Swimming Toward Nightfall

I am sometimes disappointed how the image appears on line as

compared to on my computer...is there an optimum method of posting,

settings etc?...Would love your input! Thanks for your comments,

ratings and critiques.

It still looks good to me online. I like the creative use of light. Congrats.

This is wonderful....I like the balanced scene both highlights and reflection! 7/7

Very spectacular sunset!! 7/7

Ray, This has very little PS done to it and still the sky seems to pixelate somewhat...other times that doesn't seem to happen. This is posted at 777 pixels wide and other shots seem to be 'cleaner' when posted. Maybe it's a colors thing, but any thoughts or help is appreciated.

It was one of those magic moments. I was crouched under a tree for a minute or so and was waiting for the swans to be in just the right spot...when I turned away from my tripod there were 5 others standing behind me with their cameras! I was asked to take a picture of a young lady with her camera and I regret not taking the same shot with mine. I used a fill flash and the scene with her in it was quite wonderful.

Could be nice with a thiner tree line and more sky, but that would require a higher elevation which may not be available.

Jos, I think the server-side jpg compression was disable a few weeks ago, due to complaints. Currently you have 777x599 183K, is this the same reading of your original? The other way to do it is to convert to GIF and upload as gif. PN takes both JPG and GIF. Good luck.

 

Very nice sunset and the composition is great.

This is magnificant a picture! So beautiful light and warm colors. Fantastic the sky and the reflections. Great work!

Thank you very much! It is a pleasure to have you visit.+

Thanks, Is see what I was thinking...thanks for the insight.

Yup - I know why THIS is one of your favorites!! :-)

Really great lighting. Nice composition as well.

great sunset , you can reduce the tree on the left of the frame , I think it will look even better..

Thanks for the insight, I tried to keep continuity between the land on the bottom left and tree, I didn't want a break...I'll try your suggestion. Thanks.

Thanks for viewing.

Nice .... !!!

Jos, it is an unusual composition and light, the difference between the light and the shadow of the trees, and their form is very nice.It took me time to see the swans....Pnina

Sometimes it's good to not see everything all at once

Very aesthetic the silhouettes and the strong colours with their reflexions. Compositionwise I would not change anything. Maybe I would try a slightly reduced brightness for the yellow in the sky, not sure. On the pixel question: I work on TIF as long as possible (48bit color images), for upload make a 100% 800 wide jpeg (24bit color then). That works so far - I assume that PN`s algorithm makes another jpeg compression, so I think it is wise to make uploads as clean as possible. Regards, Carsten

Thanks. I've been working with only jpeg so I expect a learning curve is in front of me here. I'll see hopw this affects my work. Cheers!

JPGs are great, if used correctly. Since they are a lossy compression, every time you resave the image, it reduces in quality. So when working w/ your images, use .psd or .tiff.

When preparing for upload, use the Save For Web tool in Photoshop. This allows you to tweak the compression of the jpeg, while viewing your image to make sure quality stays acceptable. Make sure you check the box, ICC Profile.

Noise is very common among images w/ Digital, especially in low light, and the cheaper the camera, the less able it is to control its noise (typically). Tweaks in Photoshop quickly accentuate noise if you aren't careful. If this is a problem, be careful when adjusting Levels, Curves, Color Balance and so on.

As for this image, it is a beautiful evening! I love the warm, firery colors in the clouds that are embraced by the cool sky. Your composition might be helped by just ever so slightly cropping, so that the top-left of the image doesn't have any sky, just the tree. This would be nicely accomplished at the time of shooting by panning right just a bit, which would give the cloud a little bit of breathing room.

Great! Clear and concise, very informative! I did not know about the resaving issues of jpegs. The 'noise' factor I understand and it all seems to make more sense now...what is the ICC box for I don't know and I will start to make sure it is checked. Thank you very much!!!

Checking the ICC Profile option in Save for Web, tags the image with color data. Not everyone's browser will read the color profile, but the browsers that do, will render your jpeg's color more accurately.

Here's a link to Adobe's explanation. ICC Profiles Explained