How would you edit this landscape shot?

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Apologies if this is posted in the wrong section. How would you edit this shot? I'm after peoples opinions with this one, other than cropping out the plants at the bottom.

_MG_2876.JPG
 
add a bit of contrast, reduce highlights, increase shadows, add white (watch histogram, don't go too far), add black (watch histogram again), add a touch of clarity (maybe some sharpening). Job done ;) I might even leave the vegetation in the bottom as it adds a bit of interest (I find water a boring foreground, personally)
 
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Pretty much what Jim said, although I don't bother with clarity. Coming from film (Velvia) you generally had to make a choice between blocked shadows and overdone highlights and I preferred the former (and still do).

But in all honesty, it's a bit of a nothing shot so there's not a lot that can be done with it.

Is it Llyn Crafnant, btw?
 
add a bit of contrast, reduce highlights, increase shadows, add white (watch histogram, don't go too far), add black (watch histogram again), add a touch of clarity (maybe some sharpening). Job done ;) I might even leave the vegetation in the bottom as it adds a bit of interest (I find water a boring foreground, personally)

Thankyou, I will have a play

Pretty much what Jim said, although I don't bother with clarity. Coming from film (Velvia) you generally had to make a choice between blocked shadows and overdone highlights and I preferred the former (and still do).

But in all honesty, it's a bit of a nothing shot so there's not a lot that can be done with it.

Is it Llyn Crafnant, btw?

Geirionydd, crafnant is through the trees and over the hill to the left. I've just had a flick through your website, looks like it'll give me some ideas of places to go :)
 
Try Dehaze, add a little contrast and a little saturation and vibrancy maybe. Mess about with sharpness and clarity to see the effect.

Certainly have a fiddle with those things and maybe the brightness, blacks. shadows, whites and exposure to see how that goes.
 
Looks a fairly even exposure. I'd have zoomed in or panorama and cut the bottom and right side I think if it were me. Oh, and waited for a cloud to fill the gap in the sky ;)

I'd just use a brush to selectively add contrast and adjust the colours to my taste I think.
 
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I can't see much to edit here. Tonally, nothing seems beyond the pale. I think more that it needed more attention at the taking stage.

The bit of shore at the right is an intrusive distraction. But overall, what's interesting here? Well there are those oak trees along the left, there's the texture of the ripples, and the hint of grasses bottom left ...

But as a whole image, it's somewhat generalised and vague, and needs more focus of interest.

Two things with landscapes (apart from judging the light) are deciding where to draw the frame, and where to focus, and all these things have to conspire together and integrate to form the image as a whole. So I'd go back there (if possible) and explore possibilties some more.

You could go low, for instance, focus on the foreground grasses, and let the distance blur - that's just an idea, not a recipe. It's about being adventurous, I feel - but more decisive too.

Sometimes a landscape overall might not hold much interest, but you can extract details from it.
 
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I'm with Steve on this one. As soon as I looked at the original image I thought "letter box" - get rid of the boring water in the foreground as it does nothing for the overall image.
 
seems to be the day to make things straight :) and I think the reed things in the foreground looked like a watermark or signature :)

1.jpg
 
I may go the completely opposite direction. I find the hills and skies flat and not that interesting and would crop them to a minimum, focussing on the water. Perhaps roughly like the crop below
20200105-183544--_MG_2876.jpg
 
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I can't see much to edit here. Tonally, nothing seems beyond the pale. I think more that it needed more attention at the taking stage.

The bit of shore at the right is an intrusive distraction. But overall, what's interesting here? Well there are those oak trees along the left, there's the texture of the ripples, and the hint of grasses bottom left ...

But as a whole image, it's somewhat generalised and vague, and needs more focus of interest.

Two things with landscapes (apart from judging the light) are deciding where to draw the frame, and where to focus, and all these things have to conspire together and integrate to form the image as a whole. So I'd go back there (if possible) and explore possibilties some more.

You could go low, for instance, focus on the foreground grasses, and let the distance blur - that's just an idea, not a recipe. It's about being adventurous, I feel - but more decisive too.

