Lonely In Winter

[fotugraphy]

Hi, going forward on my photography venture I stopped and clicked another shot. Can you please review it and let me know what exactly is missing for it to make it much better?

I have processed it in order to keep it between Surreal & Natural look. Here i tried to capture the emotion of loneliness and peace which i felt in the garden. Once i took the shot, i switched off my phones, packed my tripod & camera & lied on the bench for like 30 min. thinking each and every aspects of my life & enjoying the beauty & freshness of the nature in winter time. Quite an emotional moment for me.

I was so much lost that i forgot to shoot a self portrait sitting on the bench.

Thank You

PS: I have added a subtle warmer version too. Please share your views on which one of them is better.

[Mike Buckley]

Gorgeous image. It evokes thoughts of spring, not winter, but that's unimportant.

[FrankMi]

Hi Raj, as good as you have it now, I suspect that it would be difficult to make it 'much' better. Shooting directly into the sun can be tricky but you have pulled it off very well.

If I can get some time, I would like to play with this image to see what I might be able to do with it. The risk is that what appeals to me in an image might not appeal to you and there is a lot of emotion attached to this scene that could end up being modified.

[fotugraphy]

Gorgeous image. It evokes thoughts of spring, not winter, but that's unimportant.

Thanks for the review & the appreciation

[fotugraphy]

Hi Raj, as good as you have it now, I suspect that it would be difficult to make it 'much' better. Shooting directly into the sun can be tricky but you have pulled it off very well.

If I can get some time, I would like to play with this image to see what I might be able to do with it. The risk is that what appeals to me in an image might not appeal to you and there is a lot of emotion attached to this scene that could end up being modified.

Thanks for the review & the appreciation. Please feel free to do any changes in the image, after all it is a learning experience for me and always keen to learn from respected members of CiC.

[Wavelength]

Liked it very much; i pushed down Sun a bit to get back that golden hue.....

[img][/img]

Regards

[fotugraphy]

Liked it very much; i pushed down Sun a bit to get back that golden hue.....

[img][/img]

Regards

Thanks for the review & the edit. I wanted to make it a little bit on a golden side, but i was not able to achieve it. Can you please share how you did it? is it color toning using blend modes?

[hopeg]

I'm not experienced enough to give any advice on making it better, but I really like this image. For me, the emotion of loneliness and peacefulness came across, but I also thought it was a springtime picture. Just by looking at this image, I'm sure the time you spent on the bench was reflective. Nice work

[Wavelength]

Oh, that is simple; i did that in Picasa; there are lot of one click options and simple adjustments; i think it is simple and without my help you can master them very easily

[fotugraphy]

I'm not experienced enough to give any advice on making it better, but I really like this image. For me, the emotion of loneliness and peacefulness came across, but I also thought it was a springtime picture. Just by looking at this image, I'm sure the time you spent on the bench was reflective. Nice work

Thanks for the appreciation Actually it was the starting of the winter time here in New Delhi, India. Temp was around 15 degree.

[fotugraphy]

Oh, that is simple; i did that in Picasa; there are lot of one click options and simple adjustments; i think it is simple and without my help you can master them very easily

Thanks for sharing the info. Will surely check Picasa for it

[fotugraphy]

PS : Added a subtle warmer version of it. Please check description for it. or Click Here

[Shadowman]

Very nice and serene.

[FrankMi]

Please feel free to do any changes in the image, after all it is a learning experience for me and always keen to learn from respected members of CiC.

Hi Raj, I had a chance to explore your beautiful image. Thank you for the opportunity to do so. Here are some comments I hope will help you to understand what I did and how I did it.

For images that I did not shoot, I take a bit of time to get a feel for what the image is about and explore the composition, lines, relationships of the elements, and other details until I have a starting point for what I feel might be improved.

Next, I play with subtle global changes to see how the image reacts. First I looked for any issues such as noise, capture sharpness, and the overall basic settings. Other than it being a bit flat in the hazy areas of the image (as expected), it looked fine to me.

Next, I duplicated the image and set the top layer to Overlay. By experimentation, I found that a 30% Overlay produced a pleasing result. I then went back to the original image and tried experimenting with a number other global options. In the end, I was most satisfied by the results of Overlay so I left it.

At this point I turned my attention to specific elements within the image. The composition flowed extremely well but for me, the massive tree trunk felt dark and foreboding and didn’t quite fit my vision of the scene so I selectively lightened it with a soft dodge at 5% exposure and gently coaxed some of the rich bark coloring back into the trunk.

I also applied just a bit of Local Contrast Enhancement to just the misty areas of the image to give the hazy flatness of that area a touch more contrast without increasing the intensity of the sunbeams.

To add a greater sense of depth to the image I wanted to make the tree stand out a bit more from the rest of the scene so I applied a soft 5% highlights dodge to the perimeter leaves of the tree. I also allowed a bit of halo on the trunk. I usually minimize halos but here it seemed to give a better sense of depth so I let it ride.

As a final adjustment, I let the flower bed go ever so slightly more vibrant to increase its presence and again add subtly to the scene’s depth.

In the end, my feeling is that this image was outstanding as it was so I didn’t necessarily ‘improve’ the image but rather simply tweaked it more to my personal taste.

For your consideration kind sir...

[fotugraphy]

wow! I really like your version sir. Thanks a lot for sharing the step by step process for it.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Absolutely beautiful and lovely image! Of all versions and images on this thread, the 2nd one in your original post is my favorite. That little bit of extra warmth works well for me, especially on the tree trunk on the right. I feel that you processed the image very well and did not see any need for any changes.

I also very much liked your post introduction and story, especially:

Once i took the shot, i switched off my phones, packed my tripod & camera & lied on the bench for like 30 min. thinking each and every aspects of my life

That is something not very many people do these days. Even I could stand to do a bit more meditation and be thankful for what I really have, despite how tough things seem to be. Thanks for that!

[fotugraphy]

Absolutely beautiful and lovely image! Of all versions and images on this thread, the 2nd one in your original post is my favorite. That little bit of extra warmth works well for me, especially on the tree trunk on the right. I feel that you processed the image very well and did not see any need for any changes.

I also very much liked your post introduction and story, especially:



That is something not very many people do these days. Even I could stand to do a bit more meditation and be thankful for what I really have, despite how tough things seem to be. Thanks for that!

Thanks a lot for the review & sharing your views about the scene

[IzzieK]

Raj...I like your photo very much. It evokes not loneliness but calmness and serenity. If I have a place or if I am in a place like that, I'd go and sit in that bench and meditate my life away too, see perhaps where I have gone wrong and where I am going in life, those kind of shots. I like the way Frank edited your shots too...very subtle and true to the colours of nature.

[fotugraphy]

Raj...I like your photo very much. It evokes not loneliness but calmness and serenity. If I have a place or if I am in a place like that, I'd go and sit in that bench and meditate my life away too, see perhaps where I have gone wrong and where I am going in life, those kind of shots. I like the way Frank edited your shots too...very subtle and true to the colours of nature.

Thanks a lot for the review & sharing your views about the scene Yes, his version is really good, very subtle treatment with the colors & contrast.

[tida19]

Not enough experience to give you advises. But I think it's very really nice one and I like the feeling of it

Cheers!