I just got some new rechargeable batteries over the weekend and couldn't wait to get out and take some pics. I have very little experience at post processing and was wondering what you all think about this photo before and after. I cloned out some things and adjusted color with curves, reduced the noise and added the vignette. I may have taken out too much detail but I generally like the result. Suggestions? I know that this could probably be done a lot better.
I did a quick take on the image--I like the cloning out of the distracting elements that you did (but I just did a starter crop instead)
In your edit I think the vignette might be a tad strong, and the color/brightness of the water seems to be "blown out" to me. Since you have some nice subtle textures in the water in front of the duck, it seems a shame to lose them.
So, anyway, here is my quick edit--click on the thumb for a slightly larger view.
As for posting thumbs, when you are on your main image in your portfolio, you can look in the browser's address bar, and there will be a numeric identifier at the end of the url. Copy this. Then, in a thread, select next to last icon in the posting window (overlapping rectangles next to the "person") and you'll get a dialog box in which you can paste the identifying number. Voila :-)
Both very nice... what exactly did you do to get the result?
Well, I just did a crop to remove the extra branches, but I like the additional curvy reflection of the main branch, so your cloning those out is a better approach. I then just did an overall desaturation, adjusted brightness and contrast just a bit, followed by a bit of sepia and shifting the color balance toward warm (was using Preview on my Mac). I went b/w for two reasons: you have some interesting and subtle textures and tones that, in my opinion, are better revealed and served by b/w. I also found the color of the reflected trees distracting and drawing the eye up and out of the image, so a crop and b/w helped that for me.
I also like Mark-A s crop below, and the cloning out of the lower branches and the little distracting bit works much better than my quick/dirty cropping. I think his crop, and a b/w conversion might be very interesting.... So here is my quick conversion of his version:
You have some beautiful subtly textured negative space to play with, so I think I would do the cloning out first thing, convert (or not) next, and then play around with various small crops from the bottom and top until the image is perfectly balanced.
thanks guys. Your examples gave me something to shoot for in terms of detail, crop and tonality. With your guidance the end result is much better than what I came up with on my own. Thanks again.
