Buoy

[magnus9]

I'm new so be nice. =P

Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/magnus9/Photos/bouysteps1.jpg

After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/magnus9/Photos/bouysteps-1.jpg

First thing I did was correct the color. Then I straightened the horizon and after that I had to crop the photo. Next I played with the Shadow and Highlights until I found what I liked.

I like the detail in the clouds and trees that I was able to bring out in the end. What do you guys think? I'm still a photoshop novice so if theres anything else I could do to make this look better or more interesting let me know.

[Liacs]

This is one for the "get down and dirty" assignment I guess :)
I like the shot, as I love the ocean I could look at it longer.
But the beach is a bit blueish. I don't know if it would help the picture to get it more natural, but I would try. Nice composition with the buoy.

Oh, and why are the steps nearer to the water fresher than the others? That is quite awkward, no?

Lia

[alissasanderson]

The cloud and tree detail in the after shot is very, very nice. Much better than in the original, where they're blown totally out. I think the water looks a tiny bit too blue, almost fake, but it may be the way it has to be to get your clouds to stand out. Pick or choose, I guess. I also might crop for a bit less foreground, but just a bit less.

Overall, quite a nice shot. Good work!

[Saralonde]

The sky detail is definitely a lot nicer.

[magnus9]

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/magnus9/Photos/bouysteps-2.jpg
So I ended up playing with the shadow and highlights a bit more to make it a little brighter. Then I used the dodge tool to tone down some of the really blue parts of the ocean. After that I cropped a bit of the foreground out of the shot and that's what you see above.

Liacs: The footsteps were already there when I took the picture. It's a local surf and fishing spot and you could see the buoy on the beach from the highway when it was there so I imagine there were a few others who stopped to take pictures as well. The few times I stopped there was at least one other person with a camera.

[alissasanderson]

I like this last edit much better. I didn't realize how dark the sand was until you brightened it:)

[Maja]

What about making it come more alive even? I tend to like my photographs a little more vivid though, so it might not appeal to you. Sometime i like to do extremes just so i see what the photo is capable of and then find a medium.

http://www.yermentality.com/bs1.jpg

[Redrabbit]

I tend to agree with Maja. Maybe somewhere between your second and Maja.

[Liacs]

I second Redrabbit. The colour of the sand is nicer on Mayas submission than on the original one. But the buoy looks here too painted...

[magnus9]

Maja, what did you do to get the sand that color? I can't figure it out :confused: *cough*newb*cough.

[Maja]

Maja, what did you do to get the sand that color? I can't figure it out :confused: *cough*newb*cough.

I played around a lot with color balance and levels.
In this case when i wanted to make the sand pop more yellow, unfortunately the highlights of the ocean started turning green so i took the image and duplicated it to earase the ocean so it is unaffected while i change the color of the sand.

Color Balance:
apple b if you have a mac.
ctrl b if you have a pc i believe.

Play around with the sliders to get a feel of wht each color does. I rarely use "highlights" maybe just a touch because it starts making things look florescent and it usually creates hot spots... keep with mid range and shadows.

I'm not really sure where you are in photoshop, so i hope this made sense.

If you have any other questions please feel free to message me. I would be glad to help you with anything. :cool:

[jiminyClickit]

Variation Number ?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47146451@N00/363279844/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/363279844_f84abe6e10.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="bouy3" /></a>

If you can get back to that beach, take a new photo. You might get PhotoShop to give up something you like, but at what cost? I'm OK with this result, but it's more of a painting now than a photograph, not sharp at any size larger than this.

Thanks for asking for suggestions; you see it can be done many ways. Someone here knows how not to lose the sharpness. Good Luck !

[jiminyClickit]

The 5 areas that were changed (sand, ocean, sky/clouds, tree/hill area, bouy) each needed to be SELECTed individually to have various changes made. This is where my program makes glitches, less than perfect deliniation that then requires BLENDing or CLONE touch-up, leaving noticeable differences. Is there a way around this? Anyone?