Critique required please

M

mart360

Senior Member
Two pics,
One from my wife - who took the shot whilst i was in hospital, and she had the day on the beach.

F3.5 1/2000 sec ISO 80

DSCN0636.jpg


I think this shot is stunning, Not for the cloud formation, which my wife was intending to capture, but

The picture as a whole, with my son providing a sense of scale to the scene.


The second

DSC_0052.jpg


Is my day on the boat. I couldnt go in the water due to my neck, so took pictures from the boat..

F8 1/2000 sec Iso 400 300mm zoom



For me i know there is more detail in the dolphin, but not being a photoshop expert, i cant bring it out, whithout loosing the blue of the sea

Any comments / criticism welcomed

MArt
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Outside of leveling the horizon, which will always look a little askew due to the sane line not being parallel to it, I like that photo a lot. You could probably improve it slightly in post, but I don't see anything in it screaming for help.

The dolphin is a great capture that definitely needs post-processing help. I hope you're shooting in RAW, because these adjustments are easier and cleaner with all the capture information available than having to work with a JPEG, where all you can do is manipulate the current image state. With something like this it's easy to see what is and isn't working, and with the dolphin all your detail is backlit, so using the Shadow slider will bring that out. From there it's color and detail tweaking. Even so, if you're new to the software and post processing, clicking the "Auto" button in the tone section of Camera RAW is by no means a cop out. It often will come very close to optimizing the image, but even when it doesn't you can then reset each slider one at a time to see what it did and didn't do, helping you learn the application. I've been working with RAW files for 2 years now and I'm still learning some features, and unlearning bad habits I developed (pun) early on.
 
P

Puzz1e

Banned
Second photo is obviously back lit which is why the dolphin is in shadow. Not really a fan of the pic as it stands due to lack of detail. You can fix it a bit in lightroom.
 
M

mart360

Senior Member
Thanks for your input Guy's :)

The beach shot is a Jpeg shot on my wifes 16mp Coolpix, so not sure if any post editing can be done there.

The dolphin was shot in RAW, and as most have guessed, it was a backlit shot.. that said i didnt get any choice, it was one of those sieze the shot type moments.

I have many more of the dolphins, some in varying positions. One thing i found, its very hard to photograph dolphins, as you get very little warning of where the're going to emerge

Mart
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
mart360 said:
Thanks for your input Guy's :)

The beach shot is a Jpeg shot on my wifes 16mp Coolpix, so not sure if any post editing can be done there.

The dolphin was shot in RAW, and as most have guessed, it was a backlit shot.. that said i didnt get any choice, it was one of those sieze the shot type moments.

I have many more of the dolphins, some in varying positions. One thing i found, its very hard to photograph dolphins, as you get very little warning of where the're going to emerge

Mart
Click to expand...


The beach shot just need re-cropping, no need to saturate more IMHO. Just make sure you start with the original and that you did save the original file. Remember that every time you save-open-save a jpeg you compress and loose. Keep originals and work with copies.
 
R

Rexer John

Senior Member
mart360 said:
The dolphin was shot in RAW, and as most have guessed, it was a backlit shot.. that said i didnt get any choice, it was one of those sieze the shot type moments.
Click to expand...

The great thing with Raw is you can always go back to do a better picture when you get the software and skill.
Make sure you keep your Raw file.

I'll bet if you put a few jpegs up of the same dolphin pic, at 0, +1 an +2 exposure (from the raw file) some nice chap/lady will combine them to get the best from the images.
 
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