[Jocko]

This isn't quite what I want but I don't know how to improve on it. What would you do?

   
Nikon D80, 18-55mm lens, 1/100 sec, f8, ISO 100, 27mm lens equivalent, Manual mode.

[MrB]

Do you know what you do want, John?
And do you know what it is that you would like to improve?

I can only give my opinions, which would not give the same shot -
The shooting angle using a wide-angle lens is too acute for my liking - it doesn't show the full majesty of this amazing structure. So I would prefer to see the view with e.g. a standard lens (30-35mm on APS-C) from a bit further left, to increase the relative heights of the next two towers and to show the structure between them, while retaining the depth in the image.
But I don't suppose that any of that is what you wanted to read.

For the shot as it is, I would want more details out of the shadows, and to remove the dirty cloud at the top left. The latter could be achieved by cropping e.g. a square format, from the middle of the island to the inner edge of the black patch at top right - but again that makes a different photo.

Cheers.
Philip

[Jocko]

Thanks Philip. I don't really know how to get more details out of the shadows. Not without increasing the noise dramatically. I cannot expose any more to the right of the histogram without burning out the highlights. Maybe going down the subtle HRD route? The dirty cloud is a valid point.
The acute angle is deliberate. I have a shed load of photographs taken full on and I wanted a less classical shot of the old lady.
I am learning so much from this Critique forum. I feel my images are improving since I signed up here. Thanks guys.

[EdMak]

Any Better. Ed.

[Jocko]

Ed. What do you do to open up the shadows without just amplifying the noise out of all proportion?

[EdMak]

John, I have a very flexible procedure, loosely:

I open any pic in Raw, via Bridge, click on Auto, then Auto White Balance, if I don’t like what I see, cancel it.

Recovery, to what I feel it needs, same with Vibrance, use nothing else normally.

I have sharpening set to image preview only, in Raw settings, I sharpen last.

Open in P/S, duplicate image, Look at Levels, use eye droppers, any, all three, to get what I want, not necessarily what you want, you have the advantage of seeing the original.

When happy, Image, top left, Adjustments, Shadow/Highlights, make sure a tick in, Show More Options.
Then use the sliders, experiment with all, until you get the feel of them, I never use Colour Correction,

A couple of tips here, works on all P/S, holding down the Alt Key, turns the Cancel Tab, to Reset, also if the numbers are highlighted, drag the mouse across them, then the Up and Down Arrow keys, increment them one at a time, very precise.

On few occasions may adjust, globally, Brightness/Contrast very mildly.
Blurring, Cloning, fine tuning etc.

Then, Click on the magnifying glass, Toolbar, this makes Image 100% for sharpening, I use, Unsharp Mask, adjust as I want, again, numbers can be highlighted.

When happy, save with a different name, usually just an a before the .jpg

With my slow typing, I could have edited 4 images, in the time I have taken to do this! Ed.

[MrB]

Thanks Philip. I don't really know how to get more details out of the shadows. Not without increasing the noise dramatically. I cannot expose any more to the right of the histogram without burning out the highlights.

John, in my suggestions I am nearly always referring to gentle, subtle changes to the basic image, not drastic changes - which I do not like.

I do not know Lightroom or Photoshop, but I seem to remember that you bought PaintShop Pro which is the software I use.

Feeding your image from Post #1 into the PSP Editor (you would use your full-size image), I would try something like this -
"Adjust" (on menu bar) - "Brightness and Contrast" - "Fill Light/Clarity"; make Fill Light = 25 and Clarity = 50.
"Adjust" - "Hue and Saturation" - "Hue/Saturation/Lightness"; click the "Reset to Default" button, then make the "Master" saturation = 20.

Those are the tweaks I have done in the following crop - I wouldn't think that they would dramatically increase the noise in the full-size image:

   

Cheers.
Philip

[Jocko]

I like subtle images too. I will try what you used in PaintShop Pro (not yet got to grips with it). I will also try what Ed recommends to see what the noise looks like in my full sized image. Thanks guys. My photography is improving with your help.

[Jocko]

I think this is better than my original. I wanted to keep the entire island, so I dealt with the dirty cloud instead of trimming it out. I think it worked.

   

[Jocko]

Once I see it on the forum it is too light. Darkened it a little.

   

[EdMak]

Excellent John. Ed.

[MrB]

You have certainly improved the image, John.

What about the noise in your full-size edited image - is it still at a level low enough to be acceptable to you?

Cheers.
Philip

[Jocko]

It is not too bad. I will go back, the next morning the weather is suitable, and try the HDR approach. Meanwhile I am going to try doing an HDR from one exposure.

[Eddy Canon]

Hi John very similar but all done with a few quick clicks in lightroom !!

[Jocko]

Yes, I did it in Lightroom too.
This is the HDR version (from the single image). Not really any improvement.

   

[Jocko]

Is it just me, or does everybody find their images look brighter and lighter when posted here, than they do on their own machine?

[Eddy Canon]

Is it just me, or does everybody find their images look brighter and lighter when posted here, than they do on their own machine?

Mine are very similar, it could be the forum background color which is quite bright, I normally have a dark grey background in both lightroom and PS.

[EdMak]

John, this is an HDR, supposedly £50 Prog, paid £15, got my money back, the Prog still works, seems close to yours. Ed.

[Jocko]

Quite similar. I think HDR is quite useful though I am not an advocate of taking it to extremes.

[MrB]

.....it could be the forum background color which is quite bright, I normally have a dark grey background in both lightroom and PS.

That is a very good point.

I have always disliked a white background for displaying images on a computer. In my opinion, they are like projected images, and few viewers would expect to see the white of the projection screen surrounding a projected image. Similarly, the computer screen background for photo images is better dark grey.

Cheers.
Philip