Interesting Enough?

[Loupey]

I'm not sure about this one. I think it's pleasing and I have a print of it hanging in my living room. But, I can't view it objectively. But is it too boring? Is that one car (that I waited too long for) too small?

Feedback please.

Red Rock Formation , Nevada

[walterick]

Loupey - I love the composition of the image. The car is not too small, in fact it is essential to the image.

There is something bothering me though... I think it might be the color cast. At least on my screen. It looks like an old, yellowed image to me. The mind you might find in an old AAA magazine or something. If that's the look you're going for, great. If not, I might suggest playing with the colors a bit. It also looks a little "digital" to me, but again that is subjective.

All in all, a nice shot of a very neat place!

Rick

[ken1953]

Loupey - I love the composition of the image. The car is not too small, in fact it is essential to the image.

There is something bothering me though... I think it might be the color cast. At least on my screen. It looks like an old, yellowed image to me. The mind you might find in an old AAA magazine or something. If that's the look you're going for, great. If not, I might suggest playing with the colors a bit. It also looks a little "digital" to me, but again that is subjective.

All in all, a nice shot of a very neat place!

Rick

OK Rick, just because you have all those beautiful desertscapes to view, you might cut the guy a little slack!!!! ;) hehe....j/k...
Actually, I agree with about the cast, but don't think I could have put it into words. Glad you caught that. I was thinking...GREAT SHOT, LOUPEY!!! Makes me homesick...And again...it may be our monitors as I don't have mine calibrated!!! And even with the cast...I like it...
Ken

[LeeIs]

First of all Loupey, I love it. Let's get that out of the way.

I didn't even notice the car and that might be because the scale you've uploaded it here at. I think the foreground bushes are a bit too busy for this otherwise magnificant shot. A crop of the bottom part might enhance this and even make the tiny car more visible IMO.

I'll show you an example of the crop I had in mind below.

[mpreslar]

Loupey - I love the composition of the image. The car is not too small, in fact it is essential to the image.

There is something bothering me though... I think it might be the color cast. At least on my screen. It looks like an old, yellowed image to me. The mind you might find in an old AAA magazine or something. If that's the look you're going for, great. If not, I might suggest playing with the colors a bit. It also looks a little "digital" to me, but again that is subjective.

All in all, a nice shot of a very neat place!

Rick

Let me answer the essential question first: NO it is not too boring! It is absolutely beautiful and a work of art! The car is a bit teeny on this image, but blown up to 8x10 or 11x14 it would be fine! Of course, this is coming from a guy that has a calendar of shots of the Central Illinois Prairie (among other things) on his cube wall at work! So take it as you may.

As to the color cast, I think it might by you folks screens here. On my recently calibrated monitor (with Pantone Colorvision ColorPlus - end shameless product plug... ;) ) it looks vibrant and alive! The forground has a yellowish tone, but that looks natural, not like an off cast. The red rocks show no evidence of yellowing to me...

This leads me to a question though, how do you guys deal with the well and not so well calibrated monitors in the world when trying to share images, especially ones that are dark to begin with or have non-standard coloration? I will be posting an image soon to elaborate on this...

[readingr]

Nice one, I agree with Leels on the crop and it does emphasise the car.

Roger

[Loupey]

Wow! Thanks, guys. This print is hanging not 3' above this monitor as I type. I'm glad its not just me that it's there

As for the color cast, I can't tell. I use 4 different monitors and my images look different on all of them. On the one I use to scan slides, I thought the colors had a cyan cast to it (especially the sky and clouds). I need to calibrate them. Any suggestions how?

Leels, how'd you clone out the tops of the foreground plants? I've never used PS for such major alterations (dust spots, color cast, industrial cut-outs mostly). During the shot, I remember purposefully trying to keep the plants in to add more depth. However, I do like your version to keep the emphasis on the formations.

This is one of the last shots I used with my Canon A-1 .

[Chunk]

I think that this probably loses a whole lot when reduced in size for posting so it's probably OK as it is in a print. While the foreground detail and road are both interesting elements I like a crop just above the road to leave the mountains and that terrific sky. You might want to emphasize the sky even more with a slight curves adjustment.

Good work in any case.

[readingr]

I used the software that came with PS to calibrate mine by eye but I am about to splash out on Spyder Pro 2 Studio to do it properly. Just wish I could afford the stuff Gary uses :-)

Roger

[dbutler]

I use spyder pro 2 and I agree that the colors are lacking. I do like what Liban did. It's a great image though. The only thing that was nagging at me were the bushes in the front. I would have it on the wall too!

[ken1953]

I would like to add one point in favor of the foreground cacti and shrubery. Although Leels crop is excellent in it's own right, I think Loupey's adds a little variety to the deserty feel. If I would have seen Leels first, I would have thought it was great, but because I saw the original first, Leels is lacking for me.
I guess that's what makes this site so great, the varied views, on the same subject. Fair and honest critique!!!
Ken

[Loupey]

Ken, it is amazing how everyone looking at the same scene sees something a little differently

Thanks again, everyone, for your input!

[LeeIs]

Leels, how'd you clone out the tops of the foreground plants?

It's really not that complicated Loupey.

You need your stamp tool. I'll show you which one it is below.

All you gotta do is figure out what area's texture you want to replace the bushes. For this one, it's the areas to the left and right of the bush with the nice rock textures.

Click on the stamp tool.

Hold down Alt (or Option if you're on a mac) click on the good area (the rocks/sand immediately to the left of the bushes) then let go the alt, etc.

Click on the bush.

That's it.


The trick is to get the proper shades of what you think the area that will replace the bush will look like and to get the best results IMO I go for the clone out of the immediate adjacent areas.

Just keep playing with this until you get the hang of it.