The only way we will survive the teen years...chain him to a tree.
by WriteHeart

Comment by jackal9:
Cool idea!! My teenager is really a pretty good kid so I won't be needing to borrow your chain, I don't think...lol. I am sure your's isn't either, great idea though!!! Very funny!!

Train 2
by WriteHeart

Comment by digitalknight:
when you learn photoshop - remember this...

Do something you think looks cool - then back it off to 30% of what you thought looked cool. Then your in the "zone" where your PS becomes invisible, but your shots start looking amazing.

Lay jackal's over yours, and set jackal's to 30% opacity and you'll see what I mean.

After using PS for 13 years, I discovered shadow/highlight. And completely over used it - forgot my own rule of 30% - now I have a whole month's worth of photos to reprocess! :-p

Good luck, I think you'll find that any time spent learning PS will come back to you 10 fold. Just remember subtlety on subtlety makes very cool photos.

Train 2
by WriteHeart

Comment by noraneko:
I actually like the "before" version quite a bit better than the "after" version - although the colors are great in after, it looks a bit too sharpened. I really like this photo - I think trains are a hard subject, especially in color, but you pulled it off.

The only way we will survive the teen years...chain him to a tree.
by WriteHeart

Comment by purpleflutterby13:
Sound advice, I'd say (having been a teenager myself till recently)

Train 2
by WriteHeart

Comment by WriteHeart:
Wow!! Absolutely amazing! I can't wait until I learn PS. I actually am getting ready to sign up for a class at Ritz camera. I really see that I need it now.

Thank you!

Train 2
by WriteHeart

Comment by jackal9:
I really like this shot by the way, it is composed really well for me and just needs minor adjustments to be a great shot!!!

Train 2
by WriteHeart

Comment by jackal9:
I am going to assume you are having the same overcast grey leaden skys we are here in Oklahoma right now...which doesn't help in the least. play with the white balance on your camera to find the one the suits the pic best on my DL I normally like the "Cloudy" setting for days like this, but of course if this is not the case for you then something else may be best...anyway here is my take on your shot...

I used levels to help with the sort of washed out look (master), then ran an USM, then used Hue/Saturation to desat a bit to get rid of the slightly overprocessed feel to it. In regards to Hue/Sat. I used the red and yellow channels only!! to desat the rest looked fine....If you have any questions feel free to ask...or tell me I really screwed up your pic, lol. I think this has a bit more pop to it...

Jack

Train 2
by WriteHeart

Comment by jackal9:
The crop really helped here, I have taken the liberty of doing a bit more PS work on it to make it pop a bit more but I don't want to upload without permission so if you would like to see what I have done please let me know, post or PM me I think you will like the end result...

Jack

DSCF0031.jpg
by WriteHeart

Comment by JuliBoc:
Great smile and nice eye contact. I love the light in this photo.

Climbing to the top!
by WriteHeart

Comment by bmartuch:
The backlighting is great. This is a very nice shot.