Pace Truck

[M4gery]

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/apdswat/IMG_6519.jpg
Does this look too dark? What can I doo to improve?

[jbkalla]

I don't think it's too dark at all. Not sure what I would do to improve the pic...

[Radtech1]

I don't think it's too dark at all. Not sure what I would do to improve the pic...

At work, not much time.

Color in sky and grass is a little thin, duplicate the layer, set the blend mode to Soft Light, perhaps Overlay, or Maybe even Multiply. Or perhaps, grass layer set to overlay and sky layer set to multiply. Experiment.

Clone out phone poles and attendant wires. Ditto antenna.

Green license plate pulls on the eyes, consider cloning that out as well, or at least, burn.

Next time, shoot from a higher or lower perspective. The background horizon line in this shot coincides with the bed, visually confusing.

If you really want to go wild, try a lens blur on everything behind the truck.


Gotta go,

Rad

[Chris71]

Now see, that is the difference between a novice and an experienced photographer.

I was going to say that the pic looks good as is. Then Rad pointed out those few things, and I said to myself, yeah those changes would do a world of good to the photo.

I say nice pic, but make those few changes, and it will be a great photo.

[Radtech1]

First, here is what I ended up with. I am not saying that this should be what you want. I am only saying that if it were mine, this is what I would want.

http://h1.ripway.com/Radtech1/Pace-Truck-1.jpg

Now, a little bit about the layers that got me here. Please see my post in this thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=194256) on how I use layers and blends.

From the top:

Layer 1 - the red truck, a 5% desaturated and 5% hue shifted to the red. (In Photoshop, Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation.)

Layer 3 Copy and Layer 3 - Upper portion of the sky, blend mode Multiply, opacity about 40%. These help achieve the gradual darkening of the sky the further we get from the horizon. The lower portion of the blue in each of these layers is feathered in with a transparent gradient using this technique (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=46023). (Please note that I had to ask how this is done. Just because I know it now, does not mean that I always knew it. So don't feel overwhelmed, it comes gradually by trying to emulate what others do. That is why I go through the trouble to spell this out, so the new guys can pick up some of the knowledge that I was so freely given here.)

Layer 2 - Same as above but goes all the way down to the horizon. The selection was made with the Magic Wand tool with a 1 pixel feather.

Background Cop... - Same as Background, but with the blend mode set to Soft Light (Enhances contrast) with the opacity at 40% (This was because Background Copy by itself was not quite enough

Background Copy - Again, same as Background, blend mode to Soft Light, but this time the opacity is at 100%

Layer 4 - The grass only. Blend mode Normal. The color was desaturated about 60%. This sits "on top of" (takes the place of, in a way) the grass on the background layer. With all of the contrast enhancing layers above, the grass got too "Wizard of Oz" green. This tones it down to a more natural color.

Background - Your original post. This is the layer that all of the above layers are applied to.

I hope that this helps you to understand how to use the enhance layering modes in Photoshop. Once I started working with these my shots became infinitely better, with deeper, richer coloring, where I wanted, when I wanted.

Rad



http://h1.ripway.com/Radtech1/Pace-Truck-2.jpg

[fivefish]

Great job radtech... maybe some Dodging* on the grill to bring out details that were present in the original picture. ... and maybe remove the window sticker on the right door.

* I meant Photoshop dodging (opposite of burn) as opposed to "Dodge" trucks. :)

The only other thing I would do is clean the muddy wheels.

[madjack]

M4gery, sorry this question is off topic but after reading your forum name I have to ask if you are into AR's?

[sando]

I much prefer the edit, but one thing bugs me (but it may well be this monitor) - the truck now looks pinker than the original. :)

[beckybun]

nice shot. the colors do look a little off to me, but i'm not sure the best way to adjust them.