Bobby
Active member
I took this shot of my son on N. Twin. I wasn't trying for anything special, but it looks pretty good. Any thoughts?
Scenery shot with a human in the foreground
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BillK
New member
Hi Bobby,
I'm only a newbie myself but I think it looks pretty decent. I hope you don't mind but I went ahead and made some cropping and other post-processing adjustments to my liking. For me personally, the abundancy of clouds in the image was detracting my attention from the boy. I also cropped a little bit from the right as l prefer the subject (who's looking off to the left), to be closer to the right of the frame. Again, this is just my personal preference. Keep up the good work. Looks like your son is enjoying the views.
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I'm only a newbie myself but I think it looks pretty decent. I hope you don't mind but I went ahead and made some cropping and other post-processing adjustments to my liking. For me personally, the abundancy of clouds in the image was detracting my attention from the boy. I also cropped a little bit from the right as l prefer the subject (who's looking off to the left), to be closer to the right of the frame. Again, this is just my personal preference. Keep up the good work. Looks like your son is enjoying the views.
Original
Processed
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nartreb
Well-known member
I like it too.
It's a good spot for such shots , and you've got a good subject: there's something incongruous about a young boy in this scene, almost magical, like an illustration for a C.S. Lewis book or The Little Prince
I think Bill K has a good idea with the crop: moving the boy's head off the exact rule-of-thirds intersection allows the viewer to more fully share the boy's point of view -rather than looking at him, we can look with him. I think I'd cut a little bit less off the top, though, and leave enough solid grey in the sky to show that it's a cloudy day. Adds mystery and broodiness.
(edit: actually mine was on South Twin... still a similar viewpoint)
It's a good spot for such shots , and you've got a good subject: there's something incongruous about a young boy in this scene, almost magical, like an illustration for a C.S. Lewis book or The Little Prince
I think Bill K has a good idea with the crop: moving the boy's head off the exact rule-of-thirds intersection allows the viewer to more fully share the boy's point of view -rather than looking at him, we can look with him. I think I'd cut a little bit less off the top, though, and leave enough solid grey in the sky to show that it's a cloudy day. Adds mystery and broodiness.
(edit: actually mine was on South Twin... still a similar viewpoint)
Interesting comment, Nartreb... I immediately felt like the crop broke the rule of thirds. I too think too much came off the top. Not to hijack the thread, but that was my goal with this shot:
Since he's 4, he's not given to posing easily, so while he was resting and snacking I snuck around the back side and snapped the picture. Since he's a ham, I only get one surprise shot...
The actual scenery from the camera's viewpoint did not come out as well as I hoped, but I do like the perspective of Matthew. In retrospect, I'd probably trim a bit of the sky off the top of this one too. And maybe get rid of the tree growing out his head I never intended to post this for C&C but I had the same idea for the shot, so here it is.
Tim
Since he's 4, he's not given to posing easily, so while he was resting and snacking I snuck around the back side and snapped the picture. Since he's a ham, I only get one surprise shot...
The actual scenery from the camera's viewpoint did not come out as well as I hoped, but I do like the perspective of Matthew. In retrospect, I'd probably trim a bit of the sky off the top of this one too. And maybe get rid of the tree growing out his head
I never intended to post this for C&C but I had the same idea for the shot, so here it is.Tim
BillK
New member
For me personally, the excessive amount of clouds in the image had nothing interesting to offer. Leaving them in just to satisfy a rule of thirds isn't something that I've been practicing. This is all personal preference however. If they had been white puffy clouds against a bright blue sky then sure, I'd be more likely to keep them as part of the image. Dark gray uniform skies are just dull IMHO.
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Bobby
Active member
Thanks....I did lighten things up a bit, and also cropped my original after posting. Moving Eric to the right a bit did seem to "open" the picture up a bit. Great idea here, thanks
BillK
New member
Yet another perspective.....I left in more dark clouds as Nartreb had suggested, but cropped more from the right of the image.
Another perspective
Another perspective
^MtnMike^
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That's a nice shot! I agree with nartreb about the subject/mood
Another take:
Edited image
I increased the contrast curves of the scene some, masking out Eric and adjusting his curves and saturation on a seperate layer to achieve more seperation from the background. I also bumpped up the saturation of the foreground on a seperate layer and used a gradient mask to blend it into the background. Finally, I cropped out some of the sky and applied a slight black gradient overlay to the center background to bring out a few of the distant peaks.
^MtnMike^
Another take:
Edited image
I increased the contrast curves of the scene some, masking out Eric and adjusting his curves and saturation on a seperate layer to achieve more seperation from the background. I also bumpped up the saturation of the foreground on a seperate layer and used a gradient mask to blend it into the background. Finally, I cropped out some of the sky and applied a slight black gradient overlay to the center background to bring out a few of the distant peaks.
^MtnMike^
kmorgan
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Hey Bill, nice shot. Twin is a good spot for shots like this.
