Opinions on Maui Photo

inetken

Finishing up processing vacation photo's and wanted opinions on this image. I'm not sure if it's a decent image to make a large print of or if the colors, time of day (late afternoon) and angle are OK.

Marc Muench

I like it

If you know how, make the sky about 50% darker. This will bring the viewers eye to the windsurfers.

inetken

Thank you, that means a lot to me, especially from you. I do need to work on my post processing and until I'm able to get Photoshop, I'm working with Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. I will try and learn how to create a mask and darken the sky.

Ken

Marc Muench wrote:

I like it

If you know how, make the sky about 50% darker. This will bring the viewers eye to the windsurfers.

inetken

OK, here's my first try at darkening the sky. Maybe I went a little too far down?

kdog

Looks like you're on the right track.

I love this shot. Hoopika beach, right? I used to be a pretty avid windsurfer back in the day, and that shot really brings back memories. I love the way the three of them are lined up waiting for a puff of wind so that they can get up enough speed to get out past the impact zone. Even after the wind has all but gone, they're still looking for that last ride. Three buddies, and nothing else around but the ocean, clouds and shoreline. Sweet!

-joel

inetken

Hookipa Beach on the way back from Hana. It was amazing how far those windsurfers would go out into the ocean. I was able to get a few shots while they were still close to the coast. I would have loved to spend more time in Paia.

Thanks for the comment.

Ken

kdog wrote:

Looks like you're on the right track.

I love this shot. Hoopika beach, right? I used to be a pretty avid windsurfer back in the day, and that shot really brings back memories. I love the way the three of them are lined up waiting for a puff of wind so that they can get up enough speed to get out past the impact zone. Even after the wind has all but gone, they're still looking for that last ride. Three buddies, and nothing else around but the ocean, clouds and shoreline. Sweet!

-joel

schmoo

I love your re-process! Marc had a great tip and it makes the image so much more powerful. What a wonderful capture

inetken

Thanks, it didn't look right to me and Marc pointed out the problem. I need to get the photographers eye back. I'm getting back into photography and I need to work on composition and using tools like Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 (for now) and Photoshop (future).

I made the adjustments to the cropped jpeg. I will make the adjustment in the original RAW file and see what a print looks like.

schmoo wrote:

I love your re-process! Marc had a great tip and it makes the image so much more powerful. What a wonderful capture

torags

I have problems with the composition. what's the subject? what draws your eyes int the pic.? The land mass to the left or the tiny windsurfers.

Seems to me the land mass should be smaller, the wind surfers larger. try cropping as a test to see if you like the results.

my .02

inetken

I see what you are saying. All I can relay is what I was thinking at the time of the composition and what I was trying to convey. I was trying to capture the vastness of the ocean and the relation to the rather tiny wind surfers. Along with that the different shades of blue, the layers of clouds and the mist from the late afternoon winds. Just trying to absorb all of this around me.

When I cropped the picture I wanted a lot of ocean and sky with the land on the left just to indicate the closeness of the beach as well as size perspective. There was a lot more ocean to the right in the original but I wanted to have a ratio suitable for an 8 x 10 print. I probably would have preferred a little more ocean to the right. I really liked the contrast of the blue ocean and the orange sails.

I wasn't trying to capture a single element, or focus on one particular subject. Thanks for your input.

Ken

torags wrote:

I have problems with the composition. what's the subject? what draws your eyes int the pic.? The land mass to the left or the tiny windsurfers.

Seems to me the land mass should be smaller, the wind surfers larger. try cropping as a test to see if you like the results.

my .02

chizuck

inetken wrote:

OK, here's my first try at darkening the sky. Maybe I went a little too far down?

looks good but how did you just darken the sky?

Ann McRae

Might I suggest that you crop the upper bit of sky, above the cloud formation, off. I used the handy crop by scrolling method, and think that helps the composition for you.

Maui, and Paia, wow I need to go back!!

ann

ajroahkni

There's a lot of great going on in those clouds. But - to me - and I know little - think that there's so much energy already there in the bottom half of the photo.

Like this?

Ann McRae

ajroahkni wrote:

There's a lot of great going on in those clouds. But - to me - and I know little - think that there's so much energy already there in the bottom half of the photo.

Like this?

Yep, but keep some cloud and lose some ocean...

inetken

chizuck wrote:

looks good but how did you just darken the sky?

Well, I'm by no means an expert, but here is what I did. I'm using Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, so this applies to that software. However the same basic principles will apply to Photoshop.

• In the Layers Palette I created a New Adjustment Layer then selected Curves. (This can also be accomplished from the menu.)
• I then made the curves adjustment concentrating the clouds, don't worry about the lower portion as it will be masked out.
• In the Materials Palette, the Foreground and Stroke properties I chose a Gradient filter and selected a white on top to gradual black bottom for the whole image. The white area will get the darkened portion and the black area will be masked and the original layers image will show.
• Click on the Mask Overlay button in the layers palette. The image will have a reddish tint.
• Select the flood fill tool and fill the curves adjustment layer. This will change the tint from reddish on top to fading out towards the bottom. The reddish area is where the darkened layer will show through.
• You can make adjustments to the gradient to make it fade in the correct areas.
• Turn off the Mask Overlay and the image with the curves adjustment for the sky now displays. Pretty cool stuff.

I may have not used the correct terminology and I wouldn't feel comfortable with a real How-To, without getting a little more experience and really understanding what is happening. However, I hope this helps.

Ken

chizuck

Thanks it does help. I gives me some good point of start.