Learning Landscapes - City Scapes

[Brownbear]

A view of downtown Vancouver, Coal Harbour from the North Shore. Photographed during the early morning hours but alas the light was dismal as the clouds rolled in.

I think I managed sufficient sharpness and DOF and I would be most appreciative of feedback on this and my compositions. My focal point was the white sails.

Composing the photo threw me, perhaps because I'm not crazy about highrises and I had a hard time visualizing what would work best, ie; seeing the beauty in a city scape but I wanted to try a city scape for the learning experience.


All Aperture priority, ISO 100


F11 SS 1/6 sec Exp +.67

The first 3 images are just variations in composition and processing. I decreased the exposure on a couple of the images in LR to try and bring out the reflections in the water.

1.


2.


3.



#4

F11 SS 1/2 Zoomed in.




I think I like the 3rd image the best because of the water in the foreground leading to the highrises.

C&C truly appreciated. I would like to try this again on a sunny morning and improve upon these.

[Mike Buckley]

I like the third one best also, not just because of the nice reflections but also because of where the buildings are positioned within the frame. All of it is very natural. Sharpness and depth of field are attractive.

I wonder if you're aware that you could apply a stronger S-curve to introduce more contrast and pop. Though you might not want that look, these images look a little flat to me that isn't necessary despite the diffuse light.

I wouldn't say the light is dismal; just the opposite, it's quite soothing. Not every image has to be defined by strong sunrises and sunsets.

By the way, these images would make excellent monochromes.

[Brownbear]

Thank you for the feedback and letting me know you like the 3rd image best and why. I think the close up might work if the actual buildings were prettier, ie; the tops of some of the high rises are unsightly.

Yes, I'm just a fan of blue skies and water... I have been told that some of my images look flat so thank you for sharing. I did play with the curves tool but I'm still timid when using it because too much seems to wreck the image. Given more time and practice I will get better at PP.

I will save them and try a monochrome version, one day.

Thank you.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christina,

Good to see you are tackling another area. I agree with what Mike has said about these and wonder also if this view has potential for some night time shots capturing the reflections on the water and lights of the buildings?

On the subject of curves as mentioned before I have started using my curves plugin for Elements. It's called 'SmartCurve' and was a free download and it gives you far more control than the Elements tool because you are able to select control points from the image and place then on the curve, in this way controlling very specific ranges. For learning purposes I simply took some shots of blue sky and great clouds and learnt what did what.

Grahame

[Brownbear]

Hi Grahame,

It will likely be a very nice view at night. I'm just afraid of night shots, but I suppose I will just have to try a few as part of the learning experience.

I recall your sharing Smart Curve, and I will download it and give it a try. Thank you.

Hi Christina,

Good to see you are tackling another area. I agree with what Mike has said about these and wonder also if this view has potential for some night time shots capturing the reflections on the water and lights of the buildings?

On the subject of curves as mentioned before I have started using my curves plugin for Elements. It's called 'SmartCurve' and was a free download and it gives you far more control than the Elements tool because you are able to select control points from the image and place then on the curve, in this way controlling very specific ranges. For learning purposes I simply took some shots of blue sky and great clouds and learnt what did what.

Grahame

[Nancy Moran G]

Christina, if I can do night shots, you can too! :0
Altho not perfect, I was pleased with my recents and found I reallllly liked night time. Who knows, you may turn into a night owl!
Like the above shots, but cannot help with flat look, I have my own to work on.
Nancy

[batmura]

Christina, these would look great at night. I would definitely go shoot when it gets darker. The lights and reflections on water would look great. Very nice images. Thanks for sharing.

[Brownbear]

Nancy, thank you for your encouragement. I will give it a try. My hesitation comes from my attempts a couple of years ago.
I understand perfectly. I will choose one of these images, perhaps #3 and work on ridding it of the flat look and post the edit this weekend.

Thank you Murat. I will give try a few night shots of this scene.

[TonyW]

I like all these images, but 4 less the others. The preference for 1 or 2 depends on the screen you use. When I saw then on my iPad I thought 2 was better but on the computer 1 looks better. I like the less bright look. In all of them, the colours are interesting and as with many good pictures I can look at them for a while and keep on seeing different details. I very much like muted colours as you have here. The early morning light makes the pictures because it lights up the side of the buildings and does not produce any glare on the water.

Especially when you have a plain sky, the different patterns in the water add a lot of interest even though they are not strong ones. Numbers 1 and 2 have more pattern in the water but number 3 has a bigger expanse. They are all good, just different.

In number 4, I would want to get rid of the sails on the right and just have the older building contrasted with the taller ones behind it, although you might have been too far away for that. The bright sails make it unbalanced to my eye. If you can use a faster shutter speed perhaps you could get on that ferry and take pictures as you approach.

[Brownbear]

Hi Tony,

Thank you for your feedback and comments. Yes, it was sunrise just not much sun but nice to hear that you like the lighting and why.

Yes, I too think the left side of the photo is more interesting. Unfortunately that is an enclosed sea bus so the only way to take photos from the water is through a window, likely a window that needs cleaning. However, I may be able to find another vantage point that is closer to those old buildings. Good idea.

I like all these images, but 4 less the others. The preference for 1 or 2 depends on the screen you use. When I saw then on my iPad I thought 2 was better but on the computer 1 looks better. I like the less bright look. In all of them, the colours are interesting and as with many good pictures I can look at them for a while and keep on seeing different details. I very much like muted colours as you have here. The early morning light makes the pictures because it lights up the side of the buildings and does not produce any glare on the water.

Especially when you have a plain sky, the different patterns in the water add a lot of interest even though they are not strong ones. Numbers 1 and 2 have more pattern in the water but number 3 has a bigger expanse. They are all good, just different.

