Directed Lead

[Moogle Pepper]

Please whip away. I am reworking the photos that I have taken in Ireland this past August.

http://tednghiem.smugmug.com/photos/272420762_rupbE-XL.jpg


Exif (http://tednghiem.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=272420762&ImageKey=rupbE)

I think I should have tried to get more light on the pathway than the walls, but that alley was really dark to begin with.

[DonRicklin]

I don't think the vignetting helps in this case. As you say the alley is already dark and the one darkened upper left sky corner ends up looking out of place.

Don

[Moogle Pepper]

I burned the corner on the left. Maybe I will go back to leave it unburned. But when you say vignetting, I think of Anti Aliasing issues. I used a photoshop plug in to create an effect of Fuji provia film. [I think that is the one I used..]

[Gary Glass]

I think the light on the walls and street is working well. I don't mind the vignetting either. But to me the enormous expanse of featureless white sky weakens the image.

[saltydog]

The vignetting does not bother me either, but I do agree with Gary about the sky. Also, the whole image looks somewhat overprocessed to me, I guess it's that Provia plug-in.

I'd start from scratch again and see whether there are any distiguishable nuances in the sky. If so, I'd do a curves adjustment to make those nuances even more pronounced and maybe apply a layer mask to save the walls. But I would stay away from the plug-in, or at least apply it to a lesser degree.

If the original exposure didn't capture any more detail in the sky, I honestly would file this under "maybe next time", those walls need some sort of counterbalance that just isn't there in this shot as shown.

[JGD]

I agree w/Salty. Plus the pathway is too dark. Just as you knew it is. This pic has nothing going for it. I would hope a trip to the emerald isle would provide better pics than this.

[Gary Glass]

Could you please get the hell out of here?

[DavidTO]

Whoa, fellas.

Gary, just as JGD needs to have a little (lot) more tact, so, too, does your reply.

JGD, I don't know if you think you're being funny, or just tough, but the Whipping Post is not the place to be rude.

This is my last public post on this matter. If this continues I'll be deleting posts and PMing those concerned.

[Moogle Pepper]

Ehh.. it was cloudless in the original too. It poured just minutes before I snapped this shot. I thought I could save it.

I think for future pictures, I'll try to tone down effect.

Could you please get the hell out of here?

When I saw this I thought you were talking to me! haha!:scratch :rofl

[pathfinder]

Moogle,
How about just cropping the entire top half of the image - that deals with the drab, gray sky, and retains the primary area of interest, the street corridor.

You may then need to lighten the corridor with a curve a bit - without the sky there will be a lot more latitude for contrast range in the street and building walls.

The very warm color of the walls seems excessive also, in the shade of the overcast sky. I would expect more blue, perhaps.
Is this how it looked to you at the time in your mind's eye?

[Moogle Pepper]

When I looked at this alley, Pathfinder, it was pretty eerie. So mentally, when I was relooking at this photo, I thought about making it spooky. But I am not sure I got that effect. I am going to crop out most of the drab sky tonight.

[pathfinder]

I can relate to the eerie. The narrow, confining space could certainly feel that way. Not sure the yellow walls really help.

A conversion to B&W with a 'blue' filter, will cause those walls to get very dark, and that might augment that eerie feeling you sensed.

[joshhuntnm]

I like it. I would PS out the small wires.

[Moogle Pepper]

So I tinkered with the picture. I cropped, and dropped the earlier filter for Black and White.
http://tednghiem.smugmug.com/photos/274758937_i9Nkn-XL.jpg

Then I tried darkening it a little more. I think I did too much that you can't see the pathway.

http://tednghiem.smugmug.com/photos/274760799_cqcDW-L.jpg

I think I like the first BW better.

[NateWagner]

well, I do also like the first b&w that you did better, however I think it may look a bit better more in between the first and the second (depending of course on what you are going for).

I also think it would be helpful to crop out much of the sky. it is taking up way too much space. There is a drain coming from the top of the roof on the left, and I think if you cropped the sky around there it would help quite a bit. There is just too much sky in the picture for the sky being as boring as it is.

Nate
(as always, take my suggestions with a grain of salt, as I still have a lot to learn)