Critiques - - Well here's my favorite one so far!

yuppicide · #1 04-20-2005, 08:16 PM

This is a picture of Kona, Hawaii. It's the touristy area of the island. This is a shot I took from the boat launch area into some of the shops across the street. Lemme know what you think.

Here's the original:
http://www.yuppicide.com/other/hawaii/p1010012.jpg

.. and here's my touch up.. the water really does look like this too! Bright, blue, such a pretty color. I made the palm trees more lifelike as well.

http://www.yuppicide.com/other/hawaii/konapr.jpg

Attached to this message is a comparison of both.

yuppicide · #2 04-20-2005, 08:32 PM

So nice of me to post this in the wrong forum.. can someone more it for me?! Sorry.

Duv · #3 04-20-2005, 11:13 PM

Apart from the water, I think you did a nice correction. There is no way that I could reasonably adjust the image to get the water that color but perhaps the important thing is the memory and how the water " felt " that blue.

Cheers
Dave

yuppicide · #4 04-20-2005, 11:35 PM

No it's really that blue down there just about. It's a totally different atmosphere in Hawaii, man. I went out on a submarine and all you see is blue water around you that color. It's so clear. I think it might be a "tad" greener/darker.

Anyway, the only flaw that I just noticed. Near the tree in the middle there's a blue splotch on the awning. Is anyone good at fixing that?! I just tried and didn't produce anything that made me resave.

Flora · #5 04-21-2005, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yuppicide

So nice of me to post this in the wrong forum.. can someone more it for me?! Sorry.

....No problem!!! .... Here you go .... moved to the Critique Forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yuppicide

Anyway, the only flaw that I just noticed. Near the tree in the middle there's a blue splotch on the awning. Is anyone good at fixing that?! I just tried and didn't produce anything that made me resave.

The method I used to correct the splotch is KE's 'Copy and Float' .... meaning:

Use the Lasso Tool to loosely select around the splotch.
Go to Select>Transform Selection and move the selection over a good part of the awning.
Ctrl+J copy the 'good part' to its own Layer, move it to cover the splotch and, using the Transform Tool, adjust it to align the stripes..

Gary Richardson · #6 04-21-2005, 05:50 AM

Hi Shawn, had a bit of a play with your image.

The first thing I noticed was your image was'nt horizontal, as you can't have a sloping sea, I leveled and cropped the picture.

Then played with levels and curves to improve contrast. Lastly coloured sea slightly, and applied new sky (the one in the image was a bit white).

As the sea has no real colour of its own, but only reflects the sky, your own colouring of the sea does not sit right in the image. I've no doubt at all, that on a sunny day with a cloudless blue sky it is the colour you show, but on the day you shot this picture, the sky appears overcast, and the lighting is correspondingly flat. The blue would probably not have been quite so vivid.

Can't find the problems with the blind, can't have been in the original image, I only see it in your enhanced image. Flora's technique is the way to go on removing it.

yuppicide · #7 04-21-2005, 08:57 AM

@flora: loved that technique.. haven't tried it yet, but I will when I get home. thanks.

@gary: that was shot on the same day I went out on the submarine. While the water might not have been that blue in that shot.. it was roughly that blue when I went out on the submarine. We first boarded a small boat that drove us out to the submarine and I noticed the water was very blue. It was probably a tad darker/greener than my rendition.

Gary Richardson · #8 04-21-2005, 03:24 PM

The point I was trying to make was'nt that the sea isn't that colour, but that the local lighting has everything to do with how it will come out on your photo.

At the moment you took the shot, the light was not right to give the kind of blue you showed in your enhanced photo, therefore it looked artificial to me.

This is not a criticism of your work, but an observation. If you are happy with the sea as you show it, that is all that really matters.

The comments were made in an attempt to explain how lighting of a scene influences more than just how bright and dark things appear.

yuppicide · #9 04-21-2005, 04:40 PM

Well, I meant to reply earlier today (before you posted your last reply). I understand what you meant. I took another look at the photo and although the sea IS almost that color it wasn't in that particular photo/lighting situation. In another shot, another day without clouds, yes it would have been.

I appreciate the feedback from everyone. I tried the thing Flora said and it's awesome.

embee · #10 04-24-2005, 03:47 AM

Hi,

I agree with others who've said the water is just too blue. It looks like somebody has dumped a ton of dye in the sea! But if that's how it appeared to you, then fine. My main criticism is of the water's edge, where it meets the rocks - you haven't done a very good job here because there is a distinct line where the water is the original green colour (also there are patches of blue within the green areas). I would guess that you used a mouse to colorize the water - it can be very tricky to get it spot on using a mouse.

Otherwise, the colour correction works and the picture makes me wish I was there!

yuppicide · #11 04-24-2005, 11:27 AM

I duplicated the layer, applied a curve to blue only, then I erased everything but the water, then flattened the layers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by embee

Hi,

I agree with others who've said the water is just too blue. It looks like somebody has dumped a ton of dye in the sea! But if that's how it appeared to you, then fine. My main criticism is of the water's edge, where it meets the rocks - you haven't done a very good job here because there is a distinct line where the water is the original green colour (also there are patches of blue within the green areas). I would guess that you used a mouse to colorize the water - it can be very tricky to get it spot on using a mouse.

Otherwise, the colour correction works and the picture makes me wish I was there!

xxpaperdollxx · #12 04-25-2005, 12:45 PM

This is the first time I've attempted to do anything to anyone else's picture.

I don't even know how to explain my steps. I know I selected the water and used curve adjustment on the blue. I duplicated the layer and used softlight with an opacity of around 70% or so. I merged the layers, duplicated again, and then used overlay, 50-60% opacity or so.

ah, oh well.

It looks much better in my program. I had to decrease the quality a whole bunch to make it fit. :\

yuppicide · #13 04-28-2005, 09:34 AM

It's always hard to make things look as good with 100k.. that's why most photos I host off my own website if possible.

I printed out 81 photos from my trip. Most of the comments were it's beautiful, you took some good photos, etc. Only one person out of the many I showed the pictures to said they were not good.

One photo in general most people said it looks like a postcard, so I'm going to add a border to it and write Hawaii over the front. I'll post the picture later.