How would you crop this

[gnome33nz]

Hi there, I'm quite new at the world of photography and would appreciate a few suggestions.

I know I've blown out the sky on this picture - any suggestions for how I could use different settings to prevent or change that outcome?

Also, how would you crop this picture to get the best photo? Obviously it's not very straight, but would you crop in heaps as well?


balloon.jpg


Any comments would be appreciated - don't be too nice. Constructive criticism would be gratefully received

Taken on a canon 450d

1/800sec at f/1.8 100ISO
50mm lens

[harrypalmer044]

Hi there and "Welcome" to a great community, I hope you have fun here and join in with the rest of us.
Anyway I really like your image and have had a quick 5 minutes play with it to see what you think. I have cropped it where I feel it suits the image best to focus the eye on the important part of the image, I have also straightened it a little and adjusted the colors in the green roof and the balloon. I hope it's ok for you. Thanks for sharing your image with us and I look forward to seeing more soon.
David

[gnome33nz]

Thanks so much for that David, I hadn't considered changing the colour of the roof, but it does look good the way you've done it. I was kind of thinking of cropping it similar to what you suggested but I was aware of the thirds rule and wondered if placing my daughter in the middle of the frame would break this rule?

I also wondered whether to clone out the sky or darken it with a vignet as it's so white.

[harrypalmer044]

Hi there,
glad you liked the edit, to be honest the rule of thirds is only a guide and there are no hard and fast rules to what or how your image should look. I like the fact that your eye is lead up the wooden pier towards your daughter and as I have cropped out a lot of the washed out sky your eye is focused on her and in the end it all depends on what it is you like about your image. I look forward to seeing how you edit your image and hope to see it soon.
David.

p.s Just had another play around with your lovely image and ended up with this, I hope you like it....

[Steve@C4]

Looks like CD artwork to me. Also, if you crop it square, the balloon is right on the upper right intersection (rule of thirds).

Also did a little creative blurring to fake in more DOF. I also agree that it looks better straightened but didn't do it here.

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Cheers,
Steve

[flavio]

I'll save on words.
1) Selective coloring. B/W to all but the lady and the baloon.
2) straighten horizon
3) Crop
4) Gaussian blur to the background
5) Add some weather in the sky
6) Added some contrast using levels

This is my take:

[gnome33nz]

David, I love the black and white - it looks stunning... what a great idea - thanks so much for your help.

Steve - lol, never heard of CD artwork. But I love the square shape. I am so new to this that I hadn't considered changing the shape other than 6x4 type size. I do love what you've done thankyou.

Flavio - wow awesome sky - how do you do that? Is it brought in from another picture? It makes a big difference. I love what you've done.

Thanks to you all for your advise and help.

[gnome33nz]

I had another we go at this from some of the suggestions you gave me.

facebook4.jpg

[flavio]

Originally Posted by gnome33nz

David, I love the black and white - it looks stunning... what a great idea - thanks so much for your help.

Steve - lol, never heard of CD artwork. But I love the square shape. I am so new to this that I hadn't considered changing the shape other than 6x4 type size. I do love what you've done thankyou.

Flavio - wow awesome sky - how do you do that? Is it brought in from another picture? It makes a big difference. I love what you've done.

Thanks to you all for your advise and help.

Assuming you have PS or The GIMP, adding artificial clouds is not a difficult task.
First you make a new layer. Then you apply the filter-render-cloud-solid effect to the new layer. Then you make a mask to the new layer and mask out the relevant parts of the image. Then you chamge from normal mode to lighten (or darken) only and reduce the opacity to about 50%. Flatten image and that's it!

BTW, your last version is looking better. I am personally not a real fan of vignetting. As a rule of thomb it is suggested to put the subject way from the center of the image.
All best!

[denja]

All of the suggestions here are great! I took yet another approach I also boosted saturation, straightened the horizon, and burnt in the highlights in the water. This crop was constrained to a 5x7.

Jim