Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
I have several different varieties of Hastas growing in my gardens… I love the texture and patterns of these leaves, and I thought that bnw helped it stand out even more.
Sony A6600
105mm
1/100 sec
f 4.5
ISO 200
Post processing in LR
Nice scene and I like the b&w treatment here. I just feel you need a little more emphasis on the center of the frame and less on the edges. I would recommend darkening the edges substantially. Either with a radial vignetter or brushing it in by hand. I’d also darken the little triangle of soil on the center left edge. I tend to clone out the little white and black specks of bug poop or whatever it is that is so commonly found on these plants. I wouldn’t say that is necessary though.
A nice arrangement of lovely leaves and the added vignette is a good touch. I think you have room to increase the contrast in the lighter tones. You might be able to do enough by balancing the global sliders in LR – pull down Highlights and pull up Whites, watching the histogram for blowout, of course.
No. I had to open two browser pages to go back and forth between them, but when you added the vignette (which I think is a nice touch) the lightest tones got even flatter in contrast. In both, the histograms stop well short of white. If it were my image, I would gently stretch the histogram (in the raw stage) so the brightest parts were much closer to white, then adjust the mids and shadows to give the look desired. That would give you more tonal detail in the lightest tones and could be moderated without scrunching up the histogram. In some cases it might take a very soft masking to get the best effect – that could be a separate step in PS but now there is very good masking in LR. A simple “highlights” selection (in PS) might be enough, at least to start with: Cmd - Alt/Opt - 2. (That is after the raw histogram is better.) The Tony Kuiper luminosity masks are the most sophisticated. If you’re not familiar with them an internet search will get good information.
What you can dig out depends on what you captured in the initial file – was it shot in raw? Were you able to bring out detail in the brightest tones, looking at the histogram? What software and basic steps did you do? The first version had a monitor profile tagged; the second one correctly has sRGB tagged. It’s probably less important with B/W, but the two different profiles would make comparison problematic.
You have a very nice composition here with classic leaves – the image is worth some extra effort.
Derika, you’ve got a fine range of tones and textures here. Hosta do make an interesting subject. As I look at this, I’m thinking that it’s just a touch soft on the left side (although that may be due to lacking contrast between the ridges and the veins). I wanted to see, so I downloaded your shot and gave it some contrast enhancement by dodging/burning through luminosity masks, as well as some highlight reduction. Luminosity masks select particular ranges of luminosity and adjust them while leaving other tones alone. Here’s the result…see what you think. I’d also suggest a revisit with more depth-of-field.
I am sending you a screenshot of the steps in Photoshop but will outline them here:
You are doing nice work, Derika
Very nice, @Barbara_Djordjevic! I would stress to Derika that adjustments to get a fuller tonal range such as this are best done by first getting a good histogram in the raw stage. Obviously that can’t be done with critiques using the JPEGs here.
@Diane_Miller @Barbara_Djordjevic @Mark_Seaver thank you so for your comments! I do have the original in raw format, so I’m going to go back to the original and start over with your suggestions in mind! I will post the end result. I really do appreciate the time all of you put into this critique!
I agree. The RAW file may have all the detail needed in the highlight areas.
Derifa, what a difference you have made in this picture. There was detail in the lightest areas of the leaves. This is a beautiful example of lines and light. Nice work. The TK8 panel add-on is lots of fun. Learning the basics has taken time, but it has been worth it. Dave Kelly"s TK Friday on YouTube has been the best way for me to learn about it bit by bit.
Yes!! So much better tonal range in the lights! Nice touch with the cleanup, too!
You can edit your OP with the pencil tool in the LR corner and add the new file there, above the original one, so it gets first priority.
@Diane_Miller @Barbara_Djordjevic thank you both for your tips and supportive comments! Have a wonderful week😎
You are most welcome.
