please critique corrected photos

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon

08/12/2005 10:56:41 PM · #1

Ok, I tried to correct the three photos that I put on here a couple of days ago. See what you think now.
Photo 1. (I tried to straighten it and not oversharpen it)

//usera.imagecave.com/pianomom2003/Places/P1010785finaledit.jpg

Photo 2. A couple of you wanted to see this one cropped more. See if you like it better this time.

//usera.imagecave.com/pianomom2003/Places/P1010778editedandcroped.jpg

Photo 3. I cropped it & tried to get rid of some more of the noise, although I couldn't get rid of all of it. See you like it better now.

//usera.imagecave.com/pianomom2003/Insects/P1010829finaledite.jpg

SDW

Canon EOS-60D

08/12/2005 11:33:29 PM · #2

Picture one and two look over exposed and picture three shows signs that you have the FZ20 set to a high ISO or the camera has the sharpening function set to high. What ISO were you using? The color is great but the focus seems a bit off in picture two. I think a tweak in camera setting may help.

One thing I found out fast with the FZ1 and FZ20 was not to up the saturation or contrast in the menu mode and keep the ISO as low as possible. I always set the ISO at 50 and 80 respectively to limit the noise. Here are two pictures from I took with each keeping the ISO down and avoiding over exposure.

> FZ20

> FZ1

Message edited by author 2005-08-12 23:36:13.

SJCarter

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

08/12/2005 11:52:42 PM · #3

I think it's a definite improvement from the first pass on all 3. The first one still looks a bit overexposed, but having the horizon straightened helped a LOT - it's much better. The water in the second one looks great, but the far shore looks off (maybe color & sharpness?) - still better though. The third one doesn't look much different than it did the first time. It's still really noisy and perhaps oversharpened now - my least favorite of the bunch. My favorite is the first one.

Phantom2009

HP PhotoSmart M22

08/13/2005 12:06:42 AM · #4

I like them. They're pretty good, but I think number three is a little 'grainy.'

08/13/2005 07:33:41 AM · #5

SDW65, on the first two photos, I had the camera set at ISO 80 with a faster shutter speed (I think it was 1/500). Two of the main problems that I'v had are pictures sometimes too grainy and about 1/3 - 1/2 of them will blurr. Part of it's probably me because I'm a beginner and part of it is probably learning which settings on the camera work best in which situation. The feedback really helps. esp. if you've already had or have the same camera. The blurriness and noise are better if I use the ISO 80 and faster shutter speed outside when it's bright. The third picture was inside a large greenhouse type building with lots of plants, hundreds of different type butterflies, and people. I kept having to change my settings because the light kept changing. Sometimes I could use the ISO 80 and faster shutter speed, which helped because of the butterflies moving. Other times it was too dark to use the faster shutter speed & I upped the ISO to 200 or 400. That was probably when I got too much grain. The third picture, was set to the faster shutter speed & ISO 400. Obviously now, not a good idea. If it's too dark to use the faster shutter speed & ISO 80 what should I set it to? I wasn't using a flash because most of the time when I've used the one on the camera it washes stuff out too much and also this time, I didn't want to scare the butterflies. I'll try to post all three of the pictures as they came out of the camera so that you can see what I had in the beginnng to work with.

Thanks SJCarter & Phantom2009 for your comments also. I couldn't get all of the noise out of #3. My favorite was # 1 also.

Message edited by author 2005-08-13 07:34:34.

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon

08/13/2005 07:46:19 AM · #6

Ok, here are the three photos as they came out of the camera before anything was done to them. I have Photoshop Elements 3.0, by the way.

//usera.imagecave.com/pianomom2003/Places/P1010785.JPG

//usera.imagecave.com/pianomom2003/Places/P1010778.JPG

//usera.imagecave.com/pianomom2003/Insects/P1010829.JPG

SDW

Canon EOS-60D

08/13/2005 09:27:13 AM · #7

Originally posted by pianomom:

I never went above ISO 200 with the FZ20 due to noise. I also made sure the built in "IS" was on and in mode II. With ISO 80 to 100 and having the "IS" mode on you should be able to get even in lower light situations you should be able to get 1/30 and higher SS and that's not bad with the "IS" on because it will give you at least a 1 to 2 stop advantage. I usually always shot at f/2.8 letting in more light.

Toned down the highlights a little and desturated the Green and yellow by -25.

BTW your shots are great. I love the composition and great colors.
I hope you didn't mind but the first two shots I tried to edit. It does appear that you have the saturation set to high on your camera. I maybe wrong, but appears that way.

Message edited by author 2005-08-13 09:54:31.

Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera

08/13/2005 12:36:10 PM · #8

No, I don't mind at all! I really appreciate all of your help! :)

How can you tell the saturation is set too high on my camera? What is it you look for? Do you think it's definitly too high on the camera vs me putting it too high in photoshop? Did you get that feeling from the "original" pictures that came straight from the camera too? Sorry, don't mean to be a nag, I just want to make sure which it's coming from so that I can correct it. Thanks!

Message edited by author 2005-08-13 12:43:28.

digitalknight

08/13/2005 06:54:44 PM · #9

Overall, these do look a lot better - nice work!

Here's what I did with the original on the first:

Process:
rotated to the vertical line on the bridge support using the ruler tool, then rotate canvas "arbitrary"
Used highlight/shadow tool (under image in PS) to bring out darker detail
Hue/sat:
* tweaked cyan more to blue for bluer sky
* pushed cyan saturation
* pushed green sat a little
USM
Burned midtones in clouds, rocks, and water in places
Dodged highlights in rock and water (gives more contrast to these areas)
High pass layer at 15% (copy layer, apply Filter "high pass", set to "soft light" set trans to 15% to sharpen a little more)
Used the sponge tool (it's grouped with dodge and burn) to saturate the rocks a little more.

hope that helps, hope you like it. It's a nice shot, and fun to work with the original file.

Message edited by author 2005-08-13 18:56:21.

Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera

08/13/2005 06:58:52 PM · #10

Doug, I like what you did with it. You know more about the editing in PS than I do. How do you get just the sky bluer? If it has something to do with layers, I haven't learned how to do that yet.

digitalknight

08/13/2005 07:09:52 PM · #11

couldn't help myself...

crop - went for the triangle in the composition, what do you think?
neat image
USM
burned midtones in background
desat on the greens a bit

nice photo! I love the way this looks on my monitor, can't get the upload to look the same - still nice.

Message edited by author 2005-08-13 19:13:16.