The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is a small glimpse of the Fox Glacier in New Zealand. I was so challenged to remain upright on the ice that I did not take many pictures. The crampons and walking pole helped some, but my balance was less than adequate. The guide put me in front of the line and kept an unyielding grip on my free hand. Since I only have two hands, that did not bode well for the camera tucked in my pocket. When the guide would stop to chop a trail, I was sternly instructed,” Don’t move.” Picture-taking was swift and poorly composed from where I was glued. Would I do it again? No. Am I glad I did it? Absolutely.
Specific Feedback
I struggled with the intensity and shades of blue and finally gave up. I am including the RAW file with a different shade of blue that I prefer. I did a lot of spot removal when I brought it into Photoshop, and the blue was already rather intense because of the changes in LR. I don’t know how to work with smart layers, so I can’t go back and change the LR settings. That might have kept the lighter blues. Suggestions needed. Thanks.
Technical Details
Sony RX100vi; ISO 320, f/7.1, 1/400 sec.
Processed in LR, PS with TK8 luminosity masking, dodging, hugh/saturation adjustments. A vignette was added, and I also darkened the upper right corner.
Sounds like you had a pretty amazing time on the Fox Glacier. Walking on ice like that is an experience in itself - amazing but can also be quite scary.
I think I can see what your vision was for this image but before I offer a critique, can I check a few things with you about the image please? I’m not familiar with the camera at all, so did you use an in-built filter when capturing the image? It seems like the image has been shot using an infra-red filter or something similar? The colours seem inverted and quite stylised (my apologies if I have misinterpreted this).
If you could provide a few more details on how you captured this image and your intention, that would be great!
Hi, Eugene. Thanks for your interest and questions. The Sony RX100vi is a compact camera with a 1"-type image sensor. It has a 24-200mm equivalent F2.8-4.5 lens. There is no filter. Most of the pictures I took that day have a blue cast. I am uploading what is the RAW file for this picture. I did not realize that what I thought was the original RAW file has LR changes in it. You will see the color cast is much more subdued.
I am reposting the RAW file for this picture. The first one I posted had changes made in LR that I did not realize when I thought it was still the RAW file. The blue cast is not as intense in this one.
Regarding the intensity of the blues, As I’m sure you know the addition of contrast. In this instance the blues will be most heavily affected as it is the prominent colour.
I had a play with the raw file and found the best way to mitigate the blue intensity was by increasing the temperature of the white balance. In PS I just duplicated the layer (or create a clone stamp of all the adjustment layers) and used the camera raw filter to change the temperature. You can also do this in LR after bring the image back from PS. There are other ways to adjust the blues after you’ve edited the image by tinkering with the HSL sliders for instance.
I’m not overly familiar with smart objects either but I saw a good video on it before. I think it was from Sean Bagshaw but I cant seem to find it on youtube.
I hope those were the suggestions you were looking for.
Thank you very much, @Eugene_Theron . I often follow your outlined process by returning my pictures to LR after editing them in PS. I did as you suggested with this one. The blue is much warmer and more like the original. I have decided that this picture’s lack of dark tones is what bothers me. It is so monochromatic. I wanted more contrast.
I’m late to this, but the first thing to my mind is it was too flat and was taken under cloudy skies. In PS this would take only a minute to fix. I am not a PS wiz.
Make a duplicate layer, select the top layer - Filter, Convert for smart filters.
Next, in the small drop down - set the blending mode to multiply - it will make it ugly. Now adjust the fill slider to what works for you. The sample is at 67%.
The blue can be corrected by adding an adjustment layer above the top layer. Select photo filter, now click on the camera icon on that new layer, then #85 orange. I believe if you save the file I am sending back it should retain the layers and settings when you load it into PS.
Guy, thank you for taking the time to respond. The use of the multiply blend mood did not occur to me. I have never used the photo filter. Thank you for introducing it to me. The bottom line is what you say, “…it was too flat” I struggled with it and need to understand it was not a good photo to start with.
@Barbara_Djordjevic
Take a look at Piximperfect for how to videos. Concentrate on the processes and not the images. Unmmesh is the best PS instructor out there.
