Critique my PP

[iamaelephant]

Hoping someone can critique my PP, let me know what I could do differently :) Feedback appreciated!

Original:
http://iamaelephant.net/images/IMG_017.jpg

Photoshopped:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2409/2474846315_8c586f9612.jpg?v=0

Thanks!

[Broncobear]

it's not bad, maybe a little over done by my taste

[jde95tln]

I think it looks pretty good. I like your PP on that one.

[ooztuncer]

I generally liked it.

When you cropped the image around the boat, you lost some of the boats's reflection on the water. Also, perhaps you can keep the trees in the background (just a suggestion)?

I am a newbie in PP, therefore can you please briefly explain what you did/changed to manage this transformation?

[joedlh]

I like what you did to the sky, but not so much the water, where you lost much detail. I would have left a little more on the port side of the vessel to remain. I think the way you have it, it looks like it's hanging on to the edge of the photograph rather than the dock. My own style would be to make the colors a little less vibrant, but that's a personal preference.

[Walczak Photo]

Speaking as someone who loves heavily saturated images, I think this is just a little over done. It's not bad, but just a little too much. Also you have the boat right up against the edge of the image here...I would have liked to have seen a little more separation between the boat and the edge.

Just my $.02,
Jim

[lkb-28]

Hi Martin;

If you have this as a RAW file, why not try a "fake" HDR from the one image, before cropping for taste & presentation...

I think you would save & enhance much of the water & sky detail, and take some of the detail from the shadows...

Cheers;

Lee

[Flo]

Speaking as someone who loves heavily saturated images, I think this is just a little over done. It's not bad, but just a little too much. Also you have the boat right up against the edge of the image here...I would have liked to have seen a little more separation between the boat and the edge.

Just my $.02,
Jim

My thoughts as well....

[ogre1231]

what exactly did you do to the sky?

[iamaelephant]

Thanks for the comments folks.

I generally liked it.

When you cropped the image around the boat, you lost some of the boats's reflection on the water. Also, perhaps you can keep the trees in the background (just a suggestion)?

I am a newbie in PP, therefore can you please briefly explain what you did/changed to manage this transformation?

I did try to keep as much of the reflection as I could but keeping the whole reflection would have meant keeping the ugly OOF rocks in the bottom right corner. It was a trade-off.

Just briefly, to achieve this transformation I applied a Screen blend mode to the water and boat. Then I applied a Multiply blend mode to the sky. I duplicated the Multiply layer and set the opacity of the second layer to 43% to lessen the effect. I then applied an Overlay blend to the whole image, just masking off the right hand (dark) side of the boat so I didn't lose detail. After this I sharpened the image and that's it.

I like what you did to the sky, but not so much the water, where you lost much detail. I would have left a little more on the port side of the vessel to remain. I think the way you have it, it looks like it's hanging on to the edge of the photograph rather than the dock. My own style would be to make the colors a little less vibrant, but that's a personal preference.

I definitely agree about the boat sitting right over on the side of the image. It bothers me, but it bothers me less than having the ugly rocks, trees and wharf on the right hand side. When I have time I'll have a go at another crop, thanks for the suggestion.

Hi Martin;

If you have this as a RAW file, why not try a "fake" HDR from the one image, before cropping for taste & presentation...

I think you would save & enhance much of the water & sky detail, and take some of the detail from the shadows...

Cheers;

Lee

I'll definitely give this a go when I get home this afternoon, thanks for the tip.

what exactly did you do to the sky?

The sky has Multiply and Overlay blend modes applied.

For those that want to see the picture with a little less colour, I very quickly whipped a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer onto the image. Any better? This version hasn't had sharpness applied yet because I'm in a bit of a hurry right now. Also ignore the posterization and compression artifacts, this was rushed :)

[Stephie]

looks great to me.

[Flo]

I would be tempted to leave the dock etc to the side of the boat, it really does look far too close to the edge of the frame...otherwise, I like it!

[midnitejam]

In general, I like the edited version, but I think the original untouched sample is better by leaps and bounds. IMHO, change for the sake of change doesn't cut it........Sorry.

[melatonin]

wow on the second one

[DrFil]

In general, I like the edited version, but I think the original untouched sample is better by leaps and bounds. IMHO, change for the sake of change doesn't cut it........Sorry.

haha, i kind of agree. i first looked at the title and then saw the first picture and thought, "yeah, not a bad PP job" ...and then I saw that that was the original. The original is a nice picture in itself. The PP job makes it look cool (the sky especially) and very artsy, so I guess it depends on what your aim is.

also, i really don't like the washed-out-ness of the water in the middle leading up to the side of the boat.