Maybe too much photoshop ?

[blizarre]

Hi !
I made a pano a few days ago but it was unusable... the lower part was far too dark and i didn't liked it.

But i tried to do some photoshop on it and here is the result :



To be honest, i didn't wanted to make it "realistic"... I wanted to keep the contrast and make the person in the lower left more visible.

To do this, i applied :
saturation, levels on the lower part and orton effect (multiply image with a blurred version of itself) on the sky, noise removal (neat image ... i've got a compact and the original version was very dark).

What do you think ? maybe not enough contrast in the lower left ...

[geotography]

Good Morning Blizarre:

I like your photograph. It feels balanced, well-composed and vibrant. I do not possess all the technical skills that some of the professional photographers have; but I know what I like. Good job and thank you for sharing your photo with everyone. It looks like you used a fish eye lens. Please confirm your lens.

Best,

Geotography

[Synthea]

It looks slightly unearthly, but I like it. The colors are great.

[xxpinballxx]

Nice job! maybe you can post the original just so we can see the actual work involved?
I think you can even brighten the person a bit more....even if a small amount of dodging.
I personally do not like the frame but the photo itself is real nice work....like the orton on it....makes it seem dream like in a way.

[blizarre]

Thank you all of you !

Well, i'm sorry geotography but my canon A720IS (a compact) doesn't have a fish-eye ! Instead i took several photos (around 6) and stitched them with PTStitcher (Hugin is free). I used a projection that made this strange "shape" for the photo !

When i'll have enough money i'll buy a fisheye and a "real" camera ... but this kind of trick is really useful in the meantime !

Here is the original photo (you can see the different photos stitched together) :



I love to use the orton effect when i do not fear to change the photo !

Really thank you for your comments !

I'll try to brighten the person !

[kimspics]

it is gorgeous and I love it.

[Haeretik]

Having seen the original(s) and the finished piece, I must say - excellent job! I don't think there was too much Photoshopping at all...

[xxpinballxx]

Thats the beauty of CS3...no need to ever really change photo for good thanks to smart objects!
The before really shows the work done and I think the most improved on is the horizontal flip! Amazing how something so simple can really make a photo what it is.

[blizarre]

I agree with you xxpinballxx ... I made all the changes and told myself : well, this photo is nice.
The next day, when i saw it again, i remembered what i read about the way the eyes scan photos (top left to bottom right) and how the glance should be directed to the right in order to give a belief of future, expectation, etc....
I flipped it and .. wow ! I was amazed the way it changed my photo !

Now i think that i'll keep this trick in mind !

[Matthew James Norman]

Love the image, my friend, and I think the PP has been spot on. Well done and thanks for sharing.