Another Misty Morning at the Lake C&C needed

[ScoutR]

Nikon D3000: 18-200mm
1/4000s: f8: ISO 400: 200mm: Matrix -1 1/3

I have done a small crop from the left and bottom to get the duck on the lower third, and some of the usual RAW processing: Fill light, Black Clipping point, Brightness and increased Orange and Yellow Luminance In LR. In Elements I tried Geoff's suggestion of lassoing the duck, feathering the selection and applying some sharpening to the duck. then I resized and sharpened the whole shot at amount 100 Radius .3

I like this shot, I wish the duck showed up a bit better, but it was obscured by the mist. There is a lot of noise, but I did not do any noise reduction. I'm not sure if this is a case where the noise works or not. To my eyes it seems to give it a kind of painted look, but I'm wondering if to others it just looks like a lot of noise.

Anyway, I'm not sure where to go with this one. I like it as is, but I'd like to improve it too. I'm open to suggestions, In camera or PP. I might not get the same conditions again, but if I do It will be good to be better prepared.

Thanks
Wendy

[jww40]

Wendy,
All I have to say is "WOW!". Very nice!
John

[Clactonian]

That's a great capture Wendy and I love the pp.
Is it my imagination or is the water flowing downhill quite steeply to the left?
Mike

[ScoutR]

No, it's not your imagination. Bad enough I can't keep the camera straight, but then I go and miss it before posting.

Wendy

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Wendy,

Bad enough I can't keep the camera straight, but then I go and miss it before posting.

Ah, but if you follow "Dave's rules"; and keep the image open in the editor until well after posting, you just undo twice (the final sharpen and resize steps) and tweak it, then downsize, sharpen and save again and no quality loss.

Seriously, if you only knew how many times I do this - not keeping camera level and having to do the "back out" procedure for something seen after posting - you wouldn't be beating yourself up so much

It is a nice shot, but I think I would have Neat Imaged the noise rather than ACR*, as that might have softened it a little (I know that was my previous advice). * EXIF shows the NR 100 for both I think, it's so easy to overlook.

I might have left a complete reflection in the bottom half and gone for putting the sky, trees & water 'on the thirds' and let the duck be a bit higher in frame - it's just an idea, but it might look rubbish though

Cheers,

[Peter Ryan]

Very, very nice shot Wendy. Apart from the straightening I would accept it as is. The light is great the mood is there in bucket loads and the noise will disappear if you print it. It is worth getting some images printed to see what actually happens with noise in the print, as opposed to just looking at it on screen. Mostly it disappears.

[ScoutR]

Hi Wendy,

Ah, but if you follow "Dave's rules"; and keep the image open in the editor until well after posting, you just undo twice (the final sharpen and resize steps) and tweak it, then downsize, sharpen and save again and no quality loss.

LOL, exactly what I was thinking as I was writing the reply. I thought you might pick up on it.

It is a nice shot, but I think I would have Neat Imaged the noise rather than ACR*, as that might have softened it a little (I know that was my previous advice). * EXIF shows the NR 100 for both I think, it's so easy to overlook.

You are right, I forgot that I have Noise reduction automatically applied on import with LR. It is still noisy though, so I will play around with Neat Image and see what I can do.

I might have left a complete reflection in the bottom half and gone for putting the sky, trees & water 'on the thirds' and let the duck be a bit higher in frame - it's just an idea, but it might look rubbish though

You never know until you try. I have some room to play around with this one, and I will certainly give it a try. Thanks for the suggestions. I have quite a few to work on from this morning - just not enough time

Wendy

[ScoutR]

Wendy,
All I have to say is "WOW!". Very nice!
John

Thank you John, I don't get WOW too often Actually I don't think I've ever had a WOW. I like it Thanks again!

Wendy

From Peter: Very, very nice shot Wendy. Apart from the straightening I would accept it as is. The light is great the mood is there in bucket loads and the noise will disappear if you print it. It is worth getting some images printed to see what actually happens with noise in the print, as opposed to just looking at it on screen. Mostly it disappears.

Thanks Peter. Maybe I'll leave my hands off this one, except to straighten. I have a few now that I'd like to get printed. I'll have to give it a try and see how they look

Wendy

[ScoutR]

I see what you mean about the crop Dave. I've tried a couple more versions. I also applied another round of Noise Reduction in Elements and did some LCE (might have gone to far though, as the fog seems to be starting to band or seperate or something) I think the crops work better, thanks for the suggestion. I completly missed that I had cut off the reflection.

