St Mary's Lighthouse Whitley Bay

canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
edited August 4, 2013 in Landscapes
A sunrise image of St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, North East England. C&C always very much appreciated.
Bob

photo-X3.jpg

Comments

  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,939 moderator
    edited July 26, 2013
    The color and subject matter are great. I like the foreground and still water as well.

    But for some reason, the composition doesn't work for me. I think it's that the lighthouse and horizon are nearly centered. If I play around with the crop, it works better for me if I use a line that starts almost right where the reflection starts for the horizontal. I'm not 100% on where the vertical is but maybe it's OK. To include the reflection, you might want to pull back a little.
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  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2013
    ian408 wrote: »
    The color and subject matter are great. I like the foreground and still water as well.

    But for some reason, the composition doesn't work for me. I think it's that the lighthouse and horizon are nearly centered. If I play around with the crop, it works better for me if I use a line that starts almost right where the reflection starts for the horizontal. I'm not 100% on where the vertical is but maybe it's OK. To include the reflection, you might want to pull back a little.

    I see what you mean Ian. I have just noticed there is a gap at the bottom of the lighthouse before the reflection starts. Is it possible to edit that gap? If it is possible Ian I would appreciate knowing how to do it.
    Cheers
    Bob
  • joshhuntnmjoshhuntnm Registered Users Posts: 1,924 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2013
    ian408 wrote: »
    The color and subject matter are great. I like the foreground and still water as well.

    But for some reason, the composition doesn't work for me. I think it's that the lighthouse and horizon are nearly centered. If I play around with the crop, it works better for me if I use a line that starts almost right where the reflection starts for the horizontal. I'm not 100% on where the vertical is but maybe it's OK. To include the reflection, you might want to pull back a little.

    I disagree; i think it looks great.
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2013
    joshhuntnm wrote: »
    I disagree; i think it looks great.
    Thanks Josh I am looking forward to more views.
    Bob
  • CatOneCatOne Registered Users Posts: 957 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2013
    I agree with Ian that it seems a bit tight; I don't like the way the rocks are cut off at the bottom of the frame.

    I do like the color, but I'm not a real fan of the processing. It looks like you REALLY cranked the shadows to show the lighthouse itself and there is noise or other artifacts around the lighthouse itself which jumps out at me. I think the lighthouse is about a stop to bright in the processing; or whatever is causing the haloes around the edges is a problem resulting from something else.
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2013
    CatOne wrote: »
    I agree with Ian that it seems a bit tight; I don't like the way the rocks are cut off at the bottom of the frame.

    I do like the color, but I'm not a real fan of the processing. It looks like you REALLY cranked the shadows to show the lighthouse itself and there is noise or other artifacts around the lighthouse itself which jumps out at me. I think the lighthouse is about a stop to bright in the processing; or whatever is causing the haloes around the edges is a problem resulting from something else.

    I am pleased you have outlined the artifacts around the lighthouse to me Catone. I do remember using the quick selection tool in CS5 to bring up the lighthouse.
    After using the quick selection tool. What should I do next to avoid these artifacts. I have certainly learned a lesson here which I truly appreciate.
    I see what you mean about the rocks and have removed the offenders.
    Bob
  • CatOneCatOne Registered Users Posts: 957 Major grins
    edited July 29, 2013
    canon400d wrote: »
    I am pleased you have outlined the artifacts around the lighthouse to me Catone. I do remember using the quick selection tool in CS5 to bring up the lighthouse.
    After using the quick selection tool. What should I do next to avoid these artifacts. I have certainly learned a lesson here which I truly appreciate.
    I see what you mean about the rocks and have removed the offenders.
    Bob

    I use Aperture to adjust my photos for the most part (others will use Lightroom). For something like this, it would be pretty easy to do a little bump of the shadows and then just brush it into the light house with masking turned on. Start subtle, and go from there.

    If you only have CS5 and not Lightroom, you should still be able to make that tweak in Camera Raw, assuming you shot raw. If you shot JPEG, I don't know, but it may be a lot harder to bring the shadows up easily. That's why I always shoot raw mwink.gif
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,939 moderator
    edited July 29, 2013
    CatOne wrote: »
    If you only have CS5 and not Lightroom, you should still be able to make that tweak in Camera Raw, assuming you shot raw. If you shot JPEG, I don't know, but it may be a lot harder to bring the shadows up easily. That's why I always shoot raw mwink.gif

    Just open the jpg in Camera Raw mwink.gif

    It's not perfect but it does work.
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  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2013
    ian408 wrote: »
    Just open the jpg in Camera Raw mwink.gif

    It's not perfect but it does work.

    Ian,
    I don't want to feel stupid and I am sure I have been through all of this before. I have always shot raw. I then put the images through ACR CS5 and then into Photoshop.
    What should I do with the CR2 files keep them? Because I have always got rid of them as they take up so much space.
    Bob
  • CatOneCatOne Registered Users Posts: 957 Major grins
    edited July 31, 2013
    Well, a RAW file takes up a LOT less space than a TIFF file or a PSD file that's been processed through Photoshop.

    The more common workflow for the last 5-6 years has been to use a non-destructive editor like Aperture or Lightroom. They can do 95% of the work you'd ever need to do on an image, and it's based on the original raw file. For the small percentage of shots were you truly NEED Photoshop, you just do the "open in Photoshop" and make the edits, and then save it, and the updated version will appear alongside the original in Aperture or Lightroom.

    Getting rid of the original raw files is a really bad idea. Raw converters are getting better all the time, and you can get a much better version processing the raw file today (in terms of shadow detail and noise) than you could 5 years ago.

    I've been using Aperture with a 100% raw-based workflow since it came out in 2005. I honestly can't fathom the slow workflow of ACR these days. Aperture or Lightroom are where it's at.
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,939 moderator
    edited July 31, 2013
    canon400d wrote: »
    Ian,
    I don't want to feel stupid and I am sure I have been through all of this before. I have always shot raw. I then put the images through ACR CS5 and then into Photoshop.
    What should I do with the CR2 files keep them? Because I have always got rid of them as they take up so much space.
    Bob

    I'm with CatOne on this one.

    I suggested CR to edit jpg's not because it's the same but because if all you have is the jpeg, you can get some of the benefit of Camera Raw.
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited August 1, 2013
    ian408 wrote: »
    I'm with CatOne on this one.

    I suggested CR to edit jpg's not because it's the same but because if all you have is the jpeg, you can get some of the benefit of Camera Raw.

    Thanks Ian I see what you mean about using shadows in Camera Raw. I have always used shadows/highlights in photoshop.
    Bob
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
    edited August 4, 2013
    I think this is one of your best shots I've seen, Bob. Very lovely indeed. thumb.gif
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited August 6, 2013
    kdog wrote: »
    I think this is one of your best shots I've seen, Bob. Very lovely indeed. thumb.gif
    Thanks Kdog I really appreciate your kind remarks as this shot has caused me a few problems with the previous posts which I appreciated and this led me to Ziggy and Pathfinder giving me instructions on using the quick selection tool and the refine edge, etc.
    Cheers
    Bob
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