Challenge 22: Lonely Neighborhood

aero-nut

This is my first attempt at a contest photo with my new camera. It was attempt at showing a cozy little neighborhood that seems like it is "alone" in the desert. I don't know if it is contest material, so any input would be appriciated.

PerezDesignGroup

Nice shot. I definitely get the idea of a lonely town from the pic. I have one recommendation. Try to avoid putting Horizons right smack dab in the center of a picture. It tends to make it a bit dry. The best place to put a horizon is in the top or bottom 1/3 of the frame. This is called the Golden Rule. Confused? If so, check out this link and read through it...

http://asp.photo.free.fr/Composition/photoProgramCompClass23.shtml

ginger_55

PerezDesignGroup wrote:

Nice shot. I definitely get the idea of a lonely town from the pic. I have one recommendation. Try to avoid putting Horizons right smack dab in the center of a picture. It tends to make it a bit dry. The best place to put a horizon is in the top or bottom 1/3 of the frame. This is called the Golden Rule. Confused? If so, check out this link and read through it...

http://asp.photo.free.fr/Composition/photoProgramCompClass23.shtml

I like the "lonely town", too.

I have one more suggestion, perhaps. Unless it is my monitor, the shot appears a bit dark.

Could you open it up a bit, particularly putting emphasis on the small town. Or perhaps brighter and a bit of contrast, I don't know what, but I am having trouble seeing the details of the town, to any degree.

ginger

aero-nut

Great suggestions! Thanks. Maybe I'll take another shot during the middle of the day, instead of at sunset. Although, I was captured by the light at sunset, and how it emphasized the distance to the next town. Hmmmm...

ginger_55

aero-nut wrote:

Great suggestions! Thanks. Maybe I'll take another shot during the middle of the day, instead of at sunset. Although, I was captured by the light at sunset, and how it emphasized the distance to the next town. Hmmmm...

Do you have photoshop or anything. I wonder, I am not someone who enjoys working on a photograph, but I know something could be done there.

You could save the sky color and open up the town.

ginger

ginger_55

I borrowed your photograph, hope you don't mind
I made an attempt also to open up the town, then I realized I was having the same old sky problem. I quit working, I brought this down. I hope the owner of this photo doesn't mind my working with it.

I want to know what to do about the Sky when colored off sides by the sun like this, particularly during sunsets and sunrises. I remember a photo Andy posted, great sky all the way across, someone asked him about it. So now I am asking, what could I have done to have fixed this sky so it was blue on the right side, like it is on the left side.

Sorry, the fixing of the photo I did is not very good, and I did a bunch of different things, but I am more obsessed with the sky thing. This is a problem that is going to haunt me. Any suggestions????

ginger

aero-nut

ginger_55 wrote:

I made an attempt also to open up the town, then I realized I was having the same old sky problem. I quit working, I brought this down. I hope the owner of this photo doesn't mind my working with it.

I want to know what to do about the Sky when colored off sides by the sun like this, particularly during sunsets and sunrises. I remember a photo Andy posted, great sky all the way across, someone asked him about it. So now I am asking, what could I have done to have fixed this sky so it was blue on the right side, like it is on the left side.

Sorry, the fixing of the photo I did is not very good, and I did a bunch of different things, but I am more obsessed with the sky thing. This is a problem that is going to haunt me. Any suggestions????

ginger

ginger,

No, I don't mind at all. I am open to anyone trying new things, especially when there is something to be learned.

I have some other photos, so I may abandon this one for now. But, I am going to revisit it with photoshop here soon.

Thanks.

snapapple

I took a shot at it...
I selected only the sky and worked some curves on it. Then I upped the blue. This emphasized the sunset aspect. Then I lightened the green area to show the detail there and lightened the foreground a little. Then I cropped the bottom a bit to adjust the horizon, further emphasizing the sky. Don't know if it's better or not. Do you like it?

I like the way the town seems isolated out in the desert. Maybe it would be better to crop the sky and show more land, making the desert seem even more vast.

snapapple

I tried again. This time I upped the blues and the reds in the sky and curved it. I cropped the sky instead of the land. Increased the brightness and contrast in the land and did a tiny bit of unsharp mask. I like this better.

aero-nut

snapapple wrote:

I tried again. This time I upped the blues and the reds in the sky and curved it. I cropped the sky instead of the land. Increased the brightness and contrast in the land and did a tiny bit of unsharp mask. I like this better.

I like the sky! That's a really neat effect.