Clive from Scotland

Discussion Open - 8 Comments

1. alexnail on 5/28/08

   Hi Craig,

   Thanks for another brilliant critique I thought that this again brought up many useful points. Although as you know I am slightly against rescaling I thought every other alteration you made to the image was great and many of these steps I would have taken myself which is nice to see!

   I probably slightly prefer Clives version, cropping this scene would be my preferred solution to coping with the rather empty left hand side of the frame. I think the crop perhaps emphasises the pattern in the sand so crucial to this image. I also prefer the slightly more red tones. Regardless of the colour wheel (which I have seen you apply to great effect before) there is something about warm red light that I really enjoy but I struggle to explain why!

   I am really looking forward to the new radiant vista, particularly more podcasts and light diaries.

   I have emailed a question which hopefully you will have the time to answer in a future podcast!

   Thanks

   Alex
2. craigtanner on 5/28/08

   Hi Alex,

   Thank you for being here and thank you for the thoughtful feedabck!!!...Craig
3. jgoodm on 5/29/08

   Craig,

   I do prefer your version and agree the red hue of the sand detracts from the structure in the background.

   Your use of scaling, complimentary colors, etc. in the Daily Critique is thought provoking and I generally agree the photo looks better after you get through with it.

   I still find it difficult, however, to look at my own work and when to apply these techniques that more likely than not, will improve the image.

   Hopefully, someday, it will click in.

   Jack
4. SigloV on 5/29/08

   Craig,

   Thank you for a most interesting and revealing critique of my image. You are quite correct in stating that the first image was the unprocessed RAW file and that the second one was my attempt at a creative edit. Like Alex has noted, I did feel that the image out-of-camera was weighted too much towards the right hand side. My solution was to crop to the square format, however I think your use of local contrast in the sand does just a good of a job in adding interest on the left and restoring balance to the frame.

   I really do like your darkening and blurring of the sky. I need to start carrying, and using, more neutral density for times when movement can help to simplify an idea. The idea of scaling is a little alien to me but I can see that it has tremendous possibilities – like many photographers I probably just need to get my head around the concept and integrate it into my toolbox of things I can do.

   As well as adding some warmth to the foreground, I was actually thinking of the colour wheel when I made the choice to push the sand towards burnt red and the shadows towards magenta. My intention was that the yellow in the castle would be a secondary colour complement with the magenta. I also saw the green on the outcrop as being a complement from the painters colour wheel for the magenta. Perhaps I'm mixing too just a bit too much colour up in this one!

   The RadiantVista has been a mainstay of my photography over the past couple of years. You are a constant source of inspiration Craig, even if I sometimes don't quite see where you are going with some of your ideas (I'm still not convinced by the Lensbaby!)

   Thanks for all your hard work and like everyone else I am so looking forward to all the new content you are lining up for us.

   Cheers,

   Clive
5. craigtanner on 5/30/08

   Hi Clive,

   Thank you so much for being here and its great to hear your take on both versions.Thank you for your explanation on the colors and thank you for all of your beautiful image submissions Clive...Craig
6. JasonNewton on 5/31/08

   This is a fabulous critique and there are some wonderful adjustments made to the image. My only problem is that, as a relative beginner in Photoshop CS3, I have no idea how to perform these myself. It would be great to have the critique showing exactly how the adjustments were made. I realize that there are, of course, time constraints and I guess that kind of thing would probably belong in the video tutorial section.

   Anyway, great critique. I just wish I knew how to perform the techniques mentioned - especially straightening buildings.

   Kind Regards
7. craigtanner on 5/31/08

   Hi Jason,

   Straightening the building is straightforward. I made a selection of the structure using the marquee tool. I hit apple (control on a PC) then the letter J to put that selection on its own layer. I then went to edit- transfrom - skew. I then pulled on the edges of the bounding box to straighten the structurer and used a layer mask to blend the transformed selection with the background.

   I will start trying to throw in a PS technique here and there on the DC....thank you for being here!!!...Craig
8. chrisjoerg on 6/1/08

   Hy Craig, hy Clive!

   First thanks to you, Clive, for this wonderful image! When I first saw the unprocessed file, my first idea was also to crop it to a square-format.

   I also thought about tuning the sand more to red, but not so sophisticated as you did, but just to add more color depth to the image.

   Now to you, Craig! ;-)

   I always wonder how you know and invent all this, sometimes subtle, changes which make (often) a great improvement to photographs... It's simply amazing! But I think that is "just" what makes the difference between an amateur and a professional...

   I also want to encourage you with the idea of one extensive daily / weekly critique. In a critique like this there are many ideas and things that are explained in a generic way. The vigilant viewer of a critique like this will have the ability to transfer these ideas and suggestions to a lot of other fields of application. So in my opinion one big, detailed critique is better than a "real" daily one.

   Thanks again, to Clive, Craig and all the radiantvista team!

   Chris

To leave a comment you must login or become a registered user.

Inspiration Image Showcase

Adrain from Gurnsey