Isla de los sueños - Critique Please

[Brownbear]

Translates from Spanish to "Island of Dreams"

Simply because the title sounds so much better in Spanish.

And it's actually a peninsula. Photographed from a ferry.

Both images processed in Lightroom. Transferred to Photoshop CC where I used a curves layer, and a shadows layer to highlight the trees on the peninsula. I also went for a dreamy look by apply a bit (15 points) of Gaussian blur on the water.

Aperture Priority ISO 320 Hand Held

1. SS 1/320 f/16 Focal length 75mm

Note: The little speck on the rocks is a Bald Eagle.




2. SS 1/50 f/16 Focal length 18 mm



I would especially appreciate feedback on my composition (is the subject strong enough) and my post processing (with respect to colours, mood, sufficient contrast).

Thank you.

[ajohnw]

Not too sure about 2. I yes but I find the missing sky water boundary and the rather bright water in the foreground disturbing so it detracts.

john
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[Brownbear]

Thank you for giving me something for me to think about and learn from. Truly appreciated.

Not too sure about 2. I yes but I find the missing sky water boundary and the rather bright water in the foreground disturbing so it detracts.

john
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[Otavio]

Hi, Christina! Nice place to shoot.

On #1, try to reduce the whites a little. As mentioned by John, the division between sky and water would give a more natural look (less distracting).

I like #2 a lot (Contrasts, saturation, exposure are working very nice here)! Well done.

My 2 cents...

[FrankMi]

Hi Christina, the island in the first one looks good but a little Local Contrast Enhancement might also help. For me, the sea and sky are overly bright and lack detail.

In the second one, the top of the sky is strangely dark.

The Dreamy Effect usually doesn't work well on flat surfaces like this water because it needs high contrast and a sharp image to really work well. It would work better on the forested areas but to be really effective, the camera should be closer to the foliage. Glad to see that you are trying it out though!

For both of them the treatment could be appropriate if they actually looked that way when you shot them and if that is the way you want them to look.

If you get a chance, take a look at this site. Pick out the landscape images and look for the compositions that really work well for your likes and goals, then with camera in hand, search for similar scenes to capture. There are over 1,500 images at this location but they are quick and easy to skim through to find the landscape images. Hope this helps!

[Brownbear]

Hi Otavio,

Yes, the scenery is beautiful. I will try that tomorrow and post an edit.

Thank you for sharing your 2 cents... Truly appreciated.

Hi, Christina! Nice place to shoot.

On #1, try to reduce the whites a little. As mentioned by John, the division between sky and water would give a more natural look (less distracting).

I like #2 a lot (Contrasts, saturation, exposure are working very nice here)! Well done.

My 2 cents...

[Brownbear]

Hi Frank,

Thank you for taking the time to provide me with helpful feedback. Truly appreciated.

Tomorrow I will try a new edit.

These are the first images that I've spent a lot of time on post processing with a vision in mind... So very good to know. Likely post processing mayhem. I started out trying to create high key images (not photographed that way), saw that it didn't work, but left the lightness on the trees... And darkened the sky with a curves adjustment. (Strange you say... LOL)

And yes, I liked your dreamy effect so I applied it to the water... That said I do recall (now) that you advised that it works best on green foliage. A vision gone awry. Tomorrow is another day and I will process the images normally

Thank you for the link. Truly appreciated.

Hi Christina, the island in the first one looks good but a little Local Contrast Enhancement might also help. For me, the sea and sky are overly bright and lack detail.

In the second one, the top of the sky is strangely dark.

The Dreamy Effect usually doesn't work well on flat surfaces like this water because it needs high contrast and a sharp image to really work well. It would work better on the forested areas but to be really effective, the camera should be closer to the foliage. Glad to see that you are trying it out though!

For both of them the treatment could be appropriate if they actually looked that way when you shot them and if that is the way you want them to look.

