Lighthouse

[Goofup]

I posted this on another forum and got lots of views, but no responses. Is it that bad/boring? What could I do different if I reshot it? And yes, even though it was shot in the afternoon, I was going for the "at sunset" look).

http://www.pbase.com/goofup/image/36096633.jpg

[Scottes]

The light reflections behind the lighthouse don't really work in my opinion. But the major flaw with this shot is the halo around the lighthouse. My guess is that you used PS's Shadow/Highlights and went too far.

This isn't going to work for a sunset look, though.

1) The glare on the water indicates a high sun.
2) The very short shadow of the lighthouse makes it very clear it was a high sun.
3) There's no direction to the light in the clouds or sky. A low sun would either be in the shot or would have a very distinct effect on the clouds and sky. Both would be brighter on one side than the other, for example.
4) The activity in the shot - the people on the wharf and the boats in the water - don't lend to the normal tranquility of a sunset shot. Most people would have left and put their boats away by then.
5) You have lens flare directly below the door of the lighthouse, and it looks like flare from a high sun.
6) Though the clouds have a reddish tone, nothing else does. A sunset will just about always lend a reddish tone to just about everything.

Please don't take this as if I am slamming this image, as I'm not, but rather trying to show some of the subtleties that can make or break a processed image. Though I consciously analyzed this image, each of my points is noticable by the eye, subconsciously, and these subtleties will subconsciously make a person think that the image is somehow wrong. By analyzing I just brought these ideas to the surface.

1) To get trid of the halo around the lighthouse try using the History brush to "erase" it.
2) You can lengthen the lighthouse shadow by carefully selecting it and using Edit... Transform and the Scale and Skew.
3) Try selecting the glare on the water using Select... Color Range and the Select... Feather by 5 pixels and *then* use Shadow/highlights on that selection.
4) Bring out the lighthouse and wharf is a similar way and using Shadow/Highlights just on that section.
5) To get a much better sunset look shoot in RAW and adjust the temperature.
6) Add a graduated mask to the sky and clouds to indicate light direction.
7) The lens flare could easily be erased with the Clone tool - it's not that bad at all.
8 ) If you use a mask to indicate the sun's position don't forget to angle the shadows so that they match.


Again, sorry to sound harsh, but this is a tough lesson. If you wish to manipulate images like this you have to be aware of stuff like I've mentioned. If you wish, take a look at Replacing the Sky (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=234590#234590), a tutorial of sorts showing some extreme measures in manipulation, and explaining why these extreme measure make such a manipulation work.

[Goofup]

Oh, no, not harsh at all, thanks for critique.

Actually, I metered on the water's glare, didn't need to use the Shadow/Highlight because this is how it pretty much came right out of the camera (hince the lens slight lens flare, etc.) except for some cropping and sharpening. Of course, you didn't know all that, and I should've mentioned it.

But you're right- overall it's a bad "fake".

Thanks again for the feedback.