Reflections


wonglp

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Jul 20, 2007
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Bukit Batok
Hi all,

Picture taken in a lake Taiwan Alishan with Olympus E-PL1 @9mm f5.6, 1/100, using cokin GND filter.

PC204201_2.jpg


Would like some feedbacks on the following pict on these areas:
- composition. I like this picture mainly for reflection and colors, but I do realize the right portion of the tree is chopped off on the reflection. Any other ways to improve? Cropping into other aspects?
I dun mind if anyone take this picture and crop it to show me how to improve. I did a square feels funny, did a 16:9 feels better. I leave it uncropped so that more can advice;p

- the use of GND, is this ok?

- Slight PP is done to recover some highlights and sharpening.

Anything else I can look out for to improve?

Thanks for viewing.
 

Having some issues with my gallery thus pic wasn't showing. Sorry for those who viewed, thanks for viewing again. C&C very much welcome!
 

I would have preferred if you darkened the skies in PP instead of using a GND, as the GND also darkened the trees and made them look a bit weird (dark at the top, bright at the bottom, which is not likely to happen in the real world)
 

brapodam said:
I would have preferred if you darkened the skies in PP instead of using a GND, as the GND also darkened the trees and made them look a bit weird (dark at the top, bright at the bottom, which is not likely to happen in the real world)

Thanks for the tip! Sounds interesting, ( dun have "pro" pp software at the moment). Pretty much pp noob. Is it like polarizing kinda effect? What's it called?
 

Thanks for the tip! Sounds interesting, ( dun have "pro" pp software at the moment). Pretty much pp noob. Is it like polarizing kinda effect? What's it called?

Method 1) Using Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW (ACR), which is inside Photoshop, you can use the selection brush tool (hit K for the shortcut in Lightroom, not sure about ACR), do a selection of the sky, which should be relatively easy with the auto mask feature, then lower the exposure. That will not give the gradient effect, but at least it will bring the exposure of the sky down.

Method 2) Open the image up in Photoshop, duplicate the layer, then double click the duplicated layer to access Camera RAW, then add the graduated filter. This will give the effect of a GND. Then, add a layer mask to this layer and mask out the trees.

Method 3) In Lightroom or Camera RAW, go to the Hue, Saturation, Luminance tab (HSL), and then lower the luminance of the blues, and up the saturation. But this will also darken the waters because it's also blue, so you may also want to do this on a duplicated layer and mask out the water because it is already dark enough. This will not give the graduated filter effect either, but it does darken the skies

These effects work the best on RAW files. If you shot in JPEG, the dynamic range saved in the image may not be enough and the skies may be already clipped to white. If the skies are not that bright, these PP techniques will work well. If the skies are too bright originally, it would be better to use the GND.
 

Method 1) Using Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW (ACR), which is inside Photoshop, you can use the selection brush tool (hit K for the shortcut in Lightroom, not sure about ACR), do a selection of the sky, which should be relatively easy with the auto mask feature, then lower the exposure. That will not give the gradient effect, but at least it will bring the exposure of the sky down.

Method 2) Open the image up in Photoshop, duplicate the layer, then double click the duplicated layer to access Camera RAW, then add the graduated filter. This will give the effect of a GND. Then, add a layer mask to this layer and mask out the trees.

Method 3) In Lightroom or Camera RAW, go to the Hue, Saturation, Luminance tab (HSL), and then lower the luminance of the blues, and up the saturation. But this will also darken the waters because it's also blue, so you may also want to do this on a duplicated layer and mask out the water because it is already dark enough. This will not give the graduated filter effect either, but it does darken the skies

These effects work the best on RAW files. If you shot in JPEG, the dynamic range saved in the image may not be enough and the skies may be already clipped to white. If the skies are not that bright, these PP techniques will work well. If the skies are too bright originally, it would be better to use the GND.

Thanks for the elaborate steps! I actually thought you meant single step;p
Certainly, i would be taking ur word on pp as I have yet to try any methods.
Would multiple exposure blending work as well?

I actually had 3 cokin different gnd with diff strength, the one I used I thought it's ok as it turns out. I had second look on the original scene without gnd, although i don't really find the top dark bottom bright as you mentioned, are u referring to the middle water part which is bright instead?

I copied a shot here on the actual scene here for discussion as well.

PC204202_2.jpg


Any other thoughts on composition?
 

although i don't really find the top dark bottom bright as you mentioned, are u referring to the middle water part which is bright instead?

Any other thoughts on composition?

I was referring to the trees actually. If you look to the left of your image, you can see the top of the trees are darker than the middle/bottom portions of the trees.

And yes, exposure blending/HDR will work as well, but it may cause the trees to become "radioactive", where some parts of the trees are brighter than the others. You will then have to mask out the trees or do dodging/burning. Or you could do what I like to call "pseudo-HDR", where you pull out all the details possible through maxing out highlight recovery and shadow recovery (fill light).

Also, the hut/shelter thingy is very bright and if your intention is to show the reflections, the image is not the most effective it can be. Eyes are naturally drawn towards the brightest part of the image (the hut), but the relections in the water are pretty dark.
 

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I was referring to the trees actually. If you look to the left of your image, you can see the top of the trees are darker than the middle/bottom portions of the trees.

And yes, exposure blending/HDR will work as well, but it may cause the trees to become "radioactive", where some parts of the trees are brighter than the others. You will then have to mask out the trees or do dodging/burning. Or you could do what I like to call "pseudo-HDR", where you pull out all the details possible through maxing out highlight recovery and shadow recovery (fill light).

Also, the hut/shelter thingy is very bright and if your intention is to show the reflections, the image is not the most effective it can be. Eyes are naturally drawn towards the brightest part of the image (the hut), but the relections in the water are pretty dark.

Note with thanks! I will try pseudo-HDR which can be done with program i use. Thanks again!