Don't take it personally but...

[lomond]

For personal reasons, rather than photographic, I'm thinking of having this image printed in large format.
Therefore, before I do, I'm looking for some critique and ways that I might improve this image.
There's nothing specific in the image that's personal to me, just the area, so it's a general critique of the shot itself and perhaps the frame I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/lomond/Farland-to-Castle-Island.jpg

[gramps]

Maybe try to pull some detail out of the rocks on the right and get rid of some of the haze in the sky on the left. It is a GREAT picture.

[lomond]

Thanks, Gramps, I'll give it a go.
I see what you're saying.

[iwatkins]

Very nice shot. Would look good in a plain black frame with white matte.

I would punch the colour saturation up a touch as well before printing though.

Cheers

Ian

[raztazor]

Super composition. I'd leave it as it is. Great job

[lomond]

Very nice shot. Would look good in a plain black frame with white matte.

Ian

You've lost me, Ian.
Do you mean no drop shadow ?

[defordphoto]

Definitely no drop shadow. This photo is plenty enough to stand on its own without some artsy fartsy stuff going on.

I love the composition and would even like to see this in B&W for grins and giggles. Either you used a polarizer or there's some vignetting. The upper left corner is a little dark and there's a large area in the upper right corner that's significantly darker than the rest of the photo. I am not seeing that in the lower corners so my guess would be a polarizer and not vignetting.

Great shot. I really like it.

[jfrancho]

You've lost me, Ian.
Do you mean no drop shadow ?
I think he was referring to when you actually hang this on the wall.

[PeaPicker]

Great shot. Print it.

[JeffreyP]

What a GREAT shot, don't apologize for this one, it definitely worthy of your wall.

I love the colors & composition in this, I would barely tweak it at all! (although I'm no expert, obviously by my previous posts of pics, you should definitely follow the post-processing advice of the people on this forum. They are indeed experts and have helped me a LOT !)

I wish I could take a photo that good! Nicely done.

Good luck with the framing. I would offer some samples of what I would do with the frame if you'd allow me to with your pic. ( I didn't want to re-post your pic without your consent though).

Well done! Keep up the good work, and THANKS goes to everyone in this forum for helping me so much in the short time I've joined. This forum is really professional, friendly & helpful. Thanks everyone!

Jeff

[Don Ellis]

Lovely photo... before you print it, though, set a black point. As it is, it doesn't have one.

To find the nearest thing you have to black (in Photoshop)...



Create a Threshold Layer (Layer, New Adjustment Layer, Threshold, OK).
Put the number 1 in the Threshold Level box.
Use the Up Arrow key to increase this number until a black mark appears somewhere in your photo.
Shft-LeftClick the spot.
Hit Escape.
Then...

Bring up the Curves dialog box.
Click the Black Eyedropper (the left Eyedropper under the word Options).
Left-click on the small bullseye that appears on the near-black spot you marked.
For even more drama, you can click on nearby spots to make it even darker. You'll lose a little more detail in the shadows, so you'll have to decide what looks right to you. Not all photos have a black point, but this one surely does -- there are shadows in the rock cracks to the right center that would be pure black.

If you click on the wrong spot or make something too dark for your liking, either...

Click somewhere else.
Or hold your Alt key and the Cancel button becomes a Reset button and you can click it and try again.
Cheers,

Don

[lomond]

Thanks for all the advice and kind words, I'll give them try.

Don, thanks for that tip, very useful.

Jeff, feel free to post some samples.

RFM, no polarizer though I did use a ND Grad.
I think I may have overcooked the burn tool. :o

[IanBMW]

I gave a quick edit to it. I tried a couple of sephia and b&w edits, but didnt like them. BTW my edit had to be saved under 100kb to post so thats why it may look a little grainy. Just did a little level, saturation, and dodge to the photo.

[IanBMW]

Looking at my post, wow does my edit look crappy due to the 100kb limit.... :( Oh well I think you get the jest of it.

[lomond]

I've taken on board some advice........ in particular;

1- punching the saturation from Ian.
2- no drop shadow from Jim.
3- finding a black point from Don.

All very helpful, especially with the pebbles around the boat........ what do you think ?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/lomond/farpoint-2.jpg


Original below.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/lomond/Farland-to-Castle-Island.jpg

[PhotosGuy]

Great shot. You might try an old wet print technique & burn in the bottom forground a TINY BIT! It sort of frames the picture.

[WestFalcon]

Select the sky only and make it a little more saturated. Vignette the foreground and corners slightly....Boat is almost getting too dark. Maybe select it and light a tad. Brian

[OceanRider]

how about throwing a little light on boat?

[flowe]

Hi lomond

I think this is a great shot and deserves very well to be put on the wall. To follow up on previous suggestions, I propose to correct the barrelling, the very slight skewness and the lack of sharpness. I've taken IanBMW's colorwise very pleasing version.

http://homepage.hispeed.ch/flowe/digifoto/img/potn_lomond_boat_770x520.jpg

I refrained from cropping and framing, just to make the modifications visible.

The barrelling is rather severe (I know it too well from my G6 at full wide) and obvious by the far shoreline that close to the center of the image (right through the center, it wouldn't be affected by barrelling at all). Then the barrelling is very obvious with the cloud and visually enhanced by the very slight skewness and by the skyline of the hill.

Sharpening does a lot to the image even in this condensed version. Now you see the structure in the rock and on the hill, all the pebbles and even the rivets on the boat. The small halo along the black rock above the boat seems to be a left over from previous editing.

I hope you like it
flowe

[lomond]

Hi flowe,
I like it very much, thanks for taking the time.

To my shame I hadn't even noticed the barrel distortion. :o
Now you mention it it is obvious. I'm glad you didn't crop it as it helps demonstrate the barrelling.
You're right about the sharpening too.

I agree with others about the boat being on the dark side.
Thanks to PhotosGuy, WestFalcon and OceanRider.

OK, back to PS again.

[OceanRider]

i like it allot better. good job.

[S230]

personally i think sometimes leaving the photo as is can show off your skills. When you hang your photo as is, people can observe and talk a little about it even critique which opens up a topic. I don't know how many people would feel but personally I think it's better than someone just looking and saying nice photo (that's it...?)...
I have lots of photos at home that are sometimes a little dark or needs a little touch-up but I enjoy the conversation and ideas coming from people.

[ChP]

What a fantastic shot, definately needs to be printed.
I agree with the saturation remarks. As for the frame, don't bevel it and don't dropshadow.
A black frame would look nice, could light blue be another possibility?

Maybe try some color correction with curves in Photoshop too.