Which one?

FIL took the family to his hometown and showed us all sorts of stuff...these are a few pics that I took and am not sure which ones look best(if any) so any and all C&C is welcome:

1a.

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3) is not holding my interest it doesn't pop at all, and seems a bit too dark.

4) I think is probably for the bin the harsh lighting you get inside a car does not seem to be working all that well, maybe if you can crop closer to the reflection on the shades it would be better, but the harsh light on one side of the face would probably be even more of an issue then.


1a and 2b) look really good well done

I was on the receiving end of a C&C on another site concerning my images in general.

Basically I was not giving enough thought to them, from the initial planning
(lighting, time of day, surroundings, and so forth), to the PP work, to the printing styles.
Know all of that before you squeeze the trigger. I try to do more of this now.

Your images, blown out skies (include less sky), clone out antenna and power lines,
general poor light from midday shoot, the motel shows an excess of clutter in the image.

Look at artwork to get an idea for direction.

Here are the original photos with NO PP:

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1b is just cropped a little, but then the antenna runs off the top of the frame. Clone that out. Also, the railroad tracks have been cut off by the cropping. I prefer 1a. I don't like the motel shot because there's so many trees in the way. The color version on the motel is much better than the B&W. I like the color version of the grave better than the B&W one.

goldboughtrue wrote in post #6053357
1b is just cropped a little, but then the antenna runs off the top of the frame. Clone that out. Also, the railroad tracks have been cut off by the cropping. I prefer 1a. I don't like the motel shot because there's so many trees in the way. The color version on the motel is much better than the B&W. I like the color version of the grave better than the B&W one.

They are actually 2 different shots(neither is cropped, just been resized)...I kinda thought that the antenna needed to be cloned out(will get to it and re-post)...the color shot of the grave has had NO PP done to it so maybe I will do some and re-post as well(notice the color shot is also a bit "crooked")

1a and 1b : skies look blown, you may want to look into a GND filter for the high contrast lighting (i.e. direct sunlight) shots

2a : looks slightly overexposed

2b: the b&w conversion helps

both 2a & 2b : I would clone out the power lines, or better yet, crop closer into the building and the sign; the plants in the foreground are distracting to me

3 : sky is overexposed, but good composition and light on the subject (considering the amount of backlight present)

4 : nice composition, colors are a bit too saturated for me

Considering this is your first real attempt at PP'ing pictures, I'd say you're off to a good start.

Just remember to PP in moderation and sometimes less is more.

These pics may look way different on your monitor than they do on mine (calibrated using XWrite/GretagMacbeth EyeOne(i1)), so if they look right to you, then more power to you.

I ensure mine stay calibrated so I can dismiss everybody else's criticisms of my pictures with a, "Must be there crummy uncalibrated monitors talkin'!".

Good work, keep it up!