The Ship

[JRS]

I'm trying to improve my PP skills, so, advise is welcome!

25-105mm@24 | ISO 100 | 1/1000 | F/4

Large version: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74314625/IMG_1634.jpg

 

[Z]

I like this photograph!

However, my personal opinion is that sunsets should have more of a magenta bias. I performed 10 seconds worth of curves adjustment on the green channel to reflect this. Your version is too green for my tastes.

 

[Kernuak]

On the theme of less is more, I personally think the saturation has been pushed too far. Sunsets look nice when colourful, but the image should still look realistic in my opinion.

 

[K-amps]

I like it, the blues were bothering me so I did some color correction...

 

[Canon-F1]

On the theme of less is more, I personally think the saturation has been pushed too far. Sunsets look nice when colourful, but the image should still look realistic in my opinion.

i agree that most edits are to much... like ken rockwell +50 saturation.

but freelancers and Z´s are in the ballpark.
i think it´s not to colourfull for print.
saturation will always be a bit reduced when printing.

and i have seen much more colourful sunsets in real.

what bothers me is the noise in k-amps and the other HDRish image.
the local contrast push is to much for my personal taste.

 

[risc32]

i'm lazy AND busy. one click.

 

[JRS]

Thanks all, this is the original:

 

[risc32]

you flipped it. hmmm, maybe that's why dxo was refusing to straighten out the horizon for me. they all look pretty cool to me, just down to taste. now that i see the original though, i think you should have hit that ship with a 580 or a reflector for some fill

 

[JRS]

i think you should have hit that ship with a 580 or a reflector for some fill

LOL

 

[Kernuak]

Thanks all, this is the original:

Classic example of why you need grad filters for landscapes. At a guess, a 3 stop grad on the sky and maybe a 1 stop on the sea would have helped with the light around the ship. Overall, the image is underexposed by around a stop, so with the grads 4 stop extra light would have helped lift the photo, with less need for over the top processing. If you have Lightroom, a slight increase in the highlight saturation only, would have prevented the weird colours in the blue sky.

 

[DanielW]

Well, here goes my take on this shot:
- I like the light rays on the ship but like the little boat on the left, too (which took me a short while to notice). I think cropping so that it looks like a panorama emphasizes that relationship between the two ships (tiny vs huge) and maybe how unfair life is (the sun shining only on the already privileged), and makes it easier to notice the little one;
- One other reason to crop is that the blue part of the sky kept drawing my eyes to it, as Freelancer said, so I got rid of it;
- I agree with Z on the green/magenta balance;
- I tried to overexpose the ship a bit, even though it's a JPEG and detail is not expected to come up by doing so.
Have I gone too far?

 

[JRS]

Classic example of why you need grad filters for landscapes. At a guess, a 3 stop grad on the sky and maybe a 1 stop on the sea would have helped with the light around the ship. Overall, the image is underexposed by around a stop, so with the grads 4 stop extra light would have helped lift the photo, with less need for over the top processing. If you have Lightroom, a slight increase in the highlight saturation only, would have prevented the weird colours in the blue sky.

Can't I get the same effect of grad filters using HDR?

 

[JRS]

Well, here goes my take on this shot:
- I like the light rays on the ship but like the little boat on the left, too (which took me a short while to notice). I think cropping so that it looks like a panorama emphasizes that relationship between the two ships (tiny vs huge) and maybe how unfair life is (the sun shining only on the already privileged), and makes it easier to notice the little one;
- One other reason to crop is that the blue part of the sky kept drawing my eyes to it, as Freelancer said, so I got rid of it;
- I agree with Z on the green/magenta balance;
- I tried to overexpose the ship a bit, even though it's a JPEG and detail is not expected to come up by doing so.
Have I gone too far?

Like your crop!

 

[Kernuak]

Classic example of why you need grad filters for landscapes. At a guess, a 3 stop grad on the sky and maybe a 1 stop on the sea would have helped with the light around the ship. Overall, the image is underexposed by around a stop, so with the grads 4 stop extra light would have helped lift the photo, with less need for over the top processing. If you have Lightroom, a slight increase in the highlight saturation only, would have prevented the weird colours in the blue sky.

Can't I get the same effect of grad filters using HDR?

Nope, totally different look.