Roll Of Honor before and after

[swmdrayfan]

This was a WWII memorial in Middlebury, Indiana. Skies lousy. I made a few adjustments in MS Digital Image Pro 9. A before and after is presented for your consideration.

John

[jar_e]

John,

An interesting shot ad a nice comparison. The crop seems a tad tight for me on the after but I understand how tight it was in the fram already.

I do have a question for you however, how do you decide how much to clone out in a shot? I know this opens up a whole can of worms but I'm curious on where you draw the line, as it seems in the past few shots I've critiqued from you, there have been some aspects cloned out...just curious on where you draw the line.

Jared

[swmdrayfan]

John,

An interesting shot ad a nice comparison. The crop seems a tad tight for me on the after but I understand how tight it was in the fram already.

I do have a question for you however, how do you decide how much to clone out in a shot? I know this opens up a whole can of worms but I'm curious on where you draw the line, as it seems in the past few shots I've critiqued from you, there have been some aspects cloned out...just curious on where you draw the line.

Jared

Interesting you should say that Jared. On many of my shots previously posted people would tell me there were too many distractions, or offer advice about removing this element or that. When pp'ing my work the last couple of days, I've began to see the overall picture more, and have started to get rid of them before they are pointed out here. I hope that continues, but I hope I'm aware of the background stuff before I shoot so it isn't an issue.
Additionally, I never used to do much cloning out (I'm lousy at it) cause I always figured everything should look like it belongs......once I got rid of that silly idea, I'm finding out it's ok to get rid of those things. That isn't to say I'll clone out everything from now on----I'm just going to try to get better and have more patience at every level of the process from setting up the shot to final print.
As for the crop in the 'after' picture here......I was flat on my back taking this (what a picture that must have been for passersby), and the memorial was smack dab in the center of the shot. I cropped it tight to at least try to apply the rule of thirds. If the ground hadn't been wet and soft, I might have tried a different angle. I took what the conditions gave me. (wink)

[jar_e]

John,

Thanks for the reply. I bring that up just to remind you that, atleast for myself, I find it alot easier to be aware of the background and incorporate that into the photo than just try to clone it out entirely. Though PS and other image editing tools are a godsend, just don't let them dictate that majority of your shot and the composition.

Just my thoughts,

Jared