Nice scene, was this taken with your kit lens?
Classic.... minimum colors, maximum output
Kathy - this is a nicely composed shot, but it looks overexposed (too bright) and could use a touch more sharpening (related you your camera's anti-alias filter). The sky has started to blow out (side effect of over exposure). I wonder if you might want to trim a bit of the right hand side of the image; I find the amount of bush there a bit too much. I've also applied a light vignette and a touch of Nik Color Efex tonal contrast filter.
The aperture you used f/5.6 is a bit too wide open for a landscape shot like this; most of my landscape shots are generally shot at f/8 or f/11. I suspect that some of the foreground might be a bit soft due to shallow depth of field, but I can't say for sure because of the reduced size of the image you uploaded.
This is probably how I would handle the image in post.
Last edited by Manfred M; 30th December 2015 at 01:58 AM.
Lightroom 5.4
I think your edit of my photo is very pretty . . . but I do like the softness and the subtle colors of my photo, it gives me a sense of peace and quietness, this is what I was feeling when this photo was shot. This is what is fun about a photograph -- one photograph 2 different moods.
I don't mind the critique, and that is fine if not everyone see's the photo like I do. Most of the time I will look at the critique and agree with it, but this time I still prefer my photo as is -- flaws and all I would still like someone to explain what size I need to export my photo it lightroom so it can be viewed as a large file. This photo was exported at 4800 x 6000 pixels, resolution at 300 ppi. How much larger do I need to go?
I'm not a Lightroom expert, but I believe you need to select "File" "Export" from the drop down menus. When the popup menu is displayed, set the "Export to" box to "Hard Driver" and Under "Lightroom Presets" select "Burn Full-Sized jpegs". On the right hand size open up the "Image Sizing" selection on the menu and check the "Resize to fit" checkbox. In the drop down menu select "Width & Height" and set W:1600 H:1600 and resolution to 100. (This gives decent size and reasonably fast load times).
In the Output Sharpening section, tick the "Sharpen for" checkbox and select "Screen" and Amount "Standard".
You might have to select where the exported images are written too.
I prefer your original image too, Kathy. The way you have processed it, it looks like a moody, foggy day. Manfred's processing has taken away some of that atmosphere and made it look like a rainy day.
In some ways what John wrote was at the back of my mind; you had complained about soft images, albeit not with the lens you shot this image with. I was trying to demonstrate that the choices you made in post have more to do with the softness of the image than the camera lens. I processed the image to give it the sharpness and pop you seemed to imply you were looking for.
You can't get a sharp image at the same time you are looking for softness; they are effectively opposites that one trades off in post-processing the image. Generally more contrast improves an image and to soften the shot, you are decreasing contrast
That being said, there are a few technical issue with the image that need to be corrected. Blacks should look black and not dark gray, whites should look white, and not light gray (assuming there are black values and white values in the image). Once these are set correctly set, you can play with contrast, shadow, highlights to get the image looking the way you want. It's also important to not blow out highlights (which you have done in the clouds) and shadow detail (which are fine in your image). Regardless of how you want the image to look in the end a properly exposed image is important.
Lightroom does not make it easy to do this as you have to play around with a number of different sliders to get the image to look right.
Exactly!
I also prefer your original, Kathy, for the reasons you explained. It doesn't appear at all over exposed to me just as Manfred's version doesn't appear under exposed or "properly" exposed. There are lots of ways to interpret a scene and your way is just as valid as his way. Indeed, you interpreted the same same scene (though perhaps when the water was higher) in yet a different way that also stands on its own.