In number 4, I would want to get rid of the sails on the right and just have the older building contrasted with the taller ones behind it, although you might have been too far away for that. The bright sails make it unbalanced to my eye. If you can use a faster shutter speed perhaps you could get on that ferry and take pictures as you approach.

[Brownbear]

Following are my edits of image 3.

In this one I decreased the exposure and lightened the shadows, and used the curves tool to increase contrast to make the images less flat looking. The processing destroyed my sky.




For some reason I do not care for the darker version above, so in this version I upped the exposure and decreased the highlights



And here is a B&W version of the original image posted using a layer in Elements 9 and a levels adjustment. I did not care for the image 100% B&W, so I decreased the opacity a wee bit to allow a hint of colour to peep through.



I prefer my 2nd edit and think I did poorly with the B&W version. I also think that my personal taste may be for muted colours as while processing I did not like the super contrasty versions but this is not always the case as I do have some high contrast images that I like so perhaps it just depends on the subject matter. Something I will learn more about given time.

Grahame...

I downloaded the Smartcurves tool from Adobe but I could not install the mxp file on my computer, so I found what I thought was a safe download to allow me to install SmartCurves... Rex something... But as it scanned my computer and found all kinds of things to fix (not the case) I researched the download and found some concerns with the program so I uninstalled all. I'm pretty anal about the safety of my computer, viruses and free downloads so I skipped it. If you have safe source please let me know and I will try it.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christina,

SmartCurve by easy filter.

I have had this downloaded for a long time so do not have the original location where I got it from.

So to help I have just done a search and found that I could download it with no problems from this site;

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multime...artCurve.shtml

At the left of the page, just below the top you will see an arrow pointing to Download (with a basket under). Press this.

On the next page there are 4 options where you can download it from, I used US. Press this and it's an 850Kb download.

There is a Zip file and there is also a 'readme' file that explains well (it must as I followed it) how to install it.

Once installed it shows up within the 'Filters' menu.

There are many sites where you can download from but BEWARE anything that wants you to do a check or scan of you computer. They will all tell you it's infected and needs their programme to clean and speed it up !

Grahame

[Brownbear]

Thank Grahame. Truly appreciated. I will try it tomorrow

Hi Christina,

SmartCurve by easy filter.

I have had this downloaded for a long time so do not have the original location where I got it from.

So to help I have just done a search and found that I could download it with no problems from this site;

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multime...artCurve.shtml

At the left of the page, just below the top you will see an arrow pointing to Download (with a basket under). Press this.

On the next page there are 4 options where you can download it from, I used US. Press this and it's an 850Kb download.

There is a Zip file and there is also a 'readme' file that explains well (it must as I followed it) how to install it.

Once installed it shows up within the 'Filters' menu.

There are many sites where you can download from but BEWARE anything that wants you to do a check or scan of you computer. They will all tell you it's infected and needs their programme to clean and speed it up !

Grahame

[Mike Buckley]

It's just my taste but I far prefer the first revision compared to everything in the thread. It's a very nice image. Whichever version you decide upon, try selecting the sail-like roof and use the Curve tool to display more detail (more grey tones).

Also consider dialing back the saturation in the green tones in the building on the far right, perhaps in other areas of the image as well.

I don't understand what you mean about the process destroying the sky. I don't see any change in the sky except that the very first version displayed a very, very slight bit of tonal variation that is no longer present. That tonal variation isn't important to the image in my mind.

[Brownbear]

Thank you. I will look at them again next week and see how I feel. And I will also try the smartcurve on the grey tones. (thank you for the hint)

It's just my taste but I far prefer the first revision compared to everything in the thread. It's a very nice image. Whichever version you decide upon, try selecting the sail-like roof and use the Curve tool to display more detail (more grey tones).

I don't understand what you mean about the process destroying the sky. I don't see any change in the sky.

[Mike Buckley]

Christina,

As you were posting your response I edited my post to mention perhaps attending to the green tones and I added clarification about the sky. Please review my post again for ideas about that.

[Shadowman]

Nice series, the edits also. On overcast days the vivid picture control can add pop. sharpness, and contrast in camera.

[Brownbear]

John... Thank you. Truly appreciated.

Mike...

I don't understand what you mean about the process destroying the sky. I don't see any change in the sky except that the very first version displayed a very, very slight bit of tonal variation that is no longer present. That tonal variation isn't important to the image in my mind.

When I process in LR the curves tool is applied to the entire image, and at full size the sky just doesn't look right, just a little bit odd. Maybe a wee bit of noise or artifacts, I'm not sure. That's something I have to figure out and will do with more practice.

[Brownbear]

Hi Mike,

I decided to give your edit a try rather than wait a week. I decreased the green saturation in LR and applied the curves adjustment in Elements 9 using the midtone slider and was quite surprised to see how it brings out the detail although perhaps these images are too small to see it here.

Following is my edit. As always thank you for your advice. I hope you can see the change, if not, it is because I'm still working on my PP skills and even though they have improved I still have a lot to learn.

[Mike Buckley]

I have a poor memory, even extremely short-term memory, pertaining to colors. So, lacking an immediate before-and-after comparison, I don't see a difference other than the change to the less saturated green tones.

Even so, that doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm sure there are other differences because you say so. Much more important, you're developing both a taste and appreciation for the subtle nuances that can be changed to take an image to the next level.

The essence of post-processing isn't nearly as much about using the software to achieve how you want the images to look as much as it is about deciding in the first place how you want them to look. That comes only with experience, which in turn comes only with time. You're progressing very nicely and you should be proud of that.