Yet another of 'Misty Morning'

[ied]

Here is the other capture from that same day.
I know there are improvements to be made. Please advise.

C&C appreciated
Irene

[Kodiak]

Please advise. C&C appreciated

I love your "Misty Mornings"!

IMO, such images should be more impressions and less narration or
documentation. This is why I proposed something going a tad toward
the low keys. Just tell me if I don't express myself clearly enough and,
with you permission, I could make a rendition suggestion.

[ied]

Thanks Kodiak. Oh you express yourself clearly enough...
I take it you are meaning this image needs cropping. By all
means do the improvements needed. I'm open to and
appreciate your expert critiquing / comments.
Irene

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Rebel]

Beautiful scene, nice shot.

[Kodiak]

Thanks Kodiak. Oh you express yourself clearly enough...
I take it you are meaning this image needs cropping. By all
means do the improvements needed. I'm open to and
appreciate your expert critiquing / comments.
Irene

NO CROPPING PLEASE! …in no way! That would be a terrible decision.
I mean the mood! The keys are too high and do not play along and the
morning colours are not quite there. How about something like this?

[Stagecoach]

Very good Irene, these appeal to me I love this time of day.

[ied]

Very good Irene, these appeal to me I love this time of day.

Thank you Grahame. I do enjoy the solitude and just being there. I went on another similar venture...
to be shared later.

Irene

[ied]

NO CROPPING PLEASE! …in no way! That would be a terrible decision.
I mean the mood! The keys are too high and do not play along and the
morning colours are not quite there. How about something like this?

Well I guess i did not understand what you meant. I still don't when it
comes to keys. Please do explain what you did to transform it into this
stunning image. Thanks for your help.
Irene

[John 2]

Irene, IMHO Kodiak has it right about lowering the tones towards a low key presentation. However, I would crop. The mist is so important to the mood of the image that making more of it might be worth while. Something like the image below. It would also be worth bringing down the highlights in the sky. Can't do it in PNG but if you started with a RAW file, there might be enough detail there to do this.

[ied]

It would also be worth bringing down the highlights in the sky. Can't do it in PNG but if you started with a RAW file, there might be enough detail there to do this.

Thank you so much John. I appreciate your input. I don't now how to bring down the highlights in the sky without affecting the rest of the image. My pp skill is very minimal but I'm taking it in small steps and eager to learn.
I'm presently using PS Elements 12.
Irene

[John 2]

Irene, I would make a rough selection of the sky area with the lasso tool and then use the Shadows/highlights tool but I'm using PS CS6 and I'm not sure if elements has this tool. However, you can achieve the same effect by using the curves tool after making the selection by just pulling down the highlight end of the curve. The problem is that here is not enough detail currently available I the PNG file you have posted to make this viable. If the original is in the same format, your sunk. However if the original is a RAW file, you might just have enough detail to make the adjustment before it's converted to PNG.

[mknittle]

Nice shot Irene.

[ied]

Thanks Mark.

Irene

[Stagecoach]

Hi Irene,

With PS Elements 12 (which I'm also using at present) you do have the 'Shadows/Highlights' tool under 'Enhance/Lighting/ and then Shadows/Highlight option.

If you wish to just tone down the highlights in the sky here's one method;

On a duplicate layer reduce the highlights globally to get the sky how you want it. Then use a 'mask' with this layer and a gradient so that the change does not affect the lower half of the image. You can also 'paint' this gradient mask using a 'brush' to fine tune it.

Grahame

[ied]

Thank you Grahame. I printed your instructions and will give it a try tomorrow.
Irene

[bnnrcn]

Hi Irene , I like the image and John's crop very much. In addition to the highlights in the sky I would also reduce the highlights in the middle of the water

[Brownbear]

Hi Irene,

Just to say - absolutely beautiful! I like your version and also the lower key edit.

[ied]

Hi Irene,

Just to say - absolutely beautiful! I like your version and also the lower key edit.

Thank you Christina, I appreciate your comments.
Irene

[rpcrowe]

A BIG IMPROVEMENT would be me wading there with fly rod in hand and a large trout on the line

Lovely shot never-the-less!