your opinion please

[ScoutR]

Hi Aldo, I can see them now too. There is not a bad one in the bunch, nice work. My favourite is the last one.

As you can see from Colin's and Rob's minor edits, you will be able to make these even better with just some minor Post Processing.

Thanks for sharing, it is a beautiful region

Wendy

[plankton]

Great shot of the Köln dome. It's been years since I've last seen it. Great job. Scott

[Peter Ryan]

Hi Aldo,

Good work. I enjoyed your shots and the advice from Colin and Rob is worth taking on board. You will note that both have re-worked your shots by adding contrast and sharpening, which will come in time as you learn PS.

The only other comment I will make is that your horizons are crooked. I too have a crooked neck and cannot get horizons straight. I was talking to a chiropractor and he said my back bends one way and my neck the other. I said I knew I had a bent neck and when he asked why I said it was because I could not take a straight horizon.

There is a tool in PS either in ACR to straighten horizons of under Filter/Distort/Lens Correction.

Keep posting your shots.

[Colin Southern]

There is a tool in PS either in ACR to straighten horizons of under Filter/Distort/Lens Correction.

Not sure if you've discovered this or not Peter, but a quick and dirty way to straighten is to simply drag a horizontal guide off the ruler (to use as a reference) - Ctrl + A to select the entire image; Ctrl + T to free transform it, and then just stick your mouse near a corner and rotate it

[bluesbrother]

yes
CS4/5 have the grad tool which allows you to darkem/lighten a graduated area of the shot (not just the top). But it's best to do it in the camera with a filter. I did an edit of one of your shots to show how it might have come ou with a filter. You can see that the sky has much more contrast, and so too does the land areas. The quality of the edit is not very good as it was a small file.

I like photographing stuff with al lot of sky and clouds and such. So tips on how to do this better are verry much welcome.
I like what Rob did with my photo. I like your Photos too on kitchen stuff
How do you get the photo's so clean and shiny ?

Also the PS tips are welcome. There are 100 ways to do the same thing in PS i found out. I have some sense of what you can do with PS. but to realy get it, and the hang of it, when to do what etc. is something for the long term.

I realy like the thing you guys are doing with my photo's. And the Blues brothers is a great religion. Almost.

Elwood: It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it.

Colin, Video Tutorials work better for me also. Books or Video, it is a lot of stuff to remember. And to know when to use what technique is a puzzle for me. Will be better in the future when i start to know what the hell i am doing.

Some other pictures:

Elwood: They're not gonna catch us. We're on a mission from God!

I will be back.

[Colin Southern]

I like photographing stuff with al lot of sky and clouds and such. So tips on how to do this better are verry much welcome.

Under-expose it slightly to retain detail and increase saturation ... then reveal any shadow detail using fill light and brightness controls in ACR.

[bluesbrother]

Under-expose it slightly to retain detail and increase saturation ... then reveal any shadow detail using fill light and brightness controls in ACR.

Thanx. I will take a note. I am trying to get the guts to experiment without the full-automatic function on, on my Nikon D60. In genral to get my head arround this stuff.

I can do something else and thats this: Press link

[bluesbrother]

yes
CS4/5 have the grad tool which allows you to darkem/lighten a graduated area of the shot (not just the top). But it's best to do it in the camera with a filter. I did an edit of one of your shots to show how it might have come ou with a filter. You can see that the sky has much more contrast, and so too does the land areas. The quality of the edit is not very good as it was a small file.

I have tried, but i can't find a filter that does this in my PS CS4. Which one do i need to use ?

[carregwen]

I have tried, but i can't find a filter that does this in my PS CS4. Which one do i need to use ?

It's not in the main Photoshop program. It's in the RAW editor. You normally load a RAW file, but you can also load a JPEG, as I did with your edit. Can you see it?

[bluesbrother]

It's not in the main Photoshop program. It's in the RAW editor. You normally load a RAW file, but you can also load a JPEG, as I did with your edit. Can you see it?

Got it, and wend overboard with it. Thanks.

[Dave Humphries]

Got it, and wend overboard with it. Thanks.

But you missed the straighten tool to get the horizon level while you were there
(Yes I'm a hard task master, just ask Wendy)

OK, a bit more helpful
Select the tool, click exactly on the horizon on the left, move mouse to right hand side (dragging the string), click again exactly on horizon, ACR will now make that line horizontal by twisting image, it also does the crop when it opens in Elements or CS. You can see the finished effect by moving to another tool, like the magnifying glass, before leaving ACR.

