Lake Hawea

[zafra52]

One of the many pictures I took in New Zealand. This is Lake Hawea and apart from the strong winds the camera found particularly difficult copping with the range of light. I think, however, I managed to capture the atmosphere of the place, but its beauty and magnificnese is beyond any photographic equipment.

[Oneputt]

The conditions look far from ideal but I think that you have done a good job

[Antsl]

Righto Zafra .... I like this image and so, in the guise of one of my aliases I am going to offer you advice to improve this image.
First off, crop this image.... you can afford to lose at least a third of its overall height, with a little from the foreground and the a fair amount from the top. The aim is to include the mountains at the top of the picture but not too much of that bright sky while at the same time losing some of that unnecessary foreground.
Now you need to recover some detail into the clouds and some detail into that dark foreground. with luck you have shot the image on RAW mode so this should not be too hard to do. If you are working from a JPEg the other option is to make these adjustments using the Shadow and highlight control.
Now you need to tame that bright area in the top left of the picture .... one option is to pinch cloud from another image however you can also copy and paste some of the cloud from the right of the frame into the left of the picture and then use a layer mask (or the eraser) to reveal the mountains.
About now I will pass it back to you to keep playing with.
Hope this is a help, Ants

[zafra52]

Thank you for the advice. I will have a go at it tonight when I am at home.

[zafra52]

What about this version? Unfortunately, I took the image in JPG.

[Antsl]

That's a lot better!
Keeping the top left corner dark stops the eye escaping to that corner and keeps you exploring the foreground and detail in the mountains.
The one thing that I would do now is vignette the image a little .... that is to darken the borders overall.
To do this you can use the marquee tool (square or circular to create a border within the image.
Now feather that selection (I usually apply 250 pixels to a large image) and then inverse that selection.
Now use the Brightness and Contrast tool to darken the edges a little ... apply to taste.
About now the image should be even stronger. Have fun with it!

[zafra52]

Thank you very much for your help. Is this what you have in mind?

[Antsl]

Almost .... you need to bring in the vignette about five percent .... increasing the feathering and maybe just ease back a little on the darkening but you are on the right track.

[zafra52]

How about this?

[stubbsy]

Now that rework just above this post has it nailed. That's a great spot so it's good you've got an image to do it justice given the conditions you had.

[zafra52]

Thank you Antsl for your help and Stubbsy for you approval. I must admit that I prefer this last image, but still it nowhere near being there. New Zealand is a landscape photographer's paradise.

[Antsl]

Hi Zafra ... the trick to creating great images is to apply technique but not be obvious about applying the technique.
I have this theory that whatever the image, it has to be convincing.... keep working on the image until you feel convinced by what you see! Have fun with it.
I am off to NZ in the morning although I do no think I am going to get to Hawea ... I do get to spend Monday and Tuesday shooting models though... I going to pretend to be a Wendell for a couple of days! Have a great week all, Ants

[bago100]

Thank you Antsl for your help and Stubbsy for you approval. I must admit that I prefer this last image, but still it nowhere near being there. New Zealand is a landscape photographer's paradise.

Agree wholeheartedly!

You just need a sheep cloning out tool

Am looking forward to seeing more of your NZ photos Zafra

Cheers

Graham

[ozimax]

Great place, nice image and well manipulated in the final version. Would like to see some more form your trip to NZ.
Enjoy your time there Ants...

Ozi