My sunday edit

[gautamz07]

Well just a boring sunday and i came up with the following edit .

Original Image:


Edited image:


Thank you.

Gautam.

 

[chrisdesign]

I'm just curious, what were your thoughts for this edit?

 

[gautamz07]

chrisdesign ! just wanted to make the picture look a bit more clearer and add a unrealistic color taint on it , making it a bit dramatic. nothing overly fancy though ! just used curves , levels , a gradient and blending modes to make this simple edit . If i have to describle my goal in one word i would say i wanted to make it look more clearer and dramatic.

 

[Tom Mann]

Sorry, but to be blunt, unless your tweaked version was designed to go in a book on paranormal events taking place in a forest, I can't see much use for tweaking the image in that particular way.

IMHO, there are an infinite number of ways to corrupt a good image, so tweaking without purpose is generally not a very worthwhile activity (except when one is learning the various technical tricks and techniques). IMHO, images randomly tweaked are a big "So what?".

In contrast, there usually are very few ways to get good, technically accurate versions (ie, like the original) of a scene, so images of this latter type are much more precious and worthy of praise.

Just my $0.02,

Tom M

 

[gautamz07]

Tommann thanks for your $0.02 , it pays off(for me) everytime . it was more of a random edit. BTW , can you show me an example of "the latter type" that you talk about , or just describe what you were expecting.

Thanks so much for your inputs , much appreciated.

 

[inkpad.t]

The only other reason I see to tweak or use the original would be for some kind of fantasy manipulation, other than that I also see no reason to change the original. However I can not tell how good or bad the image is as I am on a rubbish lap top out and about at work ( sussssh...don't tell ), But here are sharpening tools in Photoshop filters, curves as far as I am aware do not sharpen your images.

 

[gautamz07]

Thanks inkpad


i guess i made a mistake adding the reddish gradient towards the left and the white mist , if i take that off and just keep the other effects , (levels, curves , blending mode , green gradient) , the image looks better than the original(notice the leaves in the original and in the edit , you'll see which one is clearer.)

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Gautamz - When I said, "...there usually are very few ways to get good, technically accurate versions (ie, like the original) of a scene, so images of this latter type are much more precious and worthy of praise....", what I meant was that the original you started with looked absolutely fine -- perfectly realistic, great colors and tones -- and that you shouldn't try to "improve" it because there just isn't anything wrong with it.

In fact, when you posted your most recent tweak, you have made it worse, not better: the skin tones are too red, the bark of the trees and her hair now have a green cast, etc. If you don't believe this, go by the numbers: use the eyedropper tool to measure the color of her hair both before and after your tweak, and see which version is closer to pure black, not a dark green.

If, on your system, your latest version looks better than the original, then I strongly suspect you are using either an uncalibrated, or a badly calibrated system. What I am talking about is performing hardware color calibration of your video system, card through monitor, using a tool like one of the ones mentioned in this article (http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2...ographers-6-top-models-tested-and-rated/#null ) or better. Also, you should realize that even after calibration, some monitors simply can not be brought into compliance with international standards. This is particularly true with many laptop screens, especially older or less expensive models.

HTH,

Tom M