Help - what does this photo need?

[jkik2478]

I would like to edit this photo in photoshop, but I can't decide what's missing. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

http://www.pbase.com/jkik2478/image/81567606

[photomary]

The colors of the umbrellas seem vibrant - I'd clone out the bottles, etc in the sand.

[jayhawk1013]

In photoshop, go to image>adjustments>color balance and turn down the blue a bit, or fiddle with the color balace and see what you like. It also seems a bit bright, did you use a polarizer filter on your camera?

[marxz]

Edit: just got a chance to see the original on my own calibrated monitor rather than the crappy one I originally saw it and photoshoped the copies with... actually the image is reasonably good colour and contrast wise, I still would have done what I did but much more subtly for printing.
But for online displays I would have pushed it to something just short of the edit I included.

First off... you've got some nice shots in that gallery, good compositions, good subjects, thanks for sharing

how I see it is ....


1st I'd clone out the rubbish/trash under the chairs (optional)

2nd I'd use curves to pull down the shadows and make them a bit darker (not to black though but darker) pull down midtones a tiny bit as well just to see.
I'd also lift the highlights till the brightest part of the clouds are _ almost _ pure white

honestly this may be all you feel you need to do - this gives it a lot more "pop" - that's up to you.

3rd: I'd adjust the colours make them more vibrant You'll probably find that pulling down shadow brightness would have already made the sea (particularly the background) and the umbrella's colour more intense but you might need more - I'd increase blue and aqua saturation a bit and pull the brightness down a bit for those two colours. The other colours I'd tweak with a bit, but less than the blues.

4th a bit more sharpening, it's a bit soft when viewed at it's largest resolution.
(assuming photoshop) I'd either give it

A: a two pass sharpen ( http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/12189.html )

or
B: a Highpass effect (duplicate layer, turn new layer's blending to softlight, drop layer opacity to 50%, go to filter, other/highpass, tweak the pixel size until you get some pop, go back adjust opacity % / blending mode to suit) and then a normal sharpen process (on the lower layer not on the highpassed layer).

Here's some quick and dirty efforts on your original (I'll delete this some time in the next week or two, if your not happy about me editing your images I'll take them down if you message me to do so) I've blown the highlights in the sand out a bit much losing detail (this was because I was working on the sky highlights), you may or may not like this but I'd have made a separate adjustment curve for the foreground and not pushed the highlights so high on that one (or used a layer mask to reduce the effect on the foreground)

http://www.pbase.com/marxz/forumstuff

Original:


processed (no cloning)

[azato]

I think the problem may also be of choice of main subject. The foremost umbrella which is dead-center in the picture and is basically the same color/hue as the background sky, sea and mountains. It also blends in too well with other seats and umbrellas. Visually there is nothing to pull it out from the rest of the picture.

Do you have a picture where the yellow/green umbrella is foremost?

[arjay]

Wow, I must be dreaming, I could have sworn I commented on this.

I think the image has much potential. Apart from a little more saturation and contrast to make the colour jump off the screen, perhaps a slightly different composure like pull back a little to put the chairs and umbrellas in their context, or go closer and focus just on the tops of the umbrellas and get the lovely blue sky.....and clone out the rubbish.

My two cents....nice looking scene.

[cocameli]

I would put out of focus the background, the mountains, and maybe crop it a bit in order to put the accent on the umbrellas.
I like it also the way it is and the bottles don't bother me.

[jodyfelder]

Another thing you could do that would look neat is to do selective coloring on just the umbrellas & leave the rest in B&W. It's pretty time cumsuming but here is a link on how to do it if you want to try - http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutoria ... oring.html

[unclefrank]

I'd classify your picture as an abstract. There's a lovely, serene background, but there are multiple subjects... the umbrellas... competing for attention. It is quite nice as it is, and while it can be altered in Photoshop, I don't think it will be any more successful. It could have been a much different composition if there had been one person, or a couple, positioned at a Rule of Thirds power point. That's something you might look for, or stage, if you have a similar opportunity, but as for this image, I'd leave it as it. It's a very enjoyable picture. Jmho.

Warm regards,
Frank

[menno]

Hi there,

Just read your question and I was thinking: "Why not making a panorama out of it?"
Personally I am always in for nice angles, crops, out of ordinary compositions and cut-outs...
Just to show you what exactly I mean I felt free to make an edit out of it myself...
In my opinion the main and most important thing of the picture is the skyline/horizon AND the parasols and what's better (if those are what the picture is all about) then to just emphasize the main subject?!
The horizon is stretched out of course and the extreme pano-crop emphasizes that... then the vibrant colors and the parasols themselves give this great contrast and people might get surprised by seeing this picture... not knowing what they see without just at least a bit of thinking... Personally I think the sand and the chairs themselves don't add importance to the main subjects the picture is about... (please don't say the picture is about everything in it:-)). If info is not useful to make the shot a gripping one... just leave it out! That's always the way I look at subjects and scenes to capture... every bit inside the picture should be neccessary to complete the right composition... if it doesn't add anything or if it's taking away the powerful view on the main subject, again, leave it out... (I think the sand and the chairs got our attention more than would be good knowing the picture is about the parasols and the horizon (imo)).

Anyways, I liked this 're-creation'! How about you? I hope you don't feel bad I edited it so much!:-)







Take care!
-Menno


p.s. Besides resizing I also added just a bit more saturation and a bit contrast, then after resizing I put the 'sharpen' filter on it to make it look this bright and clear...

[halesr]

I really like the drama of Menno's version and it really does reduce the image to the MAIN subject.--Rene

[a_zeitler]

Mennos idea is great. I like that crop alot. Very interesting. Definetly caught my attention. and corrects any problems that I have critiqued you on.


As I posted in a comment on the picture:
The image is nice except for the main focus is the bright blue umbrella smack dab in the center of the image. I think having had taken two or three steps to the right or left when taking the picture might have helpd alot. Also the colorsin the umbrellas are vivid, the background tends to be dull. I am not sure how that would be fixed without ruining the perfect color of the umbrellas. Also I think the trash needs to be removed from the sand, It just doesn't seem to fit in with the image.

Don't get me wrong, I like the image, I was only giving you constructive criticism that you asked for.