If the image doesn't have a horizontal horizon, you can use a vertical edge (of a building say) by holding the Ctrl key down while doing the above.

Cheers,

[bluesbrother]

But you missed the straighten tool to get the horizon level while you were there
(Yes I'm a hard task master, just ask Wendy)

OK, a bit more helpful
Select the tool, click exactly on the horizon on the left, move mouse to right hand side (dragging the string), click again exactly on horizon, ACR will now make that line horizontal by twisting image, it also does the crop when it opens in Elements or CS. You can see the finished effect by moving to another tool, like the magnifying glass, before leaving ACR.
Cheers,

What is ACR ? And i was correcting while you where writing the second bit. And i hope it's strainght now. I have used a different technique. (Drag a ruler to a strainght line, then Select All CTRL + A, then with free transform rotate the whole image.

Is this to your liking?

[Colin Southern]

What is ACR ?

ACR = Adobe Camera RAW

[bluesbrother]

ACR = Adobe Camera RAW

Thanks Colin. You are such a reliable person these 2 days. !

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Colin. You are such a reliable person these 2 days. !

Thanks Aldo,

Perhaps I need to get out more!

[Dave Humphries]

~ i was correcting while you where writing the second bit. And i hope it's strainght now. I have used a different technique. (Drag a ruler to a strainght line, then Select All CTRL + A, then with free transform rotate the whole image.

Is this to your liking?

Yes, better thanks (don't you think? well you must because you were doing it even before I asked ), but a bit of blue (background?) has crept in on left lower edge - insufficient crop perhaps?

Cheers,

[ScoutR]

but a bit of blue (background?) has crept in on left lower edge - insufficient crop perhaps?

Oh man, I hate when that happens.

Aldo: it looks like you are coming along nicely. Don't get discouraged, it's so easy to miss something. Dave is a hard task master, trust me I know , but the main thing I like about this forum is the honesty and the willingness to help. It is a great place to learn with so many knowledgeable people to get you on the right track.

You have some great shots to work with. If you are just starting to learn Post Processing, my advice would be to take it in small steps. For instance, you know what ACR is now, so spend a lot of time there and see what you can do with it. Learn one thing at a time, and work on that area until you are comfortable, then go on to something else. Plan little projects for yourself, come here let us know what you are trying to do and ask a lot of questions like you have been doing and give yourself some time.

I'm really looking forward to seeing more of you shots and I hope you will post more of you editing results. I think you will find the feedback that you get here very honest and helpful. I know I have.

Wendy

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Aldo,

I'll admit ACR isn't the most intuitive of programmes, it adheres to software conventions even less than PS does, but getting to know it pays dividends.

I'd recommend Real World Camera RAW for CS?, where the question mark is whatever version CS you have; CS4 I think in your case.
I have just bought the book for CS5 as my previous book for CS3 wasn't current enough for some new controls they just added in CS5 (which is actually ACR6).

Cheers,

[bluesbrother]

Oh man, I hate when that happens.
Aldo: it looks like you are coming along nicely. Don't get discouraged, .................................................. ...... Wendy

Thanks Wendy. I needed that. Dave is hard on me. But i learn to look better.
I mean not that I look better. That won't happen. But that i see more. I am not that sharp on my details so i need a few extra eyes. That's you guys and dolls.
I am realy happely surprised by the replies i get here. Verry helping warm and supporting. Good ideas. What a forum needs to be. Great forum software also.
So I'll be here regulary. In time in between visits i'll be making pictures and photoshopping, and working and taking care of my familiy, and programming websites and other stuff.

On the learning part. Yes you are right. I love learning new stuff. Only i am all over the place. I am learning also a new programming language: C#, Adobe Premiere for editing video's, Camtesia, Joomla programming (php, javascript mysql) and writing stuff for my website about computers (it's in dutch so...)

I need to learn to study one thing at the time. But life is short and i wan't to know everything about computers and what you can do with them. Photoshop is just one of those things. But when i am studying PS. I will take more time for a sub-subject like the Camera Raw interface. I have learned here also a another abbreviation:
SWMBO. But all funn aside. I need to bring more structure in my studying.
Thanks Wendy

Aldo

[Shadowman]

Nice collection, especially the garden statues. I recently photographed a few that were displayed in a local cemetery. i will post later. Welcome to the group.

No editing done. Just a collection of free standing forms. These were taken in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Every Sunday they have a Sunday in the Park Tour. Two days later a man was mugged after visiting his father's grave after finding two fellows going through his car. Nothing is sacred.