stamps and photographer's logos on prints...

5. I would add some vibrance, a bit of saturation and just a bit of contrast along with just a little sharpening...

This is what I might end up with if the image were mine...



BTW: I was working with a copy of your image you posted. Working on the original or a duplicate of the original would probably end up with a better looking edit...

I might also play with darkening the path at the lower right of the image. Finally, I might work to remove the power lines. However that last would be a somewhat difficult procedure and I don't think that it would improve the image enough to be worth the effort..

I hope I have not offended you. Please remember these are only my personal ideas and are not carved in granite. Another photographer working with this image might do completely different things to it...

[Catalina]

You have been very nice to dedicate so much time to give me instructions. That is very nice, When I see your pic, I I have realize the mistakes I have committed and learn so very much from your advise. Thank you very much

[rpcrowe]

Like I said, these are just my opinions... If you give ten good photographers the same image to work with, you will probably get ten different and equally good renditions of that image...