River meets the sea - before and after

[akshay.narayan]

Here is the initial image



I was disturbed by the flying birds and the man standing on the left. So i used clone tool in GIMP to remove them to get the image below.



This is my current favorite Pic. (the processed one! )


This is my first shot at post processing and i welcome any comments / suggestions / bouquets /brick-bats.

Exif is available on flickr.



Cheers,
Akshay

[Nicole]

I probably would have straightened the horizon too Seems just slightly off if you look along the orange bit in the middle. Otherwise nicely done

[Sistog]

finally the 2nd is better.. but the photo does not seem straight..try also to brighten the picture

[wulf]

The cloning is very smooth but, as noted above, why stop there? I think this image would definitely benefit from straightening the horizon and being made brighter. Perhaps you could show us an "after the after picture" once you have developed it a bit further?

Wulf

[akshay.narayan]

Originally Posted by Sistog

but the photo does not seem straight..try also to brighten the picture

yeah! it dint occur to me that i could straighten the photo
i particularly dint want to brighten it.
I wanted it to remind me of the beautiful weather i clicked it nevertheless, let me try that too. If i feel its better , i will post the better one here....

[akshay.narayan]

I did straighten the horizon, and brightened the image slightly,

here it is

"after the after picture"



any more suggestions? I am loving it!! nice learning for me!

[Nicole]

I actually like it pre-brightening. But straightened does look better

[akshay.narayan]

Originally Posted by Nicole

I actually like it pre-brightening. But straightened does look better

Same here! thats the reason i didn't brighten it in first place! Glad to hear the same opinion!

yeah!! as you rightly said, looks better straightened.
wondering why that dint occur to me in the first place!!!

[wulf]

Here is a version which I have straightened and lightened from the cloned version:



I worked on several layers, experimenting with trying to draw more colour and drama out of the scene. One change I made in particular was to paint a blue line over the yellow sand bar (?) along the horizon, which was very obvious when the image was brightened. I then adjusted the transparency and layer mode to blend this in.

Is it better? I am not sure - my big disadvantage is that I wasn't there when the picture was taken so I don't know exactly what you are trying to recreate!

Wulf

[akshay.narayan]

woah!! wulf, thats great! my photo looks a lot different!

actually i wasnt trying to re create anything, i just wanted to remove the distractions in the image (the man in left and those birds) , but learnt a lot in the process, and learnt how we could change the mood of the photograph all together

let me tell you the situation i was in when i clicked this image :

it was about evening 4 o clock, and the sky fully over cast. The sky was soooo over cast, i clicked this pic and packed my cam, and a moment later it started pouring cats and dogs.

the was the pre monsoon showers time here in India when i clicked this picture.

that "sand bar" was lookin orange because it was completely red sand on the beach and at that kind of over cast weather, due to improper light falling on it, it appeared orange.

The image you have created does show the cloud cover, but if i try to recollect the situation there and compare the picture, it appears as tho it would rain that day, but would take some time till the clouds got darker and heavier.

thats the difference in the mood of the pictures what i have cliked and what has been recreated by you!

i guess this description helps to understand the mood of the nature when i clicked the pic.