Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Hey everyone! I've been with Alamy for almost two months and have learnt a fair bit so far. Would like your feedback on my images so far and room for improvement. Cheers Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Well done for starting your own thread Hai, it was supposed to be in the 'Let's Talk about Pics' section but it will do. For what it's worth, here are my 2 cents, I'm sure some people will disagree. As Philippe already commented, I think overall your pictures look very flat. I would push the saturation quite a bit. Also lots of shadows that could be opened up. Do you shoot Raw? Your captions and tags are good, which is very important. Gen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 1 hour ago, arterra said: Calibration looks OK, but image quality could be improved with better Photoshop skills. Quality doesn't seem even. not enough contrast / saturation Ok. Noted. will increase contrast and saturation. 1 hour ago, arterra said: good contrast and saturation but blue sky looks unnatural With this image, I had chosen "vivid" on picture control in Nikon so I actually think the saturation is too much. Hence the sky looking too blue. I was actually intending to reprocess this image and deleting this one so you picked it up! 1 hour ago, arterra said: could do with lighting up the shadows This was a live news attempt so I admit I didn't do any processing at all. I've got others from the Bankstown Bites festival which are substandard due to no processing. I'm thinking to reprocess these images and reupload. 1 hour ago, arterra said: lack of contrast, overexposed parts I had a lot of trouble with this image. I can easily increase contrast but the overexposed parts is not easy to fix. I took this shot in a cave with direct light on one part of the shrine and the other in total darkness so I don't know how to use photoshop to bring the highlights down. I've tried with Capture NXD with highlight protection to the maximum setting. Laptop? Looks like done by ten different people on ten different computers (did I mention that already? ) Cheers, Philippe Thanks Philippe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 1 hour ago, gvallee said: Well done for starting your own thread Hai, it was supposed to be in the 'Let's Talk about Pics' section but it will do. For what it's worth, here are my 2 cents, I'm sure some people will disagree. As Philippe already commented, I think overall your pictures look very flat. I would push the saturation quite a bit. Also lots of shadows that could be opened up. Do you shoot Raw? Your captions and tags are good, which is very important. Gen My bad, I was slightly rushed and posted in the wrong section. Its interesting that you noted my saturation levels were down. I actually started off with too much saturation two months and have come down from on my saturation. I will push one of my images and see what you think. I do shoot in raw which is lucky because all my images are raw from when I first owned the camera. I must've had some sense to shoot in raw! I need to work on my photoshop ability. I've been trying to bring the shadows out with Capture NX-D before processing in Photoshop. I use the shadow protection. Thanks for positive feedback on captions and tags which I've been trying to keep consistently to a high standard. Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 3 minutes ago, arterra said: Laptop? Cheers, Philippe Yes. I don't have ability to use a desktop which is limiting i agree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 I've had an attempt at trying to improve this image. What are your thoughts? Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 1 minute ago, arterra said: MUCH better ......... when looking at this size. You should look at 100% to see if there are no digital artefacts (in the dark areas) because they might pop up when fiddling too much with the Photoshop settings. Cheers, Philippe Thanks for the feedback Philippe! Yes I do check at 100% after I failed QC on one image due to camera shake! I have found digital artefacts start popping up in the shadows. I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing by trying to use noise reduction to reduce this? It seems to reduce but not sure if this is the best way to deal with them. I'll have to go back and look back at some of my images before calibrating. May have to reupload after reprocessing... Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 2 minutes ago, arterra said: Tip for the top: Open the same shot twice in RAW: concentrate on the bright parts. Make sure you see details in those. Ignore how the shadows turn out. concentrate on the dark parts. Make sure you see details in those. Ignore how the bright parts turn out. Now combine the best of both versions in layers Cheers, Philippe Thanks Philippe! That's a really good tip. I never thought of that. Cheers Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 1 hour ago, arterra said: MUCH better ......... when looking at this size. You should look at 100% to see if there are no digital artefacts (in the dark areas) because they might pop up when fiddling too much with the Photoshop settings. Cheers, Philippe Was the bright green to the right of the around the stones there when you shot it or is it due to processing. Doesn't look good to me. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 6 hours ago, Allan Bell said: Was the bright green to the right of the around the stones there when you shot it or is it due to processing. Doesn't look good to me. Allan Hi Allan. The image that is in my portfolio is without photoshop. Picture control standard. Bit bland but the green moss is more natural looking. As ive increased saturation with vivid and increasing saturation and contrast , the green moss looks unnatural. Part of my concern as to why i didnt want to fiddle with the image too much! Not sure how to deal with this green moss!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 You can choose individually the colour you wish to saturate/desaturate, both in ACR and PS. For example, when I get blue fringing in foliage, I select blue only and desaturate. Gen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 1 hour ago, gvallee said: You can choose individually the colour you wish to saturate/desaturate, both in ACR and PS. For example, when I get blue fringing in foliage, I select blue only and desaturate. Gen Thanks Gen for the technique! That sounds like it could work! I was actually going to try and saturate everything but the green moss but I wasn't sure if it would look right. I will try your technique and post the result. Cheers Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 14 hours ago, Hai Nguyen said: Yes. I don't have ability to use a desktop which is limiting i agree You don't have to have a desktop. For four years I used my laptop like a desktop. Attached a monitor and used a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The monitor is the key thing, not the computer. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Ok, Thanks to Gen I've tried to desaturate the green in the green moss... See what you think. Cheers Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 6 hours ago, Hai Nguyen said: Ok, Thanks to Gen I've tried to desaturate the green in the green moss... See what you think. Cheers Hai The green is much better, less acid. Now what I would do is probably pull the White slider to the left. I would have a go myself but I'm on the road with only a laptop and an occasional Internet connection. And remember, it's only me! Gen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 9 hours ago, Jill Morgan said: You don't have to have a desktop. For four years I used my laptop like a desktop. Attached a monitor and used a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The monitor is the key thing, not the computer. Jill Thanks Jill, I might be acquiring a monitor from a friend... that should improve things. Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 2 hours ago, arterra said: Don't forget the importance of the graphics card Cheers, Philippe Noted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hai Nguyen Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 2 hours ago, gvallee said: The green is much better, less acid. Now what I would do is probably pull the White slider to the left. I would have a go myself but I'm on the road with only a laptop and an occasional Internet connection. And remember, it's only me! Gen Thanks Gen, I've brought down the brightness a fraction. Looks better. I will have to reupload to Alamy after I'm finished. Hai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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