Sand Bar 3

[Mike Fuhr]

Here's another photo from the sand bar. I cropped this one a bit from the original shot. As always, Look forward to your comments.

Mike

Nikon D50
18-55mm
50 mm
1/200
F/11
ISO 200

[Mike Moats]

Hey Mike, I like the positioning of the leaf in the frame, and lighting looks good. Main line on the diagonal is good.

[Bruce Murden]

Mike, although I like the comp you have here, I'd like to see a different angle on the lighting, or some more post processing to help separate the leaf from the sand a bit more. I do like how the lighting gives the sand two different tones. That makes placement of the leaf work so well.

[Mike Fuhr]

What type of post processing are you thinking?

[Julie Kenward]

Mike, here's an idea...

I took the background layer and made a duplicate layer (Ctrl +J) and then changed the blend mode to screen. I lowered the opacity until the sand on the bottom half was in the range I wanted it to be. I added a mask to the layer, clicked on the brush tool with black set to the FG and painted out the top half of the sand at about 75% opacity to give it back some of the depth. This gives a real contrast between the two areas of sand and the leaf.

Not everyone's cup of tea and not everyone likes altering an image in this way but I think it does set off the leaf a bit better and shows the lighting off more. It's just a thought...

[Mike Fuhr]

Wow! That really does make a difference. I think it is time to take that PS course I've been thinking about for months...

[Bruce Murden]

Thanks Jules for giving some suggestions. More contrast and a brighter leaf make a difference.

Mike, in addition to a PS course, check out a lot of macro and landscape posts here -- many of them have soem hints and suggestions, with the settings used in PS, to show how some people see possible improvement avenues. Slower going, but full of examples and things you can try to see how the changes work.

In addition to PS, I use Lightroom. It does the bulk of my processing, with PS saved for pixel editing (versus global in LR, or the spot adjustments that LR can make, which can't be done with the same masking and precision in PS). Aperture would be similar, but I haven't used it.

[Ed Vatza]

Good eye Mike. Like the composition. Julie did a nice job cleaning it up and doing some PP.

[Mike Fuhr]

Thanks for the input and good ideas, Bruce. I use a Mac and have thought about Aperture -- I just haven't done the research yet.

Mike

[Anita Bower]

Beautiful colors and textures! Wow!

Thank you to Jules for describing the steps used to separate the leaf from the background. I followed your directions using an image of my own so I could understand what you did, and it worked! A great learning experience.

Anita Bower