NJ Botanical Gardens- Ringwood, NJ

Took a trip to the NJ Botanical Gardens over the weekend, really nice place. Some of the flowers are starting to die but I was able to get a few images I think are pretty good.

I am posting 2 below and I would like come comments on which angle you like best. These are both in HDR because of the location of the sun and the shadows on the left side of the image.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/57234495@N03/9​612350440/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/57234495@N03/9​612353438/

The first is best!

Since you had your imaging on, I had a little go at it.

Never new Ringwood had a Botanical garden, new there was a big lake/reservoir there.

Your images metering is spot on.. Great work with the HDR and Composition to bad the azalea were not in bloom. Perhaps another visit in early spring when they are, and reshoot the scene.

Really not much to do in PP, just a couple tweaks to give it more contrast
If you don't like them, I will be glad to remove.

I really like both of your interpretations

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/settntrenz/9617​882349/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/settntrenz/9621​119986/

Bianchi wrote in post #16249422
Since you had your imaging on, I had a little go at it.

Never new Ringwood had a Botanical garden, new there was a big lake/reservoir there.

Your images metering is spot on.. Great work with the HDR and Composition to bad the azalea were not in bloom. Perhaps another visit in early spring when they are, and reshoot the scene.

Really not much to do in PP, just a couple tweaks to give it more contrast
If you don't like them, I will be glad to remove.

I really like both of your interpretations

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/settntrenz/9617​882349/
9612350440_f972f999f1_​b by Sett N trenZ, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/settntrenz/9621​119986/
9612353438_980853173d_​b by Sett N trenZ, on Flickr

Thanks! I am by far no expert in the PP area and always welcome peoples opinions. Can you explain more of what you did to achieve this result? I have lightroom 4 so if you used that let me know.

nbaresejr wrote in post #16249737
Thanks! I am by far no expert in the PP area and always welcome peoples opinions. Can you explain more of what you did to achieve this result? I have lightroom 4 so if you used that let me know.

Yes, all I used was LR.. I'll go through the process for you, you can do everything I did in LR 4

First I highly recommend George Jardins two video's, one on the Library module and the other on the Develop.. This will give you a very good foundation. The library module is a little boring, but DONT skip it, as it will have you set up your files correctly wright from the beginning, otherwise you can be there days, weeks straightening them out. Plus George is a cool guy and very much a power user of LR. He use to work for Adobe.

http://mulita.com/blog​/

Ok, now onto the adjustments in LR

Brush...I used this to bring down exposure on water
exposure -89
shadows -6
clarity + 71
saturation+21
sharpness +95

Basic
Highlights + 100
clarity +18
vibrance +41

Tone curve
highlights + 57

HSL panel
Hue
yellow + 13
green + 26

Saturation
yellow -3
green -9
blue +33
purple + 6

Luminance
yellow -17
green -14
blue +6
Ok, there's an important thing to do while in HSL pane.
First click on all , all three will show HSL... there's a little circle to the left in each of them. Using mouse click on it and drag to area where you would like to make changes in color, dragging up will increase, dragging down will decrease. No need to use sliders.

Detail
I didn't do anything, but I could of sharpend a little.

Lens correction
basic
click on enable
click on remove CA
profile
fill in for lens used

Post crop vignetting
amount -10
midpoint 32

This was all done in about 5 minutes. Once you get the hang of it, you to will do it that fast. After getting Jardins video, I would say the first 3 months is the learning curve, but you will know exactally what you are doing. Then you will start to do things instinctively.. Then on to the University of Utube for some of the more advanced stuff you will pick up for LR..

Most folks will say they do 95 % of there edits in LR and the other 5% in PS >> I agree, as that has been my experience also.

Bianchi wrote in post #16250776
Yes, all I used was LR.. I'll go through the process for you, you can do everything I did in LR 4

First I highly recommend George Jardins two video's, one on the Library module and the other on the Develop.. This will give you a very good foundation. The library module is a little boring, but DONT skip it, as it will have you set up your files correctly wright from the beginning, otherwise you can be there days, weeks straightening them out. Plus George is a cool guy and very much a power user of LR. He use to work for Adobe.

http://mulita.com/blog​/

Ok, now onto the adjustments in LR

Brush...I used this to bring down exposure on water
exposure -89
shadows -6
clarity + 71
saturation+21
sharpness +95

Basic
Highlights + 100
clarity +18
vibrance +41

Tone curve
highlights + 57

HSL panel
Hue
yellow + 13
green + 26

Saturation
yellow -3
green -9
blue +33
purple + 6

Luminance
yellow -17
green -14
blue +6
Ok, there's an important thing to do while in HSL pane.
First click on all , all three will show HSL... there's a little circle to the left in each of them. Using mouse click on it and drag to area where you would like to make changes in color, dragging up will increase, dragging down will decrease. No need to use sliders.

Detail
I didn't do anything, but I could of sharpend a little.

Lens correction
basic
click on enable
click on remove CA
profile
fill in for lens used

Post crop vignetting
amount -10
midpoint 32

This was all done in about 5 minutes. Once you get the hang of it, you to will do it that fast. After getting Jardins video, I would say the first 3 months is the learning curve, but you will know exactally what you are doing. Then you will start to do things instinctively.. Then on to the University of Utube for some of the more advanced stuff you will pick up for LR..

Most folks will say they do 95 % of there edits in LR and the other 5% in PS >> I agree, as that has been my experience also.

Thank you!

I will check out those videos.

That is almost identical to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Wow.

head back there in about 6 weeks or so when the fall colors are vibrant. I'm up there quite a bit in the spring and the fall. Great place to spend a couple of hours

grumpy366 wrote in post #16258377
head back there in about 6 weeks or so when the fall colors are vibrant. I'm up there quite a bit in the spring and the fall. Great place to spend a couple of hours

Good suggestion Grumpy.

However I think you mean down from Monroe , not up