Jump to content

Lonely chair at beach, comments for improvement welcome!


DTFagus
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hey folks,

 

taken on a walk with my dogs in Zoutelande in the Netherlands. No other people around, just the chair and the boat perfectly aligned (found it that way). Sony a6000 with 35mmf18. f5, 1/4000. It was my first holiday with a camera better than iPhone and my first take with lightroom. Looking for feedback on composition and post processing to learn. Feel free to comment, any tips are highly appreciated ! :) 

 

Quality of image is not that good, probably because it was rendered from smart preview in lightroom (traveling without external hdd). 

 

Best

 

Daniel

 

 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Composition: Overall, I like it. Possible improvement would be to move to the right a little so that the pier becomes more of a leading line and the long shadow of the chair is more prominent.  A little closer to the chair would make it more of the focus of the photo.

 

LR processing:  Overall, good. Not sure if you used the graduated filter on the top half or not.  That would make the sky darker directing more attention to the boat and chair.  The eyes are drawn to what is brightest.  The effects tool (next to last on Develop panel) can add a Post-crop vignette.  I usually do -15 to -20.  

Lastly, If there are no clouds in the sky, it becomes boring.  So adjust the cropping to remove most of the sky since it has little value.  I would crop just above where the sky goes from pink to blue.

 

You should be proud of this photo.  You did well.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you very much for your feedback! Much appreciated! 

 

I tried to re-edit the image with your feedback. See result and raw un-edited image here:

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Link to post
Share on other sites

I like it better with the increased contrast.  Of course this is all very subjective.  Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder as they say.

 

I feel that the A7 sensor typically under exposes.  I learned from a YouTube video (don't remember the author) a technique to adjust the exposure for the mid-tones.  So go to the Develop Module of Lightroom and follow these steps first:  

 

  • Temporarily move the Contast, Highlights, and Whites to -100
  • Then move Shadows and Blacks to +100
  • The resultant image in the histogram is just mid-tones and looks kind of like an "iceberg".
  • Next move the mouse over the histogram and hold down the mouse while moving the "iceberg" into the center of the mid-tones.
  • You will see the mid-tones as a lighter shade in the center of the histogram.
  • You have now adjusted the exposure for the mid-tones.
  • Move all five settings (Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks) back to zero.

I have found this to be very helpful as a starting point before making any other global adjustments.  I'll still go back and make more adjustments, but rarely touch the exposure again.

 

And I actually made a user-defined preset for LR that automates much of this process and saves time.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you very much for that tip! Just tried it out and seems to work fine!

Regarding the preset, did you automate more than the slider setting to -100 and +100? Or in other words, can you automate the movement of the "iceberg"?

 

Is this something you would recommend as a basic procedure for all photos or is there a criteria for targeting the mid-tones exposure?

Link to post
Share on other sites

I like the updated composition, and the lighting of the chair (it seems lighter). The natural colours of the sand, water and sky are completely lost ... why not try, as an alternative, to boost the natural colours and then, separately work on the chair and boat using masks (or whatever they are called) - brush in some lightness and saturation or raise shadows.

 

Last week I had this image, https://500px.com/photo/170122857/indre-skjervøya-by-tim-rule  , and after the usual techniques (curves + saturation + contrast) I had something that had blue clouds and an orange sunset ... OK ... but after some more attention I could also get a nice image with natural colors - which is how it looked at the time. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you very much for that tip! Just tried it out and seems to work fine!

Regarding the preset, did you automate more than the slider setting to -100 and +100? Or in other words, can you automate the movement of the "iceberg"?

 

Is this something you would recommend as a basic procedure for all photos or is there a criteria for targeting the mid-tones exposure?

 

 

The preset I made just automates the + or - 100.  The "iceberg" must be manual to be precise.  To reset the + or - 100, just double click the word and that resets to zero.  Good luck.

 

Keep in mind there are lots of free tutorials on You Tube for Lightroom.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you very much for that tip! Just tried it out and seems to work fine!

Regarding the preset, did you automate more than the slider setting to -100 and +100? Or in other words, can you automate the movement of the "iceberg"?

 

Is this something you would recommend as a basic procedure for all photos or is there a criteria for targeting the mid-tones exposure?

 

As for doing this on all photos, it would not hurt.  As I said before the sensor seems to under expose.  I have seen several reviews that also mention this.  Less of a problem with flash.  But if there is any question about the exposure, check it.  It doesn't cost anything, just a little time.  LOL

Link to post
Share on other sites

@steve of stonehenge: For this updated version I made a preset as suggested and exposed the mid tones. Worked quite well I think!

 

@timde: Here I tried to work on the original colors without introducing new ones ;) I think my wife will certainly like this one better! What do you think?

 

Cheers

 

Daniel

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry for filling this thread with different versions of the same picture. But it has been super helpful for me. Is it okay to do this or should I use a different category or forum?

 

Here a crop to concentrate on the chair and the boat. 

 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Prefer the sea wall.

 

I would move the crop up a little, little less sand, little more sky. Taking away the vignette for a moment ... then I would try to get a bit more separation in the blue of the sky and ocean. Trying to get the ocean a little darker, and trying to get the sky like the blue on the towel, not too much, just in that direction. Perhaps some light sharpening (not clarity/definition) will help the foreground which is not in focus.

 

Brush some lightness over the boat and water which is reflecting the sun, just a little, in a triangle down to the right side of the chair, following the naturally reflecting waves. Then try the vignette again.

 

Guess it was a hazy day.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...