Newbie @ RAW Shooting - C+C Needed

I'm just getting used to shooting and editing in RAW format, and am using DPP from Canon. Below is my first attempt with the format and editing, so any C+C that you kind folk can provide would be and is most appreciated.

Feel free to edit the photo and repost it with any changes!

Attila

Nice shot...what's there to edit.

Mike T.M. wrote in post #11809937
Nice shot...what's there to edit.

Thanks Mike, appreciate your kind words.

You may want to peruse the Transportation section for more inspiration.

I always consider the raw editor as just a starting point before moving on to a pixel editor like Photoshop and others.

In Photoshop, I opened the shadows and punched up the midtone contrast.

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ChasP505 wrote in post #11810641
You may want to peruse the Transportation section for more inspiration.

I always consider the raw editor as just a starting point before moving on to a pixel editor like Photoshop and others.

In Photoshop, I opened the shadows and punched up the midtone contrast.

Hi Chas,

I appreciate your feedback!

The edit from Chas is awesome. I can say that because i saw where he came from with your image. Why dont you post the original of your edit and that way we can see where you came from. Show us a Before and after

boerewors wrote in post #11813662
The edit from Chas is awesome. I can say that because i saw where he came from with your image. Why dont you post the original of your edit and that way we can see where you came from. Show us a Before and after

Here's the before...

ChasP505 wrote in post #11810641
I always consider the raw editor as just a starting point before moving on to a pixel editor like Photoshop and others.

In Photoshop, I opened the shadows and punched up the midtone contrast.

personally I try to use the RAW editor as much as possible and do as litttle in PS as possible.

Chas, what RAW editor do you use? Why not open the shadows and add midtone contrast in RAW stage?

Why not upload the raw file to www.yousendit.com and post the link here? Then you'll be able to see some re-edits starting with the raw file rather than this tiny jpeg.

philmar wrote in post #11817539
personally I try to use the RAW editor as much as possible and do as litttle in PS as possible.

I didn't say or even suggest that you shouldn't do as much as possible with ACR, but some jobs I simply PREFER to do in PS. Some people are raw editor oriented and some are pixel editor oriented. I'm old and cranky and resistant to change!

I use ACR 5.7, Photoshop CS4.

Because I was working with a tiny little JPG.

There's lots of wild stuff you could do with this, if you have enough pixels.

I guess I'm pixel limited...lol

Maybe I'm the odd lot here, but I just don't think the last shot here looks...well, natural. The colour seems to be coming from a massive spotlight being shone on the side of the aircraft, whereas when I took the shot the only place the light was observed was on the nose of the plane and on the front edges of the stabs located on the wings...

WingsofFury wrote in post #11817996
when I took the shot the only place the light was observed was on the nose of the plane and on the front edges of the stabs located on the wings...

You're free to change the lighting in post ... if you like. And free to faithfully preserve the lighting you observed ... if you like. Don't get too laced up in rules about how an image "should" be edited. Give your imagination a little room to roam.

WingsofFury wrote in post #11817996
Maybe I'm the odd lot here, but I just don't think the last shot here looks...well, natural. The colour seems to be coming from a massive spotlight being shone on the side of the aircraft, whereas when I took the shot the only place the light was observed was on the nose of the plane and on the front edges of the stabs located on the wings...

That's another issue... I come from a background of doing "quick and dirty" adjustments on real estate photos before they went into our monthly catalog. The rest of my photos were to document home repairs for government agencies. I never got into the creative stuff in Photoshop. For me, I guess I'll always stop and say "Eh, that's good enough!".

But I certainly can appreciate the creative artistry that others can do in Photoshop, "natural" or not.

WingsofFury wrote in post #11817996
The colour seems to be coming from a massive spotlight being shone on the side of the aircraft...

I believe the intent was for the massive spotlight to be the sun.. Not the greatest sun imitation in the world, but I doubt it was a serious effort, more of a rough idea. Definitely play around with shadow/highlights on this image, as the first edit shows there's plenty of detail hiding in the image that would help it be more interesting.