Boat Out of Water

ST4 said:
That image, given the conditions is as good as it will be.

Taking it in softer lighting would improve it no doubt, but as this sort of day time shot goes, its fine.
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Cheers for the feedback, appreciate it.
 
Colours look a bit "larger than life."
You could probably trim a bit of sky off the top, since it's not adding anything.
 
I prefer the cropped b+w. But then I have a soft spot for black and white shots I think haha. I like it.. well done
 
Is it my eyesight (or this dodgy screen) but does that sky look a bit processed? Theres a lot of artifacts and halo kicking around, maybe that the B&W phone edit?

I am at work and the displays are not the best (Understatement).
 
69Bonni said:
Is it my eyesight (or this dodgy screen) but does that sky look a bit processed? Theres a lot of artifacts and halo kicking around, maybe that the B&W phone edit?

I am at work and the displays are not the best (Understatement).
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I think I did overdo the sky in the first one which is the same one I've then changed to b&w on the phone!

All a learning curve!!
 
Actually i love the Blue sky! I think the same crop you have in B&W on the colour version would be good.

Talk about learning curve! I faf around with my images so much and end up back where i started on most occasions.
Its funny how i never want to crop images.... no idea why. Learnt quickly less was more;)
Sometimes i think PH and LR can be a nightmare.... and where does all that time go....
 
69Bonni said:
Actually i love the Blue sky! I think the same crop you have in B&W on the colour version would be good.
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View attachment 19309

I know what you mean about all the time going with playing round with pics.

Am just trying to get a grip with LR. The one good thing I would say is that I'm more selective with the photos now, instead of just downloading a lot of jpegs from the camera!!
 
I "Played" with LR a few years ago, and decided to do the job properly and had been using PS exclusively until then. I spent a lot of time setting up LR correctly and learning as much as i could about it (you never stop learning PP in my view). I think LR and PS go hand in hand and the more serious you get about photography the more you need tools like this.

I see you mention Jpegs, if you shoot in JPEG, i think you should really consider thinking about shooting in RAW. I wont babble on about the benifits here as there are lots of threads on the subject, but in short it allows you A LOT more room for getting the best out of your images, as you dont loose the RAW information captured by your Camera.
 
69Bonni said:
I see you mention Jpegs, if you shoot in JPEG, i think you should really consider thinking about shooting in RAW. I wont babble on about the benifits here as there are lots of threads on the subject, but in short it allows you A LOT more room for getting the best out of your images, as you dont loose the RAW information captured by your Camera.
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I used to just use jpegs but have recently (probably past month) started shooting in Raw, hence the learning curve with LR.. I agree there is loads more room for getting more out of the images. At least by processing each image it's made me more selective bout which ones I use!!
 
69Bonni said:
I "Played" with LR a few years ago, and decided to do the job properly and had been using PS exclusively until then. I spent a lot of time setting up LR correctly and learning as much as i could about it (you never stop learning PP in my view). I think LR and PS go hand in hand and the more serious you get about photography the more you need tools like this.
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If you tried it "a few years ago" I'd suggest you give it another go.
I tried all the early versions of LR and disliked the results from them all, but with LR 4 they changed the processing algorithms and it's now my preferred raw developer.
Lightroom has become so good these days that it, along with a few plug-ins, does everything I need, and I hardly ever need to go to Photoshop.
 
Oh sorry Brian, I think what I wrote was slightly misleading.... What I meant to say was, that I played with Lightroom (early version) and didn't really get on well with it. So just used PS. Then after a bit of a rehash, i decided I would read up on LR. This opened a whole new scene, when I actually 'understood' what LR was all about and the penny dropped, I set the whole thing up correctly on my machine.

So the end result is my workflow is much better. I use LR 5.something now and store all my images using it and like the fact it's totally non-destructive. All of my developing is in LR just switching to PH when some more complex editing needs doing.
Do you use any interesting plug ins?

I would recommend LR to anyone but I'd also recommend they read up on what it's about and how to set it up correctly from the start, that's the key! ( can always remember in my first play with it, so how do I flipping well save my image:)).
 
69Bonni said:
I would recommend LR to anyone but I'd also recommend they read up on what it's about and how to set it up correctly from the start, that's the key
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Do you do the same workflow for every picture? Or do treat each one individually. If that makes sense!
 
Oh I see what you mean, no I treat each one separately ( my theory is ) go through the photos and kick out the rubbish. Then go through the keepers to see which need no or little processing and mark them ( LR has various options for marking them flags, colour tags, ratings etc ). Then mark the keepers that need some work.
Then quickly process the first batch, then work through the ones that need serious editing in PS.