If you get a chance, take a look at this site. Pick out the landscape images and look for the compositions that really work well for your likes and goals, then with camera in hand, search for similar scenes to capture. There are over 1,500 images at this location but they are quick and easy to skim through to find the landscape images. Hope this helps!

[FrankMi]

Hi Frank,

Thank you for taking the time to provide me with helpful feedback. Truly appreciated.

Tomorrow I will try a new edit.

These are the first images that I've spent a lot of time on post processing with a vision in mind... So very good to know. Likely post processing mayhem. I started out trying to create high key images (not photographed that way), saw that it didn't work, but left the lightness on the trees... And darkened the sky with a curves adjustment. (Strange you say... LOL)

And yes, I liked your dreamy effect so I applied it to the water... That said I do recall (now) that you advised that it works best on green foliage. A vision gone awry. Tomorrow is another day and I will process the images normally

Thank you for the link. Truly appreciated.

If you are looking for Low and High Key scenes to shoot, I would start doing a search on the web for the subject matter that you see there works best with High/Low key scenes. You'll find a number of images there to give you ideas for subject matter.

[Brownbear]

I will do just that because I am fond of high key images.

Thank you for the link. Indeed very helpful to see so many beautiful landscapes, and how sad my landscapes look in comparison. Right now I can't take any landscapes in at dusk or dawn, no transportation to get anywhere at that hour. So I will practice with ordinary light and by Fall!

Thank you Frank!

If you are looking for Low and High Key scenes to shoot, I would start doing a search on the web for the subject matter that you see there works best with High/Low key scenes. You'll find a number of images there to give you ideas for subject matter.

[Shadowman]

I like both but would go for a panoramic look by cropping above and below. Your vision works fine though.

[Brownbear]

Thank you John. A panoramic crop may be a better choice. However, I'd decided that these images are just images of a pretty scene and time for me to try another landscape.

Nevertheless following are the images processed in a normal manner. Darker sky, normal black and white points, etc.







Thank you to all for your helpful advice and feedback.

[ajohnw]

Not sure where you wanted to go with this Christina but don't think you were far out with the 1st one. Maybe just some change to the tonal contrast will do it. I don't see any problems with blurring some of the water either.



I just used a curve to damp down the contrast/brighten mostly in the trees. There is a lot of scope for messing with the black point on this one so it's fairly easy to adjust. That puts a bit more contrast back in. It now looks a bit dreamy to me. Maybe.

The curve



To blur the water I simply straight line selected trying to ;leave some water detail outside, set a 30 pixel blend width and used a wavelet noise filter on it - the worst one for ruining detail but it's controllable and may be a better option to blurring. Selection with blend leaves some tidying at the edges to do which I have only party done with clone.

Problem with posting shots is that you may finish up a long way from where YOU wanted to go.

As I had to repost the curve I may as well add that High Key usually means moving the dark end region to the right and the bright end region to the left. Boosting contrast effectively and usually done with an S curve. With most things more shape in the top of the S. There is a site that shows the basics PS style here.

http://thegreyblog.blogspot.co.uk/20...l-part_08.html

The curve I posted is more brightness orientated.

John
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[Mike Buckley]

Your last two work much better for me.

I started out trying to create high key images (not photographed that way)

What do you mean by "not photographed that way?" To understand the basis of my question, revisit post #28 of this thread, especially the last sentence.

[FrankMi]

To understand the basis of my question, revisit post #28 of this thread, especially the last sentence.

Hi Mike, you can directly link to the post # by right clicking on the post # in the thread, select properties, cut and past the link from there. In this case the link looks like the following "https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/forums/thread34924.htm#post373927".

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Frank! The details of your method are a little different on my system but they do work.

[Brownbear]

Hi John,

Thank you for showing me this. Truly appreciated.

I like your version. It is just that this image as I photographed it is not what I envisioned. However it is very helpful to see your curve as it will help me the next time around.

