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Cleveland Dam Today. The light was a little harsh but there were a few places where we it didn't destroy the pic. I quite like the bubbles drifting through on the left hand side.



Came across this grumpy old fellow.


And this is the reservior. I conscientiously shot for the sweet spot of the lens (I heard it was F9 or so) and I believe I got it. Cropped because I was shooting through a fence (watershed).


It was a fun day and walk with the dog. I like just heading out by myself and grabbing whatever pic I fancy. Thoughts and critique please.

Dave - these are very nice pics - good colour and contrast.

A question re the last pic - is that a house sitting out in the water and if so who would want to live there?

I like the first two shots. In the first one there's something about the golden colour in the background and the foreground bright reflection that keeps grabbing my eye.

As to having harsh light to deal with you're in great company with all the Aussie photographers battling the summer sun over here.

One postprocessing thought with the "grumpy old man" from a complete novice at this sort of adjustment. Can you lift him out from the background, each time I go back and look at the image it keeps blending into the background for a bit?

Cheers,
Gordon.

nodrog_reversed wrote:One postprocessing thought with the "grumpy old man" from a complete novice at this sort of adjustment. Can you lift him out from the background, each time I go back and look at the image it keeps blending into the background for a bit?
Cheers,
Gordon.

Thanks for the comments.

I actually worked quite hard at getting him out from the background as it is. I shot at the widest setting, and tweaked in photoshop until I couldn't get anymore out of it. One thing I didn't try is a blur on the background...hmmm, maybe that would work although I'm not really good with making that look natural. Do you have any tips because my arsenal is pretty much exhausted.

Dave,

I wish I could say "use technique X" but sadly when I said novice that should have read extreme novice . The idea of blurring the background sounds good to me too but given the complex shape you're working with I'm not sure how practical it is.

Maybe one of the Photoshop gurus will chime in with a wise solution.

Cheers,
Gordon.

I feel like I'm on the right track with this one, yet I missed and drown in the blur that is gaussian. Any thoughts. Maybe tomorrow I'll work it over a little more carefully now that I've tried it once and get it just perfect. That would be nice. I really wished that I knew photoshop a little better. It would be great to simply know what to do on this.

Dooda

If you have PSCS, have you tried the new Image/Adjustments/Shadow & Highlight option

Great pics mate. I do like the old tree. It has a kind of 'mystery' to it as it is.

stubbsy wrote:Dooda

If you have PSCS, have you tried the new Image/Adjustments/Shadow & Highlight option

Yes, in fact I took HIghlight to 100% reduction on this photo, otherwise the highlight at the top would be completely dominating. I just started doing this though today.

Wow really nice pics there, Beautiful Scenery!