After taking this shot home, I decided that the color wasn't right so I tweaked the levels, and then my brother pointed out that those cars didnt belong, so I cloned them out.

I dont feel bad about cropping it to fit my 16:10 laptop screen, sharpening it, or cloning out the cars, but is changing the levels on a sunset shot like telling a fish story 3 years after the catch?

Should I re-edit it and tweak the levels until the boat's name is in the original green as I saw it?

http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/medium/Irish_Miss_Before.JPG (http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/Irish_Miss_Before.JPG)

http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/medium/Irish_Miss_After.jpg (http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/Irish_Miss_After.jpg)

If that's before you tweaked and after, I like the before better.

Thanks for sharing.

As for tweaking the levels to achieve what colors you like here, it is really your call. I personally prefer the scene without the strong purple/magenta colorcast, but perhaps something just in between these two images would work nicely.

Now that you say so, I do also. I sort of edited that tired.

Here's a better angle that I originally rejected because it was severly tilted (~20*) due to rocking in the 17' skiff I was riding in. Contrast and brightness increased along with the crop.
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/medium/Irish_Miss_In_Bay.jpg (http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/Irish_Miss_In_Bay.jpg)

Here it is from the stern, I simply tilted, cropped, and upped the brightness/contrast slightly.
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/medium/Irish_Miss_Stern.jpg (http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/Irish_Miss_Stern.jpg)

Super composition in the final shot you posted and I really like the movement in the water contrasting with the dark, menacing skies above, of all of them, the final photograph wins my vote. Good job.

Herriot

I like the originals best as well. They have a more natural look...
Greg

Your problem, Mr. Yuck, in postprocessing is that you are trying to apply your changes to the whole photo.

What you need to do is leave the sky alone and selectively improve the exposure and bring out the detail in the boat which is your centre of interest. You have yet to really achieve that objective well.

Ronnoco

Thanks Ronnoco, I'll see what I can do tomorrow. I've yet to master the curves, maybe if I put the sky in a seperate layer.

Thanks Ronnoco, I'll see what I can do tomorrow. I've yet to master the curves, maybe if I put the sky in a seperate layer.

I would use either the magic wand or freehand selection with the edge detection on and outline everything on and below the horizon. Then apply the curves to the selection rather than to the whole image.

Ronnoco