Distracting Sky or Somethingelse?

[nanbil]

The sky in this picture seems to me to be detracting from the row of homes. In particular the colours don't seem to "pop". Have boosted saturation a little bit but don't want to go too far with that ('fake colour' effect).

Do I need to do something with the sky or is the issue really elsewhere in the picture?

[milosh]

I also feel that the sky is distracting from the houses, not sure though is it because of its brightness or the fact that it takes up half of the image, probably both. I guess it would be better to fill the whole frame with the houses. You wouldn't loose this impact from the diagonal lines. You would have to get to a higher view point. Hope I helped a bit.

[windrider86]

Per DPS guidelines, can you share your exif information with us please and thank you!

[PhotoPhix]

Originally Posted by nanbil

The sky in this picture seems to me to be detracting from the row of homes. In particular the colours don't seem to "pop". Have boosted saturation a little bit but don't want to go too far with that ('fake colour' effect).

Do I need to do something with the sky or is the issue really elsewhere in the picture?

Some of what I see is that the sky is a bit blown out and lacks contrast. I masked and layered the sky added a bit of color and then adjusted the contrast. I also sharpened the houses and did some color tuning.

Where are those houses located? Lake or Bay? Garage for your boat wish we had something like that here in Florida.

[Elmo]

The image seems to be slightly "gray" all over. that might be some flair or from the generally overcast day.

I might try a CPL to reduce the dullness of the colors and hope for some sky enhancement also.

[nanbil]

Originally Posted by windrider86

Per DPS guidelines, can you share your exif information with us please and thank you!

Thanks for the reminder, forgot all about it.

HP Photosmart R707
ExposureTime : 1/262.5Sec
FNumber : F4.8
ISOSpeedRatings : 100
ApertureValue : F4.8
FocalLength : 8.00(mm)

[nanbil]

Originally Posted by PhotoPhix

Some of what I see is that the sky is a bit blown out and lacks contrast. I masked and layered the sky added a bit of color and then adjusted the contrast. I also sharpened the houses and did some color tuning.

Where are those houses located? Lake or Bay? Garage for your boat wish we had something like that here in Florida.

This is it. Just what I "visualized". Now I now it can be done. Thanks for the ideas. I'll definitely have to learn how to use layers now.

Location: Alexandra Bay, NY, on the St. Lawrence River (very close to the Ivy League Bridge crossing the river).

[Susan Kelly]

Ok, so here's my take on this. First of all - its a beautiful shot. I like the sky the way it is - there is just too much of it. I would have cropped some of it out and I would have cropped the picture from the right side as well so that you would not see that the houses end. This would give the appearance of a never-ending row of houses.

I would not crop any of the water out ..It is interesting without being distracting.

So I would crop some of the top and some from the right.....just a bit .

I do not like some of the color changes made above - the color is too fake looking. The original is a bit dull on the houses ....so I guess something in the middle might be nice.

When I lived in NY we didn't have anything like this!

[plangereis]

Hi nanbil. I hope you don't mind, but i noticed others showing creative possibilities on your photo to enhance the housing. I did not think you would mind if I posted my version, which I cropped to 11 x 17 in an effort to remove some of the sky area. I also used the gradient tool in Lightroom 2 to bring out the clouds by dropping the exposure etc. I then sdjusted the overall exposure, added fill light, increased black/ contrast levels, as well as clarity, vibrance and saturation levels to give the housing more "punch." Let me know what you think.