Slate debris

[The amateur]

Feel free to fire away with any comments or suggestions you may have.

[Geoff F]

Looks good to me although I wonder if you are trying to show too much; so would a slight crop from the left side and bottom produce a more concentrated view?

[Round Tuit]

I am thinking along the same line as Geoff. A crop from the left and the bottom followed by selective burning of the brightest highlights.

[DanK]

I think I would get WAY closer, getting rid of most of the foreground and background. The interesting part is the material in the center. I would do some close-ups of that, to try to get some interesting patterns. Maybe roughly the scale of the image below, although I'm not sure that this is the best angle from which to capture it.

With a lot of subjects, like flowers (which I do a lot), it's important to find a perspective that doesn't look like what you would see walking by. I think that is true of this as well. I'd play around, looking for a perspective that is unusual. getting very close is a start.

[royent]

I wouldn't photographic it with the camers 5 foot up either. Get down on your knees.
Roy

[The amateur]

Thank you very much Geoff, André, Dan e roy for your contribution to the analysis of this image.

I agree with you that the area captured is relatively large and could be excessive, but I think that this way the central pieces with a different color are mainly highlighted and integrated into a context.
I understand your point of view, as the photo should be cleaner, so to speak.

The image I posted was worked on when I was still stubborn about crop proportions , and the one I show you below in this post was processed after I had "freed" myself from this constraint thanks to you.

Dan's relatively severe crop, in a way, removes a bit of context from the image, reducing it to a capture of just isolated coloured pieces.
I was attracted by the horizontal line that separates the two large areas: the top with loose debris and the bottom, which is denser and darker, showing a differentiated texture.
In fact, the brightness that I intentionally imprinted in the central area emphasizes the two large areas.

I don't mind taking "en passant" photos depending on the circumstances of the moment and the situation. For example, the photo I show you here is one of many taken in the same location and intentionally captured during a photographic outing with other people.

But there are other photos that I take in a more insistent and careful way, such as the one in which I as showing too much field on the left, occupied by the pillar, where I went back for the best angles within the temple. There are more examples of this...

Thanks to you the photo is better now !
Cheers !

[royent]

Still needs a trim top and bottom. As per Dank.
Roy

[The amateur]

Sorry... no, no, no !

[royent]

Each to his own
Roy

[The amateur]

Each to his own
Roy

Roy must have already seen that I am open to criticism, but I have explained what I think about the crop of the image.
In any case, thank you for the tip. Don't be offended by my reaction !
Cheers !

[DanK]

It's all a matter of taste.

However, to explain my taste: while I understand the idea of having three contrasting regions, the top one doesn't contain anything of interest. The bottom one has a little bit of visual interest, and it's possible that further processing could bring that out more. The middle third has a lot of interest, although again, I don't think I would have shot it from this perspective.

So, here's another edit, for what little it may be worth. I did the following:

1. I cropped, mostly from the top.
2. I increased contrast using a curve, using a normal blending mode, which increases saturation.
3. Using masks, I did some dodging and burning.
4. Using a mask, I increased the contrast of the broken rocks that are now closer to the top using a luminosity blend, which increases contrast but not saturation.

For my taste--only mine--this brings out the interesting contrasts in color and texture without the distraction of the featureless top area that I cropped off.

[The amateur]

Dan, you never fail to surprise me with your fantastic and successful proposals. And the result is even better than I could imagine ! I really like this proposal.

The whole curves thing is really challenging. I've been watching some videos, but it's still hard to master. But there are other ways to edit images, of course.

Dan, thank you very much for your excellent contribution. This image is much more captivating now !
Cheers !

[DanK]

Antonio,

I hope you don't find this a nag, but in my opinion, you MUST learn to use the curves tool. It is one of the most fundamental and most powerful tools in any editing software.

Unmesh Dinda at Piximperfect has posted several very good explanations of the curve too, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvyiydd2dMc. However, he speaks rather quickly, so I think many people who are not native speakers of English would need to slow the YouTube videos to 0.75x.

If I were in Portugal, I'd be happy to sit down with you to show you how to use it, but unfortunately, it's a very long trip

Dan

[The amateur]

Antonio... If I were in Portugal, I'd be happy to sit down with you to show you how to use it, but unfortunately, it's a very long trip

Dan

Dan... you are only seven hours away... not that much.
And Portugal is safe and not expensive for you. Have you ever consider a visit to this country ?
-
I know Unmesh and I have learned a few things from him.
But this morning, while I was waiting for my wife, I saw a video about blend if (which I had seen before) that I found very interesting again.

I will make an effort and practice the curves of which I have understood the essentials for a long time.

My English is good enough to understand easily what the Indian says or anyone else who speaks English, but I find it much easier to understand people who articulate the language clearly, like some Americans do.

Thank you very much for the tip!
Cheers !

[DanK]

Hi Antonio,

I hope I will make it to Portugal some day.

Let me give you even more unsolicited advice. I think there is a hierarchy:

1. Editing tools. This is the essential base and is where everyone should start. Examples include curves and other tonality controls, saturation, vibrance, sharpening etc. All of what follows below is just ways of using these tools more effectively. In my view, knowing these is essential for effective editing.
2. Selection and masking, to allow you to apply #1 to parts of images. This is the second most important part.
3. Blend modes, if you are using layers. This is also a way of controlling what you have done with #1. This is much less important than #1 and #2 because a normal blend mode is fine much of the time. I only use 4 blend modes, and I still use normal most, by a very large amount.
5. Specialty or advanced tools. There are a lot of these. One is luminosity masks, which I use a small amount. Blend if is another. I actually don't use blend if, although it's on my list of additional advanced skills to study.

Anyway, this advice is unsolicited, so of course, you can ignore it

Dan

[The amateur]

Hi Antonio...this advice is unsolicited, so of course, you can ignore it Dan

You must be kidding !
I have already and again, been watching tutorials !
-
edit - If you coming let me know !

[Chataignier]

Interesting thread, time to go watch the Piximperfect video on curves again. I understood it, but still dont really use it. As a wise man once said : I hear I forget, I see I remember, I do I understand.

[DanK]

Not only is the curves tool indispensable, IMHO; it's also very versatile. In addition to using it for contrast, I use it for general lightening and darkening of images and for burning and dodging. It gives more control over tonality adjustments than any other tool.

If you use photoshop, I urge you to try curves with both a normal blend and a luminosity blend. use a steep S-curve to generate a lot of contrast, just to make the difference clearer, and then switch back and forth between blend modes. Or duplicate the curve, set one for each mode, and toggle between them. It can be really helpful to modify tonality without touching color and saturation (the luminosity blend), and this lets you do it effortlessly, without the fuss and bother of going into L*a*b mode. You can also create a curve, duplicate it, put one in each mode, and then use opacity to get the mix you want.

[Geoff F]

Interesting thread, time to go watch the Piximperfect video on curves again. I understood it, but still dont really use it. As a wise man once said : I hear I forget, I see I remember, I do I understand.

That is the same with me. It may be an age related thing but watching a video tutorial is a waste of time for me. By the time I get to the end I have forgotten the beginning. I need written instructions so I can keep referring back to the areas where I am struggling.

However, I do use Curves on most of my edits. Frequently combined with masking to selectively apply the effect. Basic Curves with highlights at top right corner and shadow in the bottom left corner are reasonably straight forward. But midtone tweaks can be a bit more tricky, particularly things like pulling the adjustment line fully down to the bottom then applying a bell shaped curve line for midtones.