bigsarg7's attempts feed back welcomed!!

[bigsarg7]

This is a photo taken at Echuca, Vic Not far from the wharf. I have edited it a touch on the computer, but please your feedback is essential in my improovement. Composition etc??


This next one is a one off, just happened to catch her looking away and being on a good angle to take the picture.


So please tell me what you think, Thanks. (as you can tell i am new at this still).
Kristen

[Yi-P]

#1 needs a crop out of the top empty area, and a level/curve adjustment to brighten up the image and give it some contrast.

#2 looks good, just crop the bedsheet out of the way (square crop it).

[Marvin]

I agree 100% with Yi-P. The first needs brightening but it is a nice candid capture. They might both improve with a bit of a crop. In the second her eyes stand out really well. The right side of her face is very bright though which distracts from the picture slightly. Did you do any pp on this one?

[bigsarg7]

Thanks for your comments, i totally agree with the need for cropping both images, I have actually got the first image done on canvas cropped down at the top and with a bit more contrast, the second image i was a tad disapointed with due to the brightness, but the eyes definately do stand out don't they.

[gstark]

The first image does need cropping. A square crop would probably work very well.

The pose (or lack of) is delightful.

There is something wrong with the colour/brightness/exposure .... and I'm stuffed if I can put my finger on it. The wb seems fine, but the image feels ... dirty. I'm almost thinking that this is the wb being off, due perhaps to the predominant grey feeling in the colours present within the image confusing the awb. Was AWB in use? Was this shot in raw?

In the second image ... again, was this shot in raw? The girl's r cheek seems to be blown; perhaps that can be pulled back with some selective PP? While on the subject of selective PP, consider the area just behind the subject, to her right: brighten that up even more, to fade the elements down with respect to the respect of the image.

And also consider an alternate crop for this image as well. Just crop the bottom, immediately above the body of the guitar.

[bigsarg7]

Thanks gary, thats given me even more to think about, in all honesty i can't explain the colour/brightness or contrast with this image, it was shot in raw, but it kinda feels like there is a filter on it, when theres not. On the canvas print i did of the image it came up amazing, its a mistake that seems to have worked out really well. All the visitors to my place love the colours, but i would have prefered it a tad brighter with a little more contrast. Thanks again for the comments, i will go to photoshop and have a fiddle cropping and adjusting both images.
wow, this has been so helpful. Thanks.
Kristen

[gstark]

Thanks gary, thats given me even more to think about, in all honesty i can't explain the colour/brightness or contrast with this image, it was shot in raw, but it kinda feels like there is a filter on it, when theres not.

What about colour space? That might be worth looking at, given that it printed ok.

Having been shot in raw, are you able to reset the wb to reflect either the cloudy or open shade setting that your camera might have?

[bigsarg7]

Actually gary, i did shoot it in raw, but for some reason Photoshop wouldn't open it in raw, so somehow i can't even remember how i had to save it in Jpeg, which annoyed me, my photoshop is cs2, is that normal it doesn't open raw images? and is raw the best to shoot in or are there other settings that are better. I've read in all the DSLR mags that raw is best esp when it comes to editing but yeah i have the issue of not being able to open them to edit when saved in raw. Weird!! Otherwise thats a great idea to fiddle with the WB.

[Marvin]

Which camera did you use? If it's a newer one then camera raw from CS2 might not recognise it.

[gstark]

What software did your camera come with? That usually includes something that allows you to do at least some basic editing in raw.

You can then do your basics, and get the image set up for any advanced PP that you'd want to subsequently apply.

I think you're using an Olympus? Perhaps converting the ORF to DNG may be a useful approach?

And yes, as a general rule, it's usually best to shoot in raw. For shooters like me - the less than perfect - it provides the most options for recovering from the inevitable screw-ups that I'm going to be imposing upon my images.