Now reality.....
Look through all the photos, don't ditch anything! Only pictures I've taken of my foot, the lens cap or the inside of the camera bag.
Come to the first shot that most sane people would ditch, process in LR for an hour, realise it need more work, flick to PS. Now process till which ever comes first, 3am or RSI. Resume the following evening until, while multi tasking (don't believe the myth men can't ) I read about the latest 'Wizzo go faster plugin for LR' spend 2hours downloading it and getting it to work with my version of LR. Find it's useless or would be great for removing the scaffolding from that 'cathedral shot' I took in Barcelona last year. But begger all use for what I'm editing currently. Then finally get bored or decide 'who wants a silhouette of a giant hogweed against a mediocre sunset with a wonky horizon and blown out sky anyway! Go down the Pub:exit:
 
69Bonni said:
Oh sorry Brian, I think what I wrote was slightly misleading.... What I meant to say was, that I played with Lightroom (early version) and didn't really get on well with it. So just used PS. Then after a bit of a rehash, i decided I would read up on LR. This opened a whole new scene, when I actually 'understood' what LR was all about and the penny dropped, I set the whole thing up correctly on my machine.

So the end result is my workflow is much better. I use LR 5.something now and store all my images using it and like the fact it's totally non-destructive. All of my developing is in LR just switching to PH when some more complex editing needs doing.
Do you use any interesting plug ins?

I would recommend LR to anyone but I'd also recommend they read up on what it's about and how to set it up correctly from the start, that's the key! ( can always remember in my first play with it, so how do I flipping well save my image:)).
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Apologies from me too, for not reading your post properly.
Your workflow pretty much parallels mine, I do most of my work in Lightroom with plug-ins and if there's anything else I have CS6.

I have a full range of Lightroom plug-ins, NIK Collection, OnOne PerfectPhoto Suite 8.5 and the full set of Topaz.
They all have useful features, but of the three I find I use Topaz "Adjust", "Clarity" and "Detail" most often, although not on everything and not all on the same image!
The other Topaz effects vary from interesting to useless (for me) although I have used most of them from time to time.
I bought the Topaz plug-ins one by one, always when there was some discount offer, I never paid full price for any of them.
I had five or six and I wanted another one, when I logged on to their site they gave me the message that since I already had a certain number, they would sell me the remainder (i.e the complete suite) for, I think it was $59.95, which seemed a great deal, so I went for it, otherwise I would just have kept the ones I bought individually.

BTW If anyone is interested in any of the Topaz plug-ins, they run regular webinars demonstrating their different programs.
If you sign up for a webinar, at the end they give you a code for a time limited 50% discount off the item being demonstrated, and 30% off all their other products, so you can get some good deals that way.
 
Hi Brian
"Your workflow pretty much parallels mine" I hope not the reality version!!

Sounds interesting, i'll take a look at the Topaz plug-ins. Its always a case of using this for one thing and that for another isnt it! I have the NIK collection. Its sometimes a matter of getting the time to learn them too isnt it!
Just as a matter of interest when you process in LR and flip into PS what do you save the image as after editing in PS? Just interested in other peoples Workflow...
 
69Bonni said:
"Your workflow pretty much parallels mine" I hope not the reality version!!
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I can understand the reality version haha!

Gonna have to research all these plugins! Perhaps I'll do that at 3am when I just can't do any more processing!!
 
69Bonni said:
Oh I see what you mean, no I treat each one separately ( my theory is ) go through the photos and kick out the rubbish. Then go through the keepers to see which need no or little processing and mark them ( LR has various options for marking them flags, colour tags, ratings etc ). Then mark the keepers that need some work.
Then quickly process the first batch, then work through the ones that need serious editing in PS.

