East Canada Creek, C & C please!

[davegw]

Hi All,

I am undecided about these two shots, I like the one taken from further back a bit better so far, but wanted other opinions, comments, etc. Also, they are a bit dark, but detail in the falling water is lost if I lighten them. Is there a way to avoid having that happen?

Thanks! Dave

[bairam]

Hey Dave. I like the first one the best because it's sharper than the second.

I don't do Photoshop but use a simple little program made by Ulead that I got in a bundle with my scanner. It's outdated I'm afraid but works well for what little I do with it. When I want to lighten a shot like this I usually use the Gamma adjustment in the Lighting box. I hope that helps.

[katcocat]

I think I prefer the second one, because it has more dof than the first. I do like the first though.
Kate.

[TampaDan]

Dave:

Nice shots. I took the liberty of adjusting the top photo to lighten the shadows while leaving the highlights alone.

Using PS7, I duplicated the layer and changed the mode to "Screen." This makes the entire image lighter, including the highlights. So I added a layer mask and brushed over the water to mask out the effect. I also selected other portions of the image to mask out so there would be a nice mix of shadows, mid-tones and highlights. Finally, I increased the color saturation a bit. The nice thing about this method is you can also use the layer opacity slider to fine tune how much "screen" effect you want.



While I'm sure there could be some camera adjustments you can make to expose the shadows without blowing out the highlights, it sure is nice that with just five minutes of Photoshop a nice shot like this can be made better.

[davegw]

TD,

It is amazing what you did to improve that photo! I will be taking the notes that you gave on how it was accomplished and giving it a try myself. Thanks for taking the time to do that!

Dave