another attempt

[windrider86]

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1164/992619764_be67dfdc65_b.jpg

E-500, 16mm.1/16.iso100. Old Morley chruch wjhere the original pic had the sky totally blown out. Added an interesting sunset and then cloned a few things out and tried to blur in the edges.

[jiminyClickit]

windrider86,

Each of these has the halo around the cut edge, especially the cross, roof and on down. Erase and blend at very close zoom would take that out, if you're going for a seamless look.

Sun is behind church, but church is lit from opposite direction. Don't you hate when that happens?! Keep a sense of humor going at these, you're improving.

[windrider86]

I knew you would be the first to comment on this! What i tried to do on this one rather than go thru the whole shebang of deleting the background was to trace around it and then past into selection, which worked except for I still have the glow. But I figure if you dont try it you wont ever learn!
Thanks for the comemnt on getting betterm words of encourage just make me wanan try even harder.

[jiminyClickit]

windrider86,

Allow me to add to "sense of humor," the necessity of "relaxing and enjoying." My edit program has an unfortunate habit of going berserk and shutting down in the middle of a job sometimes, and if I don't Save constantly, I can lose a lot of work. Takes the fun out of it. You'll do even better work if you loosen your grip on the mouse (or pen).

[windrider86]

I cant tell you how many times I have had that happen. I build ads for my work and have spent soemtimes hours working on an ad or a story and the dam computer will shut down on me. grrrrrrrrrrr, but what else are ya gonna do but laugh!
I just bought a wacom and am trying to get the hang of that. maybe I'm trying to do too much at once. who knows, but I will get there. persistance is one of my strong points!
isnt it rather late in your neck of the woods?

[windrider86]

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1429/996418123_2c99f9e954.jpg
Couldnt sleep last night cause this picture was buggin me so here I am first thing int he morning putting the sun ont he other side and practicing my edges.

[ELAY]

Wow, what an improvement.

The blending on the edges looks terrific.

EL

[xxpinballxx]

very nice! I like the look of it. Now the shadows look right on te left side of the subject.
Good work and sleep deprived to boot!

[wulf]

Much improved - it is now at the stage where it could be polished a bit further but is pretty much done.

If it were my shot, here are the things I would most want to concentrate on:

Light colour - for example, the highlights on the cross look quite cool - a little bit of orange overlaid on places like that would make make the church look even more like it is being lit by the warm sunset.

Light level - the front of the church is quite light. You could claim this as an HDR effect but I wonder if the shadows should be a bit deeper to match the dramatic sky.

Bottom left - that gap in the wall looks odd. It might be that the sky showing through highlights the difficulty of masking out the branches and leaves of the tree. The easiest solution might be to crop that side off.

However, definitely a good step forward.

Wulf

ps. Especially if your PC is flaky, get into the habit of saving often!

[ELAY]

I thought you should be allowed to bask in the accomplishment of having done the edges so well before we gave you further marching orders...but Wulf is right about the relative brightness of the light and the temperature.

If you still have the church on a separate layer, use your white balance controls to try to introduce a bit of orange/yellow, and maybe use levels to darken a little bit.

EL

[windrider86]

Thanks guys so much for the compliment and will play with your suggestions when i get home and have the pictures there to play with the last little details

[RexK_Cozumel]

That is a great improvement.. I know getting the edges right is the hardest part and very very time consuming if you want to do a perfect job. I also agree with Wulf and ELAY that the church still seems out of place because of the warmness of the background and the cool highlights on the church. I wonder tho. if you were trying to place the emphasis of the photo on the church I think a less magnificent background would have worked better. perhaps a blue sky with some white clouds. The sunset background keeps taking my eyes off the church.