Sometimes a landscape overall might not hold much interest, but you can extract details from it.


I agree with this.

Without trying to be overly harsh, it's a nothing image (harsh light and nothing to focus your interest) and editing won't really help, you're much better off working on your photography rather than editing.

The crop from @Rapscallion is a good example of how to see scenes differently and focus on a subject, whether or not you like the crop it is obvious that the water is the focus and that's what you look at before exploring the rest of the image.
 
Thankyou for all of the replies, there are some interesting and varied thoughts here :)
 
In the original image, as far as I can tell, the water in the foreground looks sharp and the hills beyond less so. It looks either as if you've actively focussed on the ripples or unwittingly allowed the camera to do so. Anyway, alright as far as it goes, but a bit half-hearted - the hillsides look as if they're not sure whether to be blurred or sharp. As if the image needs more clarity of intention.

I don't know what your in-camera workflow is, but the key is to take charge, and for landscape and other static subjects the norm is probably an aperture priority exposure mode, where you choose a specific aperture to distribute the focus in the way you want within the frame. A conventional approach, but not the only one, is to stop down to maximise the depth of field, and let little escape. But if the hills here were sharper, then the image as a whole would tend towards a more clinical look. There are trade-offs - it's always a balancing act.

Another method of attack, in which a wider aperture might be used, is to concentrate on foreground interest and let the background blur wholeheartedly. Using this is one of the compositional tools that can help to confer a three-dimensional feel to an image, which is something that engages the viewer emotionally - it draws us in.

There's an element of that here, in that we respond to the focus on the near water and our eyes are drawn towards the cleft between the hills.
 
OK, couple of ideas from me:

The inevitable mono - not easy to work with a jpg that doesn't have much information, this would have a lot more life froma raw file. Other ideas would be to try to emphasis the component shapes within the image that can be done more easily in mono.
Example edits-.jpg

The same as everyone else, but a little softer like an old photo.
Example edits-2876.jpg

Building on Droj's idea about the water being sharper & using bokeh for the background, I have a fake-bokeh filter. This is probably my favourite of the 3.
Example edits-2876-2.jpg
 
Lots of info here ,thankyou everyone. Ancient_mariner, I like that third one too, some nice variation in the different examples.
 
Toni, that last one of yours was fun, and interesting.

This one, I thought, was taking the p***, which is an unkind thing to do to a recent poster ...

As for Kipax's effort, well - an example of serious cultural depravity! (Culture = soccer in some circles. Counselling might be available ;)).
 
Toni, that last one of yours was fun, and interesting.

This one, I thought, was taking the p***, which is an unkind thing to do to a recent poster ...


As for Kipax's effort, well - an example of serious cultural depravity! (Culture = soccer in some circles. Counselling might be available ;)).

???
 
I would choose a different crop and up the saturation, the colour may add interest which is a bit lacking in the original.
It is what I call a record shot, the sort I take when on holiday and I do not want to delay the people I am with and I have no chance of going back when conditions are different.
Although it is good to get different people's ideas be wary about becoming obsessed with getting lots of "likes", it happens a lot in camera clubs where eventually everybody ends up taking similar shots because they want to obey the rules and it becomes a mutual admiration club with no-one trying something different._MG_2876.jpg
 
It's the composition, light and weather conditions that are lacking here, also your camera wasn't level so you have a wonky horizon - these are all things that should be assessed at the time of shooting and can't be saved by editing (apart from the horizon). Maybe if you had still conditions, a mist on the lake and early morning light on those lakeside trees to the left (if it's possible) there could be a nice interesting intimate shot to be had.
 
Apologies if this is posted in the wrong section. How would you edit this shot? I'm after peoples opinions with this one, other than cropping out the plants at the bottom.

This sort of photo doesn't need much editing - but in all honesty, I wouldn't have even shot it in the first place; I can't see any crop or PP that'd create a great image here, though it does look like the venue & lighting could have given a good shot somewhere, just not here

Dave
 
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