Jemez River

[Drbeagle]

I do a lot of backpacking, so I have a lot of opporunities to take river shots. Give it to me. Help me improve. Thanks!!

http://home.comcast.net/~drbeagle/Photos/river.jpg

Link (http://home.comcast.net/~drbeagle/Photos/river.jpg)

Thanks so much,
David

[suzie]

Hi again David.

This is OK, but I found it a bit dull - you cannot see much detail in the river and there is no real "highlight" or main focus. Maybe try again with different angle and light? Keep going!

Suzie.

[eland]

David

Sometimes showing too much spoils the image.
The bright sky wrecks many images.

As a photographic artist you can decide what your viewer looks at.
I would crop off the sky part completely.

Concentrate your viewers' attention on the river, the branch on the left and the grass in the foreground.

Use Levels or even just Brightness and Contrast to
"lift" these areas and your pic will come to life.
Try it. You can make this image almost 3D.

eland

[Drbeagle]

And Suzie, thanks for your critiques of my work. I am very new to photography and really need such critisism. Unfortunately, I'm still at the stage where photography can only take second place to other activities (like family and school). So, having comments about composition will really help me find better shots in my everyday life. Thanks so much

When you mean use levels to lift those areas do you mean I should just apply a levels layer to those areas. And leave the rest as is. I have my ideas but I would like to hear yours as well.

David

[suzie]

Hi David,

I am also pretty new to this and I know what you mean, it really helps to get an objective opinion of your work.

I had a play with your image in PhotoShop (hope you don't mind) and came up with this version:

http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/data/500/216river.jpg

Let me know if you want me to remove this.

I will leave the more technical aspects to Eland though, he is the expert!!

Suzie.

[Drbeagle]

Suzie,
I don't mind at all. Thanks for helping me. I had another go too and ended cropping to almost the same shot you did. However, what did you go to boost the color/contrast levels. I had already tortured the photo with a levels correction and some saturation boost. Your suggetions are much appreciated. Thanks

David

[suzie]

Hi David,

I just set Auto Levels and then fiddled about with the curves a bit, increased saturation and hue slightly then ran a Sharpen filter.

I do not really know what I am doing, I just have a play and see what I think looks good. Hope that helps in some way!


Suzie.

[Drbeagle]

Ok, you were able to use curves. I only have Photoshop elements (meaning no curves.) :(

I have downloaded GIMP which has given me a chance to use alittle bit of curves. But, it sucks compared to the curves feature in photoshop.

Someday, I'll be able to afford a camera and software, lol. Right now, a cheeseburger is hard.