Layers of age

[Nigel Morton]

I took this shot while sailing past on my holiday last year. The reason for taking this shot was because of the different layers of rock that were on display showing the different colours and textures.

I have had a go with adjusting the layers, contrast and brightness in Gimp as it was not an overley bright day. Any advice on how to improve my technique on this type of capture would be appreciated.

 

[Joe Russo]

Hi Nigel,

This looks like a place that has potential to make a good photograph. You asked for opinions so here are mine:

1) It looks like this photograph was taken mid-day. There are not a lot of shadows on the surface and that makes it look a bit flat. Plus the time of day contributes to washed out colors. I don't know if it is possible or not but if you were able to recapture this image either early morning or late afternoon I think there would be a tremendous improvement not only because of shadows from side lighthing but also from a warmer light.

2) Overall I think the image would benefit from some sharpening. It's too soft for my tastes - I tend to like my landscapes with fine, sharp detail.

 

[Nigel Morton]

Thanks for taking the time to look at this and for your comments Joe.
Unfortunately I had no control over what time of day that I took this, as I was sailing past on a Cruise Ship, so I had to take the shot there and then.

I have had a go with Un-Sharp mask in Gimp but did not manage to make much of an impact on the image. But all the same I still gain pleasure from the memories this capture invokes when I look at it.

Again thank you for the advice and comments. I will have another go with the Gimp software.

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi Nigel,

I am not going to deliver C&C on this particular image, but I want to refer to the apparent lack of sharpness in your images in general. It seems that some of your images, like the first one of a derelict ship loader, are not sharp. Is this a matter of insufficient capture/output sharpening to compansate for the softness introduced by digitising and subsequently resizing for web posting, or are the originals (film or digital?) also suffering from this lack of sharpness. In the first case, you could recover the lost sharpness in a program such as Gimp. If the latter is the case, then I would recommend scrutinizing the originals of your typical images for discovering when and how you introduce this lack of sharpness into your images. Are you shooting at lower shutter speeds than needed, do you do AF or MF, what is the quality of your lenses (kit lenses suck, usually), do you use a tripod when needed, etc, etc.

Cheers,

 

[Nigel Morton]

Thanks Cem for all of your advice and comments. The sharpness in the original Jpeg's seems ok, I have to admit that I only have 2 lenses which are the 18-55mm Canon Kit lense and a low priced 70-300 Sigma lense as I have a tight budget. I am holding off for the moment on buying better quality lenses until my technique and composition improves.

Thanks again
Nige

 

[Ray West]

Hi Nigel,

I think you have irfan view, if not get it. Load in the image, click on 'sharpen', maybe more than once, and also 'enhance colours' - both under options. Instant improvement, even on this low res image. (usually best to sharpen last, but whatever works for you). The gimp will give more finesse, but IV will give a quick work towards.

Best wishes,

Ray

 

[Nigel Morton]

Thanks Ray I will give IrfanView a try.

 

[Nigel Morton]

I have given this image another run through with the Gimp. Does this look any better? Any comments are welcome.

 

[Joe Russo]

Nigel,

I like the increase in the contrast and saturation as compared to your original image. The sense of 'flatness' is not as prevalent in this reworked version.

It still looks a little soft to me though. That may be due to other factors than lack of sharpening - quality of the lenses, shutter speed, moving while shooting the image, no tripod, etc.,etc. You may not be able to improve this any more than what you have.

But if this image brings you joy in the form of fond memories from that trip, then all that I've said is secondary to that fact.

Take and make pictures that YOU enjoy!

 

[Lee Roberts]

As I was reading through the comments I was thinking more color saturation would help. Then I got down to the other image here and you've done it. Looks a lot better, Nigel. The others have commented on the time of day and that would have helped too but many times when we are shooting someplace it's a now or never deal, isn't it? That's the way it is in my world most of the time. Add a little sharpening as Ray and some of the others mentioned and you're set.

Nice work.

 

[Nigel Morton]

Many thanks Joe and Lee for your comments and advice. I will keep trying to improve my skills with both the camera and software. Would it be worth changing the settings on my camera to capture in RAW and Adobe RGB instead of Jpeg and sRGB?

Regards
Nige

 

[Asher Kelman]

Many thanks Joe and Lee for your comments and advice. I will keep trying to improve my skills with both the camera and software. Would it be worth changing the settings on my camera to capture in RAW and Adobe RGB instead of Jpeg and sRGB?

Regards
Nige

Much improved.

Now what do you think are the important feautures.

Not everything has to be of equal emphasis.

As an example only:

Consider, perhaps emphasizing further the path of greens that go up the center and branch to each side going up the face of the rock formation.

Bring this out further by sharpening this region more than the rest of the rocks.

Local sharpen you might try 15 30 1

Then sharpen .3 pixels, 150% 2 and repeat for the most important area.

Fade each sharpen to 90% with Luminosity setting under Edit, Fade Sharpening.

Asher

 

[Nigel Morton]

Thanks Asher for the example. This will give me some practice on what these settings will accomplish.

 

[StuartRae]

Would it be worth changing the settings on my camera to capture in RAW and Adobe RGB instead of Jpeg and sRGB?

Nigel,

I'd certainly recommend that you try RAW, but the colour space is more open to question.

Things to consider are:

The camera setting is irrelevant with RAW. It's the conversion software that tags your image with the colour-space.
Is the Gimp colour-managed? If not stick with sRGB.
Your monitor cannot display the complete gamut of aRGB, so to some extent you'll be flying blind.
If you publish for the Web, you'll have to use, or convert to, sRGB, otherwise your images will look 'washed out'.

Contrary to some perceived wisdom, I'd recommend that you stick with sRGB until you've mastered your camera, converter and editing software. Just my opinion

Regards,

Stuart

 

[Nigel Morton]

Thanks for taking the time to pass on your advice Ray. I will leave the colour settings as they are for now then and just change to shooting in RAW, and see how I get on.

 

[StuartRae]

Nigel,

One other thing I meant to mention.
If you're looking for an excellent free raw converter you may still be able to download Raw Shooter Essentials from here

The built in camera profile for the 350D is pretty good.

Stuart

 

[John Brewton]

Nigel, the second attempt is much better. When I have washed out color which usually results from shooting at mid-day I run a LAB color correction first and then go through the rest of the usual motions.

 

[Nigel Morton]

Thanks John, I'm pleased you think the 2nd attempt is better. Also thank you for the advice.