Help understanding PP

[widebloke]

Hi all,
So after a few years hanging round the film end of the forum I finally upgraded to a Nikon D600 over Christmas. Which means I have now entered the world of white balance, RAW and digital workflows. Previously my PP work was mostly scan, crop, dust removal and maybe contrast or colour tweaks. So now I have started using Lightroom and I have all these sliders and adjustments and I'm not sure if I'm heading the right way.


So here are a couple of images from a family afternoon walkabout last week.
Before:

Cambridge Botanical Gardens-26-Jan-Orig.jpg by widebloke, on Flickr

After:

Cambridge Botanical Gardens-26-Jan-19.jpg by widebloke, on Flickr

Before:

Cambridge Botanical Gardens-26-Jan-Orig.jpg by widebloke, on Flickr

After:

Cambridge Botanical Gardens-26-Jan-29.jpg by widebloke, on Flickr

Really what I want to know is, did I go too far, not far enough? anything else i should look out for? I am also thinking about doing as many POTY2013 as I can to try and learn as much as possible. What do you think?

 

[Gr8Shot]

I would worry more about composition than pp.
The first photo with flowerpot coming out of his face and distractions in the big.
The second - rule of thirds and what is your focus point what are you trying to show.?

 

[GHP]

I would worry more about composition than pp.
The first photo with flowerpot coming out of his face and distractions in the big.
The second - rule of thirds and what is your focus point what are you trying to show.?

Although valid photographic points, not really helpful to the OP.
As it is in the post processing section, and the OP was asking for advice on PP, maybe some PP advice would be more useful.

I think you are definitely heading in the right direction. The 2 edits you've posted have both been improved as a result of your PP, so mission accomplished!

I think the danger is that a lot of people (Make that most people, including myself) tend to over do the PP when you first start out, resulting in some real disasters from an OK original.
HDR is the classic example of this. Usually, less is more.
Try and get it as right as you can in camera, which lessens the need for PP.

Oh, and see if you can clone out flowerpots, as you never know when it will come in useful !!

 

[Jayst84]

First edit isn't showing for me. But the second generally looks to be an improvement, better contrast, etc.

The thing that jumps out at me though, is the vignette and grad filtre / sky darkening - possibly a little strong, and be aware of things extending above the horizon line, such as trees. Just as you would with a physical grad. Having the top half of a tree darker than the bottom half doesn't look great.

Ultimately, how you process your images is down to you. Just as how you would develop and print was.

 

[widebloke]

Thanks for all the replies, I know they are not great in terms of composition but the main aim was to get a few clean, in focus shots to get the hang of PP while the weather is not so good, as for flower pots I think whilst trying to crop out the right hand one I completely missed the one by his head!

I did wonder if the grad filter effect was too strong and I see what you mean now about the trees, is it possible in light room to brush that out over the tress? Maybe I should trust my instinct a bit more when it says "That may be too much".

I use Photoshop a lot in my day job but primarily as a sketching and painting tool so I could paint out all manor of things (including flower pots) but I am a complete novice when it comes to sharpening, WB etc!

 

[cargo]

I'm no expert but think youve done a great job on these. I do see the grad filter but only after reading the above.

Gaz