Beginner First ever play with editing software

tom_amateur

tom_amateur

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Name
Tom
Edit My Images
Yes
I've downloaded Rawtherapee tonight, as its free and finally made an effort to learn some post processing. Ive been taking photos in RAW for ages, with the idea to learn how to bring out abit more from them, but just didnt get round to it until now.

I took this photo of the the bridge at Barmouth, Wales, and thought it was pretty nice. However it looked overexposed and colourless, so I've had a play with adding a graduated filter and toying with the contrast and sharpness a little

IMG_1119 by tom_499, on Flickr

Here is my edited version.
IMG_1119.edited-1 by tom_499, on Flickr

Any feedback would be great.
 
Am I alone in prefering the original?
In the original the light looks far more natural as does the reflected sky in the water which I'll wager in reality is a murky brown.
Also, in the edited pic the left hand end of the bridge is no longer as distinct against the background as in the original.
Just my 2p
 
Twigman said:
Am I alone in prefering the original?l
Click to expand...
I'm not sure. I appreciate what has been done with the "after" image, but to my eye it looks a bit overdone, and hence artificial. The "before" image looks more natural. But this is all subjective of course.
 
Tom, you've gone too far. A mild increase in contrast would have suited, yes. It's a sensitive business, image adjustments. With any image we have to be clear about what our intent is. An urge for impact can battle it out with a need for naturalness. This is not about art, this is about technique at a basic level.

But it's fine to play around with adjustments - that's how we find out what they do. Sometimes it's instructive to revisit a processed image a week or a year on, and see it in a wiser light, or just a different one. I could be quite embarrassed about some of my earlier efforts, but it's funny at the same time that certain images remain strong. Were these last a product of instinct or accident - who knows? Keep pushing at the boundaries. They're elastic. it's fun.
 
Thank you for the feedback everyone. Keeping the image looking natural is at the top of my priorities.What I would have really liked to have done was just bring out the contrast in the background, and largely leave the foreground alone, though I appreciate the comment of how the light will reflect off the water, and how that could look unnatural with changes. I'm not convinced the post process ND grad filter has really done enough, and I agree, this morning it looks like i've gone too far with the contrast.

In future I will try a real ND graduated filter on my camera, and take several photos with each dealing with a certain layer, and then combining the best from each.

I'll keep trying!
 
To me the 2nd image if viewed in isolation is better. Only because you see the 1st true reality image is the 2nd one considered 'over done' in my opinion. The 2nd image could well exist in reality at the right time of day and with nice clear conditions. If I was buying one to hang on the wall it would certainly be No.2. So I think excellent effort (IMHO) (y)
 
I had a quick play with large download of original and it looked much like your edit.
Off topic(ish) the composition could be better, a bit less sky and both sides objects are sat uncomfortably on the edge.
Need more space or crop out ... as a guide, no right or wrong.
 
You have done a great job and the edited picture is looking really good and better than the original one. And the best thing is, the edited picture is not looking unnatural at all.
 
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