A country shed - CC please

[LJG]

As most of you know when it comes to post processing I'm a bit of an intellectual desert! I've brought a few different programs and get swamped with all the doovers & doohickeys. Once I get to about page 10 of the instructions my eyes simply glaze over :o

Anyway, I'm starting to get determined to get to know them. This is my first real attempt using Lightroom. Also, one problem I seem to be having is a "softening" of certain images when I re-size or upload them through Photobucket. I'd like to know what you guys think of this shot please

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac352/LJG_photo/Countryshed2.jpg

[invisible]

As most of you know when it comes to post processing I'm a bit of an intellectual desert!
Welcome to the club :)

I don't know anything about Lightroom nor can I give you any tips on how to achieve anything in post. I will tell you, however, that there's a problem with the sky. You can see three distinct levels of blue: dark, light, and a little section of very light. In my opinion, the dark and light blues don't look natural. There is also some strange bluish action going on around the trees, I assume associated with the problem in the sky.

I wish I was able to tell you why that happened or how to fix it...

[stauchmann]

The colours (esp the blues) are very vibrant, but the tree outlines look kinda weird against the sky. I don't know the tech-speak for that. :)

[IanB]

Post up the original. As the others said, blue is a problem and maybe you dragged the slide to far.

[Canon_Matt]

I think the border doesn't really work. IMO I prefer a border all round or nothing.
The shot it's self is quite good Lloyd. I really like it, worthy of a frame :)

Half of the sky seems slightly over exposed. Did you shoot in raw?

I have attached a quick edit. Cropped, boosted levels a little and tamed down the sky a touch. Hope you don't mind. Just the way my eye sees it. :)

[LJG]

Welcome to the club :)
I don't know anything about Lightroom nor can I give you any tips on how to achieve anything in post. I will tell you, however, that there's a problem with the sky. You can see three distinct levels of blue: dark, light, and a little section of very light. In my opinion, the dark and light blues don't look natural. There is also some strange bluish action going on around the trees, I assume associated with the problem in the sky.

I wish I was able to tell you why that happened or how to fix it...

Phew! I’m glad I’m not the only one Federico haha. I see what you mean about the sky, but it was different levels in the original RAW shot as well (see below)


The colours (esp the blues) are very vibrant, but the tree outlines look kinda weird against the sky. I don't know the tech-speak for that. :)

Thanks Stauchmann, yes, you’re right. Fixing it is the issue!


Post up the original. As the others said, blue is a problem and maybe you dragged the slide to far.

Thanks Ian, I have put the original (converted from RAW ) below without any retouching at all.


I think the border doesn't really work. IMO I prefer a border all round or nothing.
The shot it's self is quite good Lloyd. I really like it, worthy of a frame :)
Half of the sky seems slightly over exposed. Did you shoot in raw?
I have attached a quick edit. Cropped, boosted levels a little and tamed down the sky a touch. Hope you don't mind. Just the way my eye sees it. :)

Thanks Matt. Here’s the original, less border. I was just trying to get a bit creative with the framing, I guess it didn’t work haha

As you can see, they sky looks a bit weird even in the original, it has different shades of blue. By richening the shot it made the browner colours of the sorghum in the paddock to the right stand out more

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac352/LJG_photo/LJG%20AP%20album/Original.jpg

How do you guys think it stands up as B&W and a bit closer? I know Matt, it has that border again haha, but I'd already uploaded this to Photobucket before I read your post!

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac352/LJG_photo/LJG%20AP%20album/Countryshed21of1.jpg

[stauchmann]

Hi Lloyd,

I've had a go at it (hope that's OK) with paint.NET. I've no idea what I'm actually doing, so...

I fiddled with the "level" tool in both luminosity and RGB. I think it's close, but I don't think I've gotten the SEQ sunlight right. Shadows might be too dark now too.

Cropping it down helped a lot - the LH edge & bottom were almost black at the end of the fiddling. And the feathering around the branches is still there.

Don't know if I'm helping or wasting time... :o

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_mNCcdHN2ev8/S9D8SNCt2LI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/z2Oj4xdQlO8/s800/Attempt1.jpg

[IanB]

Couple of ideas :)

[LJG]

Thanks Stauchmann, Thanks Ian. I've really got to spend the time getting my head around this PP stuff. Work seems to always get in the way though haha

[Frosty73]

Mist of the colours are good. The top of the shed is too bright, I think. You might also like to try darkening the whole image just a bit...And the way the trees are coming off the sky looks quite strange, and it's really distracting. The black and whites posted above are cool, they suit it. And also note, if you do decide to do some black and white, your photos have to have strong blacks, and defined whites, to give it strength.

[LJG]

Thanks Frosty. It was a hard shot with bright sun. I would have killed for a cloudy day!!