I'm personally good with the crop. My opinion, of course. I think the shot would have been better if you had used your flash. The camera is exposing for the bright areas in the clouds. A smaller f/stop would have given better depth of field results too. I see your shot is 1/800th sec. @ f/4, you should have been able to shoot at say f/11 and gotten better results. I'm not familiar with your camera so I don't know how easily you could have done this. Do you have an Av mode? (Aperture priority). What ISO was your camera shooting at or is it totally automatic?
You can fake this with Photoshop if you have it by using shadow/highlights adjustment, which I did here at a setting of 15/0. I also tweaked the saturation and lightness in LAB mode and removed some of the noise.
Kevin
I'm personally good with the crop. My opinion, of course. I think the shot would have been better if you had used your flash. The camera is exposing for the bright areas in the clouds. A smaller f/stop would have given better depth of field results too. I see your shot is 1/800th sec. @ f/4, you should have been able to shoot at say f/11 and gotten better results. I'm not familiar with your camera so I don't know how easily you could have done this. Do you have an Av mode? (Aperture priority). What ISO was your camera shooting at or is it totally automatic?
You can fake this with Photoshop if you have it by using shadow/highlights adjustment, which I did here at a setting of 15/0. I also tweaked the saturation and lightness in LAB mode and removed some of the noise.
Kevin
darren
Poobah Emeritus
Nice job. Shots like these are nice. I like how they show the interaction of people and the environment, rather than just the dead on outdoor portrait shot.
Fun with edits...
I like cropping the empty sky at the top and cropping off a little of the right so the focus is more on what the boy is looking at vs. the boy himself being the subject.
I then tweaked in PS and did some dodge/burn.
Original:
Edited:
In PS I adjusted shadow/highlight, bumped up the saturation +9, then some dodging and burning to lighten up the boy and the foreground rock and burned in the dark clouds.
My thoughts on the image is that if it were possible, it might have been nice to move the camera to the right and higher. That angle would have provided more of shot of what the boy was looking at. I higher angle looking more downward would have reduce the empty sky and shown more of the valley below. Moving the camera more to the lright would have put the look angle of the camera more equal to the boys and would again put more focus on the view the boy was seeing. Just my thoughts.
- darren
Fun with edits...
I like cropping the empty sky at the top and cropping off a little of the right so the focus is more on what the boy is looking at vs. the boy himself being the subject.
I then tweaked in PS and did some dodge/burn.
Original:
Edited:
In PS I adjusted shadow/highlight, bumped up the saturation +9, then some dodging and burning to lighten up the boy and the foreground rock and burned in the dark clouds.
My thoughts on the image is that if it were possible, it might have been nice to move the camera to the right and higher. That angle would have provided more of shot of what the boy was looking at. I higher angle looking more downward would have reduce the empty sky and shown more of the valley below. Moving the camera more to the lright would have put the look angle of the camera more equal to the boys and would again put more focus on the view the boy was seeing. Just my thoughts.
- darren
If you want to be experiencing the same view, I can agree with you (Darren). I wouldn't want to get too far above or behind or you'll lose the bit of a profile and just have the back of a head. BTW I like your crop and edit a lot -- nice job.
My goal with the picture of my son was to capture the perspective of sitting next to him while jointly enjoying the view. Given our height difference I slouched to his height.
Usually he's all about the pine cones and sticks and rocks and bugs and other stuff he finds on the ground. This is one of the few times where he plopped down and looked out at the greenery.
Tim
My goal with the picture of my son was to capture the perspective of sitting next to him while jointly enjoying the view. Given our height difference I slouched to his height.
Usually he's all about the pine cones and sticks and rocks and bugs and other stuff he finds on the ground. This is one of the few times where he plopped down and looked out at the greenery.
Tim
Bobby
Active member
I was shooting full auto, with I think a 400 ISO. It was a quick shot, because usually if Eric stops, he sits down, and I really wanted a hiking photo of him standing up Thanks again for the advise, I need to pick a better photo editor program.
Thanks again for the advise, I need to pick a better photo editor program.
BillK
New member
There are plenty of free / inexpensive photo editing programs out there. I'm currently using Adobe Lightroom for my entire workflow. You can download a 30-day evaluation copy from Adobe if you want to play around with it.
Lightroom 30-day Evaluation
You just need to create a quick account. It's really a neat application and easy to use. Unfortunately it's not cheap however.
- Bill
Lightroom 30-day Evaluation
You just need to create a quick account. It's really a neat application and easy to use. Unfortunately it's not cheap however.
- Bill
darren
Poobah Emeritus
bikehikeskifish said:
Yes, roger that. It can be tough to type what you mean sometimes. By moving the camera, I only meant a few feet up and over. I just wanted to try to change the angle a little to reduce the sky and increase the ground. I didn't mean a backside shot. Just my thoughts. Hope it helps. I really like the potential of this shot.
- darren
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