Good edit?

[Leon]

I am still going through 35k photo's putting them into categories, I came across this one, I was going to delete them till I thought maybe I could bring it to life, as you know editing is not really my thing.

 

I have just messed with this in curves and done a crop, this is the original as usual

 

 

and here's the edit...

 

 

keep or delete?   would that be a good new section "keep or delete"?

[Black Pearl]

Great improvement over the base shot but being a Mono Man I had to have a fiddle:

 

[Leon]

I like the edit but I can't help think that landscapes should be in vibrant colours?

 

probably the reason I don't post/edit, they usually get deleted.

[annie]

the second in your edits for me....lovely..

[ChrisLumix]

I much prefer the original to your edit, which I find OTT and lacks the subtle tones. All I did was warm the temperature a bit, and give it a slight crop but in the opposite direction to what you'd expect.

 

What do you think?

 

[geodar]

if you feel the need to crop, try cropping the sky instead of the water/reflection.

I would put the trees into the upper third as I find the reflected clouds lead the eye into the picture.

maybe more of a boost in saturation to help bring out stronger colours.

geoff

[GrahamNfk]

Ooh nice, me likey. I also love BP's mono version, it takes on a whole new, almost abstract, character. 

[Leon]

this is why I just delete rather than edit...

[ChrisLumix]

this is why I just delete rather than edit...

 

Noooooooooooooooo. I would never delete a shot like that! What did you think of my minor edit? (which is all I thought it needed).

[Leon]

was good chris

[colinb]

Leon - before I edit a photo first thing I ask myself is why, what and how. 

 

so using your original I would think 

 

Why - because I like the picture and wish to improve it - although often a picture that looks naff kind be brought to life with a bit of tweaking especially if its a 'memory' or day out you want to keep a record of.

 

 

What - do I need to edit part of the image or the overall picture?

? the sky foreground balance doesn't help plus the dark foliage and maybe a tad more 'vibrancy' would help the overall picture?

 

How - the main point and here its not just a case of tweaking levels (although that can often be a good starting point) I would use a mask of some sort the separate the sky ground so you can lighten the foreground without losing the sky. Same with the dark area - so put simply see if you can learn how to separate areas of different tones and adjust each part (takes seconds -honest)

 

your original on the left - my edit on the right

 

Hope this helps, might not be what you had in mind but I don't do mind reading 

 

 

Click image to view large