Not sure where you wanted to go with this Christina but don't think you were far out with the 1st one. Maybe just some change to the tonal contrast will do it. I don't see any problems with blurring some of the water either.



I just used a curve to damp down the contrast/brighten mostly in the trees. There is a lot of scope for messing with the black point on this one so it's fairly easy to adjust. That puts a bit more contrast back in. It now looks a bit dreamy to me. Maybe.

The curve



To blur the water I simply straight line selected trying to ;leave some water detail outside, set a 30 pixel blend width and used a wavelet noise filter on it - the worst one for ruining detail but it's controllable and may be a better option to blurring. Selection with blend leaves some tidying at the edges to do which I have only party done with clone.

Problem with posting shots is that you may finish up a long way from where YOU wanted to go.

John
-

[Brownbear]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for letting me know which ones you prefer and for the reference to Colin's gorgeous high key flowers.

I have it in my head that it is better to capture a high-key (or low key) image captured as close as possible in camera to allow for minimal post-processing. (easier to process and higher image quality from less processing)

For the peninsula shot I was able to shift the exposure a little bit to the right, so the black points start a little closer to the mid greys but not very much (due to clipping)... For the shot that looks like an island (all the trees) I was not able to do so and the histogram extends to both ends, with lots of dark tones.

I do understand that I shouldn't think of a high key image as an exposure shift but if these types of images are mostly midtones and above, my thought process makes sense to me... ie. all of the ones in the histogram are mostly midtones and above, and some of these images have a lower black point.

After reading that last sentence of Colin's I realize that I don't understand what he means by a "Strong Tonal Curve."

Thank you.

Your last two work much better for me.



What do you mean by "not photographed that way?" To understand the basis of my question, revisit post #28 of this thread, especially the last sentence.

[ajohnw]

I;m not sure the flower shot in the link is pure high key. Colin has posted some and comments fairly recently so a search might bring it up. For fun I just high keyed it. Probably badly. Also edited a link into the other post to a page that explains it PS style as it looks like curves is a touch different.

This used a rather steep curve which will always boost contrast. Flat top to keep the sky brightness down. None linear brightness ramp to darked the water. The problem I have with high key is that I visualise it as a water colour as against an oil painting even though I shouldn't.



The curve looked like this



As the link points out exposure increases from raw or messing about with black points may not be a good idea but the basic idea is a steeper curve. On this one I should have probably lifted the black end of the curve up a bit to brighten shadow but that would mean re arranging the other points. There's lots of variations.

John
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[Brownbear]

Thank you John. Truly appreciated.

I do like the overall feel of your edit. I just tried high key processing on a bunch of birds and I suspect that what I really like is almost high key but not quite, ie; just lighter images... then again it is my first try so it may be that I just need to learn to do it, well.

Thank you so much. No more edits please - information overload with any more edits. Thank you. Appreciated as always.

I;m not sure the flower shot in the link is pure high key. Colin has posted some and comments fairly recently so a search might bring it up. For fun I just high keyed it. Probably badly. Also edited a link into the other post to a page that explains it PS style as it looks like curves is a touch different.

This used a rather steep curve which will always boost contrast. Flat top to keep the sky brightness down. None linear brightness ramp to darked the water. The problem I have with high key is that I visualise it as a water colour as against an oil painting even though I shouldn't.



The curve looked like this



As the link points out exposure increases from raw or messing about with black points may not be a good idea but the basic idea is a steeper curve. On this one I should have probably lifted the black end of the curve up a bit to brighten shadow but that would mean re arranging the other points. There's lots of variations.

John
-

[Mike Buckley]

After reading that last sentence of Colin's I realize that I don't understand what he means by a "Strong Tonal Curve."

He explained that he achieves a high-key look (or a low-key look) more by adjusting the curve during post-processing than by exposing differently than he would for a shot that he intends to be neither high-key nor low-key. He has written about that many times.