sun dancing on the river

[kiley9806]

this one i've left untouched in post-processing,
any suggestions?

[Marko]

I think this is a nice shot actually, I like it.

To make it even stronger I would increase the overal contrast as on my monitor the image looks a bit flat. I would also sharpen a bit more and darken the top third of the photo.

Hope that helps,

Marko

[Travis]

I like it too... how did you get that cross filter effect? was it natural?

[kiley9806]

that cross filter effect is natural - remember, i dont have any fun accessories or gadgets just yet! (and i honestly dont know how to add that stuff in postprocessing either, if its possible - hahaha)

heres a couple altered versions. i sharpened it like you said marko, but had a hard time with the contrast. if i increase it, the centre of the sun sparkles get too clumped together, too bright. i played with the color, warmth & coolness, and saturation a bit too, obviously...

which do you prefer? i think i like the warmer myself.

[Travis]

I like them both.... not sure what I'd do to make them any better.... maybe different crops? I dunno they look good...

[kiley9806]

thanks! its just a fun shot.
i do notice now, a little distortion on the upper lefthand side.
water ripples or something...
might end up doing as you suggested and crop it a bit.

[AcadieLibre]

I like both also, the only thing I would try to do it get some more definition in the rocks, enhance shadows or something along those lines. Not even sure how I would go about doing or if it would be any better, but I would try it anyway. A good photo to play around with. Nice shot.

[Marko]

I prefer the warmer shot too. I would still locally (with a brush) burn in (darken) the top and rightish part of the photo in a circular fashion (from maybe 10 oclock to 5 oclock if the pic was a clockface) so that it more matches the bottom.

I would try this using a new layer, a soft brush with the blend mode set to overlay or soft light and the opacity set somewhere between 4-10%

(Thanks Alex_Wilson) Dodging and burning in photoshop

Hope that helps,

marko

[kiley9806]

im again having problems opening certain photos with my paintshop pro program, and thats the only one i have/use to do the burning... once i get it working properly again, i will have to play around more for sure.

thanks all for the great advice & feedback!

[Alex Wilson]

Try cropping out a bit the left side -- the dark shadow at the top is a bit of a distraction and draws the eye right out.