#1 crop


#2 crop


C&C welcome and appreciated

Wendy

[Donald]

Wow (there's a second wow). It is just so amazing to have watched your development. Just like me, you started off with images that were okay, that had the occassional good or very good in them. And, now, in your case, the norm is 'wows'.

I like the first crop.

I might have left a complete reflection in the bottom half and gone for putting the sky, trees & water 'on the thirds' and let the duck be a bit higher in frame ...

Dave's advice is, in my opinion, definitely the right option. This is one where you need to know about the rule of thirds but then break it so far as the duck is concerned.

And so far as:

I like it as is, but I'd like to improve it too.

the secret is is knowing when to stop and I'd say you'd reached that point now.

[ScoutR]

Thank you Donald - 2 Wows - now that's a record. I agree on the crop - Thank you Dave, you don't miss anything We are very lucky to have your eyes and expertise to help us. (not the royal "we" - all of us here at the forum)

Donald you said it about knowing when to stop. I can't count the times that I've gone way past that point and then started over and liked the results better with minimal processing. I always think it looks great untill I look at it a couple days later at which point it looks terrible.

Thanks again for the feedback and compliments. I have a few more that I need to work on, but after the duck flew away there was no subject except the inferno of the sun burning through the mist. Not sure if they are going to work or not.

Wendy

Edit: Good grief, I just noticed I forgot to straighten them. I straightened the first one, but when I started playing around with the crops, I forgot to straighten the original. Seniors moment.

[Clactonian]

Hi Wendy.
Dave's advice is as always very sound. I use Lightroom mostly so tend to work on RAW images all the time. The great feature with Lightroom is the virtual copy. Have you used it?
At the risk of preaching to the converted (sorry no pun intended), I tend not to work on the original RAW file, but create one or more virtual copies that I then edit. L/R allows you to compare the original and edited copy side by side ( or two edited copies come to that) and choose the best.
I then export the file converting it to an appropriate format, resizing, renaming and sharpening all as part of the operation.
If on posting, I see a glaring error (or get some C & C) then I can go back to the virtual copy to tweak before re-exporting and posting.
Fun isn't it?

[dragonaxe]

That's a great capture Wendy and I love the pp.
Is it my imagination or is the water flowing downhill quite steeply to the left?
Mike

Mike, Mike, Mike....lake water ALWAYS runs downhill!! Otherwise how would waterskiing have ever been invented??!! tchuh

[bluesbrother]

This is great stuff !!! A great shot. compliments Wendy.

[ScoutR]

Hi Wendy.
At the risk of preaching to the converted (sorry no pun intended), I tend not to work on the original RAW file, but create one or more virtual copies that I then edit. L/R allows you to compare the original and edited copy side by side ( or two edited copies come to that) and choose the best.
I then export the file converting it to an appropriate format, resizing, renaming and sharpening all as part of the operation.
If on posting, I see a glaring error (or get some C & C) then I can go back to the virtual copy to tweak before re-exporting and posting.
Fun isn't it?

That sounds like a great plan Mike. I know about the virtual copies and used them when I first got LR, but for some reason I quit and always went back and started over on the original. Now that I am getting a few that are worth working on, I will have to start again. It seems the more I learn and the more steps I add the worse my workflow gets. I've been caught on it a couple times lately. Virtual copies are a great option, and I will have to get into the habit.

I will get that water straightened out too. I don't want the lake to empty, it's been too good to me

Wendy

[ScoutR]

Thank you Aldo - much appreciated

Wendy

[Wirefox]

Wendy

You can have another WOW from me. For the first shot anyway. Crop 1 works better from the point of view that you can see the whole of the ducks reflection but you have lost part of the key compositional element. The duck needs some more space to fly into.It works in your first post because the image is narrower top to bottom.

Anyway thats just nit picking. Excellent work...again

Steve

[Clactonian]

Mike, Mike, Mike....lake water ALWAYS runs downhill!! Otherwise how would waterskiing have ever been invented??!! tchuh

You'll have to excuse me. I'm an Essex boy!!

[Shadowman]

Great capture Wendy. Everything is just right.

[ScoutR]

but you have lost part of the key compositional element. The duck needs some more space to fly into.It works in your first post because the image is narrower top to bottom.

Thanks Steve: I will keep this in mind for the final edit. I don't have any more room on the left, but I can take a bit off the bottom (and still keep the reflection) and a tad off the top. That might work to get the same perspective as the first one AND keep the reflection. Tricky stuff this, not nit picking at all. It's the little things that make such a big difference.

Thanks again for the feedback -and the WOW
Wendy