Critique please - boats in harbor (photoshopped)

[Picture North Carolina]

All comments welcome - good, bad, positive, negative, even viscious if productive. 2 images. (I put a black border around them because the white border posted here on potn looked bad. The images look a little better against the black background of pbase here (http://www.pbase.com/jumbo_photography/image/72707005) and here (http://www.pbase.com/jumbo_photography/image/72707008).) /Dan

Boats in Harbor:
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http://www.pbase.com/jumbo_photography/image/72706983.jpg
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Boats in Harbor with Seagull:
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http://www.pbase.com/jumbo_photography/image/72706989.jpg

[Broncobear]

it's a bit rough for my eyes to look at buddy....sorry

[Scott_1469]

Look like nice shots, but a bit harsh. Almost hurts the eyes.

[sugarzebra]

I like them both Dan, favouring the first over the second.

[TomMessenger:Photo]

They look almost like paintings, I like :)

[Picture North Carolina]

Thanks for the compliments. As to the others, too "harsh" huh? To that I say... I agree! I originally started to post them with no borders and they were horrible. Too bright plus they blended into the page, so I canceled the post. I added borders and reposted. The borders delineated the pics from the page but white on light was still too harsh.

As I mentioned in the OP, clicking on the links and viewing them on pbase against a black background changes the pic.

I mention all this because it illustrates that properly matting and mounting an image can almost be as important as the image itself.

I recently purchased a matte cutter, but have not unboxed it. I was wondering if anybody could supply links to good tutorials on how to matte images. Not the cutting, but proper color selection, etc. Thanks.

[Jubilee32]

I think I like these - maybeeeee done a bit too much. What was your PS technique.

I like the boats but am not sure about the pilings.

[Meaty0]

I REALLY like them both. The vast expanse of white is a bit overbearing. You could easily fill that in with a very pale pale blue to soften the sky a bit.

They would both look really wonderful printed onto a cotton base watercolour paper and framed in a simple black frame.

I too would like to know how you pp'd these. I suspect there's a bit of "find edges" in there. Can you share your method please?

[Picture North Carolina]

I REALLY like them both. The vast expanse of white is a bit overbearing. You could easily fill that in with a very pale pale blue to soften the sky a bit.

They would both look really wonderful printed onto a cotton base watercolour paper and framed in a simple black frame.

I too would like to know how you pp'd these. I suspect there's a bit of "find edges" in there. Can you share your method please?

I tried to fill in the background white with light, opaqued colors and do not know how to do it without it also coloring other objects in the picture. Masking of any sort with any tool creates halos.

You are correct, sir! (find edges)

- load pic
- copy the background layer creating layer 1
- change layer 1 to overlay mode
- opaque it to 60%
- apply find edges
- copy layer 1 creating layer 2
- apply find edges to layer 2
- copy layer 2 creating layer 3
- apply find edges to layer 3

The routine usually stops at layer 3 - I find it getting too messy by then. Most of the time, I stopped (as on the boats) somewhere before the third layer is completed.

Variations: you can select any of the layers, change opacity; or to soften contrast select the middle layer and apply gaussian blur (around 60?); to add a bit of texture, apply emboss filter to layer 3; etc.

Doesn't work on all images. It worked on the boats because it was an overcast grey day and the water and sky blended into nothingness. Also, the boat pics had hard, defined edges and shapes in the sails, docks, etc.

For example, I took this pic yesterday solely with the intent of using the process thinking the white snow would blend into nothingness leaving only the horse and the tree. As you can see, it turned into a cruddy mess. /Dan

[Jubilee32]

The latest one is actually not bad at all. Notready for prime time but it does show the potential. I will try it today on a heron perchedon a rock in the bay. Will post it if I have any success.

Thank you so much for sharing.

[Jubilee32]

That process is a lot of fun - thank you for sharing it with us. Here is a very quick try on another subject matter. I think it is not the best subject but just another example.

[Meaty0]

Hey thanks a lot for sharing that technique. I can hardly wait to get home and try it out on a few images. I might apply a "watercolor" plug-in on it that I have also.

[Picture North Carolina]

I think it is not the best subject but just another example.

Actually, I rather like it. I like the way it reduced the simplicity to a few objects here and here. Also, the reflection of the bird in the water has been diffused and abstracted kinda cool. I think this is very framable. /Dan

[Picture North Carolina]

Hey thanks a lot for sharing that technique. I can hardly wait to get home and try it out on a few images. I might apply a "watercolor" plug-in on it that I have also.

That's what we're all here for. Why would anybody join a community that was created to share knowledge then refuse to share knowledge? /Dan

[Jubilee32]

Agree on the sharing part - I have enjoyed your website. Great work!

Vernon

[surfologist]

I like the ones of the boats in the harbor, i thought the same thing about them looking like paintings.
Great photoshopping, you should get them printed on that type of paper that imitates paintings, and hang them up, with a really cool sig on the bottom. :)