Hi All,
Thanks to those that previously provided feedback on my Jetty image - as mentioned I'm new to image editing and the feedback provided has been invaluable. As a result I'm hoping to get some more on the below.
I have included the original and the edited.
Thanks,
Ben
I think its great that you are so invested in being a better photographer and I think there are a lot of people on this forum who can share their expertise. I also commend you for being brave hah I don't know that I could be so open and willing to be critiqued by random people on the web. It takes some balls and I wish I could do that so easily.
This image doesn't do nearly as much for me as the last one. More than editing I would focus on composition and developing an artistic eye.
This isn't something that I find comes naturally to me. I really have to work at it and maintain it. When I feel I really need to jump start my creative eye I will take my school black and white film camera and load enough film for 5 shots. Now why this is important is it takes a lot of work to develop film and then make them into prints so I have to be extremely selective about what 5 shots I am going to take. I find with me that if I use a digital camera for too long I start to just take pictures willy nilly because they can easily be erased and my SD card holds enough pictures for me to keep snapping away till the cows come home and I don't put as much thought into the framing and exposure.
Check out this
article about composition techniques. This is always chapter 1 in any photography class. Consider these techniques as the photographers bible. When you take photos make sure you are using one of these techniques and I guarantee you will increase the quality of your shots.
For me you missed an opportunity in this shot. The bench that's to the left of your barn, I would have flown to just right behind that bench so your viewer would envision themself sitting on the bench gazing out onto the scene. In your comp, as a viewer I am confused by what the subject of the shot should be. I don't know if I should be looking out onto the water or if I should be looking at the barn. When your viewer looks at your photo it is important they know immediately what your subject is. editing techniques can help with this but it should really be programmed into the comp.
I really didn't do anything with the composition on this one but I did purposely leave the space in front of the barn which helps me to understand the space in the frame better than having it cut off. I used a graduated filter from the top down to the grass line. This allowed me to gradually darken the sky but have it still look natural. I also used the same graduated filter from the bottom left corner to ther roof of your barn. This helps the viewer know the subject is in the upper right half of the frame, then the lines from the roof should further direct them to the shoreline. I used a tad of vignette to further direct the viewers eye. I crushed the blacks and boosted the whites. I also added a healthy amount of clarity effect.
In your rendition you have your highlights and whites boosted way too much and are loosing a lot of detail. In lightroom your exposure workflow should look like this:
Hold the option key and slide the "blacks" down till you see black pins starting to appear in your image. This is Lightroom telling you where the black point of your image is. Do the same for white but push it up until you see white pins coming through. White and black is something that can be measured and is a mechanical process. Shadows and highlights are where you can set the tone or mood of your image.
