One of those days where you can't get it right!

BintyMcFrazzles

BintyMcFrazzles

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402
Name
Jackie
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No
My friend and I are both amateur photo enthusiasts (it's a nice hobby to share). We went to the River Humber yesterday, near Hull, to take some shots of the bridge and its surroundings. Due to time constraints, we went in the afternoon.

Although it was a lovely day, as it was warm, it wasn't a great day for photography! One of those where it's hazy, but a bit damp in the air, overcast with no colour in the sky or anywhere. A case of 50 shades of grey, with some splattering of beige!
I'm not normally "into" architecture as a subject, but the Humber Bridge is an impressive piece of engineering. Albeit rather beige and grey. Anyway, after taking literally dozens and dozens of photos of the bridge and developing them yesterday, there is barely a couple which are, at best okay. To be honest, the bridge ones are just boring and dull. I shot in raw and jpeg (I'm new to using raw), and I know that shooting in raw makes no difference; if a photo is crap, it's crap. I processed them in Elements 11.
One of those days where I had an enjoyable day, but upon processing, it was a massive anti-climax, and I felt I might as well have just taken the photos on my mobile phone camera.

I've not had one of those days in a long time, so I'm just trying to tell myself that it was a combination of the weather and a subject I'm not used to taking! Plus, I think it would have been better at dawn or dusk....maybe. Hey, ho!

Here is the offending photo in B&W.
Yeah, boring as. :meh: :indifferent:
If you click on it, it will send you to the photo on flickr, and Sir SR has already given me some tips on how to possibly improve it.

Humber Bridge by Jackie XLY, on Flickr

Here is another in colour.
With this, I tried to improve it. But it just looks over-processed. A typical example of processing not being able to polish a turd.


More Humber Bridge (colour) by Jackie XLY, on Flickr

Anyway, don't be too harsh, as I'm feeling sensitive! :puke:

I'm now off to have warmed-up Chinese food for lunch, then going to photograph some mould. :D
 
BintyMcFrazzles said:
And this.
:meh: :indifferent:



Humber Bridge by Jackie XLY, on Flickr
Click to expand...

I think this is the better shot out of the two. Personally, id give it a little CCW rotation to level it out, then crop a little of the water off of the bottow (losing a bit of the reflection wouldnt bother me to be honest).

Becasue it was a grey day, I think it would benefit from a B+W conversion, and id also use the burn tool to put some detail into the clouds to make them a little more dramatic. It definitely has potential Jackie :)
 
Thanks, Nick. The thing is, that IS better than it was! I have altered the sky a bit, and much more seemed to make it look over-processed (I was adding blue via colour variations).
 
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Nikon_Nick said:
I think this is the better shot out of the two. Personally, id give it a little CCW rotation to level it out, then crop a little of the water off of the bottow (losing a bit of the reflection wouldnt bother me to be honest).

Because it was a grey day, I think it would benefit from a B+W conversion, and id also use the burn tool to put some detail into the clouds to make them a little more dramatic. It definitely has potential Jackie :)
Click to expand...

Was this what you had in mind? It does look better, but it's still trying to polish a turd! :D:LOL:

(These won't be around long, as I'll be deleting them from my flickr!)


Humber Bridge by Jackie XLY, on Flickr
 
Sorry, ive just seen that you have 'No' selected for editing your images.

Ok, it needs even more of a CCW rotation now as it looks like you have rotated it CW, and it does look like you could still get more out of the sky than that. Ill be honest Jackie, I don't think hope is lost with this one :)
 
Nikon_Nick said:
Sorry, ive just seen that you have 'No' selected for editing your images.
Click to expand...

No problem! I only click "no", because when I joined, it asked "Do you want others to alter your photos?" (Or something like that). I took that to mean others could edit my stuff. CC is completely different. :)


Nikon_Nick said:
Ok, it needs even more of a CCW rotation now as it looks like you have rotated it CW
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah!! It does! DUHH!!!!!! I'M NOT BLOODY DOING IT AGAIN!!! LOL. :p:D:LOL:

Nikon_Nick said:
Ill be honest Jackie, I don't think hope is lost with this one :)
Click to expand...

:arghh: As I say, polishing turds and all that........ :agree:


(I keep meaning to delete the photos from my flickr, but people have "favourited" them.) And one of them was in my "most viewed" yesterday!
 
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1st of all cheer up. photography is all about crappy British weather and failed shoots.... isnt is?

I can only see the 1st image and I must say i would like to see more grit. there seems to be detail in the sky. so lower the highlights and pump some contrast in there. if this where me id have took 2 shots, this one and -1EV to get more sky detail and blend the 2 images. Im aware your new to shooting raw but there are many many videos on youtube to help you.

also what kit/settings were used?
 
barratt1988 said:
1st of all cheer up. photography is all about crappy British weather and failed shoots.... isnt is?

I can only see the 1st image and I must say i would like to see more grit. there seems to be detail in the sky. so lower the highlights and pump some contrast in there. if this where me id have took 2 shots, this one and -1EV to get more sky detail and blend the 2 images. Im aware your new to shooting raw but there are many many videos on youtube to help you.

also what kit/settings were used?
Click to expand...

Thanks, Phil.
 
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