Beginner River Derwent... Bubwith Bridge

[Judi]

Stopped off to take this Wednesday afternoon, it was dark, dank and miserable but wanted to get the flood/water height on this listed Bridge, I quite like the reflection, what do you think?

This is my first RAW edit




I have had another go this is more how it looked.




River Derwent...Bubwith bridge by 1 Jude, on Flickr

 

[Martyn D]

I like the reflections Judi but am afraid to say, for me, theres a few more things needed.
It looks very flat and to soft, with a RAW file theres so much more you could do, also the sky doesn't help, not a lot you can do about the weather but a little reducing of the highlights would help.

 

[4wd]

Light is flat and far from ideal.
You can certainly give a bit more zing, I did these from the jpg, from RAW could be better.
A final sharpen makes as much difference as anything.

Natural look

A bit more oomph

 

[Judi]

Thanks for that it looks great, brilliant job! Ahh well, will get there one day it really is the first time that I have tried anything in raw, really need to get to grips with it a few lessons wouldn't come amiss you have made such a difference it's a different shot i was afraid of doing too much to it.

What editing software do you use? I have PSE 12 the Raw editor doesn't have as many options as photoshop

 

[Pookeyhead]

There's a lot of feedback here that all kind of makes sense, but even though you can improve the look of the image by editing it, the underlying thing about this image, is that it was taken when the light was flat, uninteresting, and uninspiring. As 4wd has demonstrated, you can pull more detail from it if you wish, but that is not really the way you should be planning to improve your photography. Visit the scene at different times of day, in different weather, in different light.... don't just reduce the taking stage to mere data capture in the hope that the key to a great image lies in software. It doesn't! The key to a great image is a great subject, with great lighting, that has interest and relevance to the viewer.

Technically there are some issues too. It's crooked. Assuming the lamp posts and telegraph poles are indeed vertical, it needs rotating clockwise a little.

Also... it seems you're shooting RAW files, but have done nothing to correct lens issues.

See those magenta and cyan fringes around objects? That's chromatic aberration, and it's common for zoom lenses to suffer from this. If you use Lightroom, Adobe Camera RAW, or Capture One etc, you can remove this completely.

Here's after removal

That was using your JPEG that you posted, so there are some odd colour artifacts in there. Done with a RAW files it will be perfect.



You can also apply lens profiles which correct distortions from various lenses too.

 

[seaodyssey]

Snap on the Dog