Now reality.....
Look through all the photos, don't ditch anything! Only pictures I've taken of my foot, the lens cap or the inside of the camera bag.
Come to the first shot that most sane people would ditch, process in LR for an hour, realise it need more work, flick to PS. Now process till which ever comes first, 3am or RSI. Resume the following evening until, while multi tasking (don't believe the myth men can't ) I read about the latest 'Wizzo go faster plugin for LR' spend 2hours downloading it and getting it to work with my version of LR. Find it's useless or would be great for removing the scaffolding from that 'cathedral shot' I took in Barcelona last year. But begger all use for what I'm editing currently. Then finally get bored or decide 'who wants a silhouette of a giant hogweed against a mediocre sunset with a wonky horizon and blown out sky anyway! Go down the Pub:exit:
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How true is that, along with moving all the sliders in LR/PS to see if it improves the photo and it does not.
Note to self, I must learn LR ( I have been meaning to do it for at least 2 years, just don't have the time, 1 step forward and 2 steps backwards )
 
Have a look on You Tube there are some Excellent tutorials on there. I found a little program called youtube downloader free program so i save all my favorite ones onto DVD so there easy to find if i need them.
I have a load of books used to read them in bed but you know where that leads zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I faffed around with lightroom as i said above but you really have to study the basics first, once you understand what its about and how to set it up, its excellent. You have to remember Lightroom and Photoshop are very different programs and work in very different ways, both quite powerful in there own rights.
 
69Bonni said:
Have a look on You Tube there are some Excellent tutorials on there. I found a little program called youtube downloader free program so i save all my favorite ones onto DVD so there easy to find if i need them.
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That's not a bad shout! Those YouTube program's do work then?! See them listed but not had a use for them...... Until now!!
 
I have been using YTD video downloader, its a freebe it works fine just paste in the YouTube URL and set up what file type you want it to save it to, ie MP4 etc.
The free verson lets you download one file at a time the pro version you can download files faster but to be honest its fairly quick
 
SaintSLR said:
That's not a bad shout! Those YouTube program's do work then?! See them listed but not had a use for them...... Until now!!
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I would be VERY careful about some of the so-called video "Tutorials" on YouTube, unless you know they are from a reliable source.
I've seen some shockingly bad, and sometimes just plain WRONG, advice posted on YouTube under the guise of "tutorials."
Personally, for Lightroom and Photoshop, I think the Julieanne Kost tutorials on the Adobe TV network are really good.
They are always informative and not too long, so that people like me with poor memories can still remember what was said at the start when they are over.
The plug-in companies, OnOne and Topaz in particular also have excellent demos of their products on YouTube.

69Bonni said:
Hi Brian
"Your workflow pretty much parallels mine" I hope not the reality version!!
Sounds interesting, i'll take a look at the Topaz plug-ins. Its always a case of using this for one thing and that for another isnt it! I have the NIK collection. Its sometimes a matter of getting the time to learn them too isnt it!
Just as a matter of interest when you process in LR and flip into PS what do you save the image as after editing in PS? Just interested in other peoples Workflow...
Click to expand...
Yes, learning to use some of these programs to their best advantage can be a time consuming business.
That's one of the great advantages of using LR, since your original raw file is always available untouched. If you don't like what you've done you can always press "Reset" and start again.
As I mention above, the webinars that Topaz put out are always recorded and available later on YouTube, although you obviously don't get the product discounts on there.
Just do a "Topaz" search when you are on YouTube, they have a whole library of demos of their products on there.

If I'm working in PS (which is not very often) I usually save as a 16 bit tiff, although the file sizes can get quite large.
 
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69Bonni said:
I have been using YTD video downloader, its a freebe it works fine just paste in the YouTube URL and set up what file type you want it to save it to, ie MP4 etc.
The free verson lets you download one file at a time the pro version you can download files faster but to be honest its fairly quick
Click to expand...

Cheers for that, will take a look

Brian G said:
I would be VERY careful about some of the so-called video "Tutorials" on YouTube, unless you know they are from a reliable source.
I've seen some shockingly bad, and sometimes just plain WRONG, advice posted on YouTube under the guise of "tutorials."
Personally, for Lightroom and Photoshop, I think the Julieanne Kost tutorials on the Adobe TV network are really good.
Click to expand...

I appreciate what your saying about so called tutorials!! Youtube can make any one an expert!!
Funnily enough i did see one of the Julieanne Kost tutorials the other day, about lightroom mobile on the iPad.
 
Yes as Brian said you have to really weed out the wheat from the chaff on You tube and Adobe TV is excellent! You will find many tutorials on the same subject, and often they will go about things much the same way in which case you can normally be fairly confident its a reasonable method of working. Watching some through you do pick up little tips here and there which is useful.

Brian, yes thats how i work too, all the photos in raw in the catalog and backed up to external drives via LR. Thats the great thing about LR ... non destructive. I also learnt very early on to do all my editing in LR first, before taking it to PS. If i'm going to edit in PS its the final edit as trying to take it back into LR afterwards as a 16bit Tiff is Interesting!
 
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