Incandescent of Patriotism

[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 took this image early morning before dawn when there were not lights at India Gate and i really like the light of the flame lighting the monument. I wanted to make it a but surreal by lightening up the flowers which are acting as leading elements towards the rifle and helmet. I also like the light on the floor making some of the plants as silhouette.


Thank You

PS : Please click on the image for lightbox screen view (Highly recommended).

[Geoff F]

I think it needs a slightly tighter crop to work for me.

Possibly I would lose that building on the right and a balancing amount probably split between the top and bottom. But a case of try a few alternatives and then have another think before making a final decision.

[Shadowman]

Nice image, was there a strong wind blowing?

[deetheturk]

Good capture Raj!

[chauncey]

Raj...I might suggest that you don't need the actual flame in the image. You might try cloning it away, that would allow you to boost the mid-tones just a little without blowing other things out.

[Manfred M]

Raj - I find that this image has a similar issue to some of your previous work; you seem to be using a daylight colour balance in a situation where this might not be the first choice. This drives a very heavy orange colour cast into the image and really messes up the true colours in the image.

I also find that it is significantly underexposed; and while this appears to be a night scene, it still is too dark and hides some of the detail.

[rpcrowe]

I cannot explain this. When I view the posted image on my monitor screen the plants in the foreground look far too dark.

However, when I copied the image and opened it as a new image in Photoshop CS6, the entire image was quite a bit lighter.

Perhaps Colin could explain that phenomenon to me. It seems to me that if the calibration of my monitor is at fault, both the posted image and the Photoshop image would be equally impacted...

I do like cropping the image a bit loser all around especially at the bottom. I was going to suggest making the plants a bit brighter but, when I opened the image in Photoshop, the plants looked just fine...

I also think that this might have been a good place to try an HDR image - however, I don't know how that would impact the flame....

Sometimes there is an image within an image. I also like the image severely cropped like this...

[fotugraphy]

I think it needs a slightly tighter crop to work for me.

Possibly I would lose that building on the right and a balancing amount probably split between the top and bottom. But a case of try a few alternatives and then have another think before making a final decision.

Thanks a lot for your kind review and suggestion. I have cropped the image as suggested.

[fotugraphy]

Nice image, was there a strong wind blowing?

thanks a lot for your valuable review The wind was not blowing but it is a long exposure shot of 15 seconds.

[fotugraphy]

Good capture Raj!

thanks a lot for your kind review and appreciation.

[fotugraphy]

Raj - I find that this image has a similar issue to some of your previous work; you seem to be using a daylight colour balance in a situation where this might not be the first choice. This drives a very heavy orange colour cast into the image and really messes up the true colours in the image.

I also find that it is significantly underexposed; and while this appears to be a night scene, it still is too dark and hides some of the detail.

Thanks a lot for your valuable review and suggestion. I corrected the white balance which was my very first step. Seems I havnt done it correctly. In the post processing i have boosted oranges in the image with the help of selective colors. For yellow - I have boosted reds and yellows and same with the Red color in "Selective Colors". I have darkened the image a bit to make it underexposure to get the viewer's eye only on the flame light. I'm not sure if underexposing the image worked or not.

Seems I have to work on my White balance to get the true colors and I should control my hands while playing with the colors.

Here is a SOOC Image (Raw converted to JPEG): White Balance --> Day Light


Here is the white balance corrected image:


I can provide raw file too in case you need it I really want to learn about white balance settings (Specially with the camera) which i find always confusing.

[fotugraphy]

I cannot explain this. When I view the posted image on my monitor screen the plants in the foreground look far too dark.

However, when I copied the image and opened it as a new image in Photoshop CS6, the entire image was quite a bit lighter.

Perhaps Colin could explain that phenomenon to me. It seems to me that if the calibration of my monitor is at fault, both the posted image and the Photoshop image would be equally impacted...

I do like cropping the image a bit loser all around especially at the bottom. I was going to suggest making the plants a bit brighter but, when I opened the image in Photoshop, the plants looked just fine...

I also think that this might have been a good place to try an HDR image - however, I don't know how that would impact the flame....

Sometimes there is an image within an image. I also like the image severely cropped like this...

thanks a lot for your valuable review and suggestions. I really like the image you created by cropping it. M not sure if the image needs an HDR Treatment. in the current processing i have darked a lot of stuffs. Here is the SOOC image with good amount of details everywhere.

[fotugraphy]

Raj...I might suggest that you don't need the actual flame in the image. You might try cloning it away, that would allow you to boost the mid-tones just a little without blowing other things out.

thanks a lot for your kind review and suggestion I did some edit as suggested.... Here is the final image

[Clive Kirby]

Hi

I am late to this discussion. I think the original has a great visual impact. I like the colour balance as it is and the dark feel. This allows the two rows of plants, which have picked up highlights to lead you into the image. I thought a crop from the bottom to lose the plant pots might help and possibly a little bit of tweaking to even up the luminescence of the monument with the flame. I scrolled down and there it was. I think this a good piece of work.

[fotugraphy]

Hi

I am late to this discussion. I think the original has a great visual impact. I like the colour balance as it is and the dark feel. This allows the two rows of plants, which have picked up highlights to lead you into the image. I thought a crop from the bottom to lose the plant pots might help and possibly a little bit of tweaking to even up the luminescence of the monument with the flame. I scrolled down and there it was. I think this a good piece of work.

thanks a lot for ur kind review n suggestions.

[Wavelength]

I like the original and its various edits

[fotugraphy]

I like the original and its various edits

thanks a lot for your kind review and appreciation

[Manfred M]

Raj - the way you interpret a scene is really up to you. I am only expressing my personal view that a heavy orange colour cast is often a white balance issue. When shooting in a mixed light situation, which this seems to be, one has to make some artistic choices; the blue sky showing through the gate obviously has a different colour temperature than the stone in the monument itself; which seems to be lit by either the setting sun or artifical (tungsten) light.

I brought this up because you seem to be fighting with white balance on a previous post.

I know I posted a discussion on handling mixed lighting a few months ago that you might find interesting:

Mixed lighting shots

The bottom line is that you need to figure out how you want to handle this mixed light situation. I generally don't like the heavy orange colour cast that we see with a daylight colour balance in a scene that appears to have been lit by tungsten light; but that is just a personal view. I find that it can have a place when we are trying to show a very "warm" feeling; but in general I don't like it.

[fotugraphy]

Raj - the way you interpret a scene is really up to you. I am only expressing my personal view that a heavy orange colour cast is often a white balance issue. When shooting in a mixed light situation, which this seems to be, one has to make some artistic choices; the blue sky showing through the gate obviously has a different colour temperature than the stone in the monument itself; which seems to be lit by either the setting sun or artifical (tungsten) light.

I brought this up because you seem to be fighting with white balance on a previous post.

I know I posted a discussion on handling mixed lighting a few months ago that you might find interesting:

Mixed lighting shots

The bottom line is that you need to figure out how you want to handle this mixed light situation. I generally don't like the heavy orange colour cast that we see with a daylight colour balance in a scene that appears to have been lit by tungsten light; but that is just a personal view. I find that it can have a place when we are trying to show a very "warm" feeling; but in general I don't like it.

Thanks a lot for sharing such wonderful knowledge about white balance. I will surely work more on it. Really appreciated sir