Arches

Thanks for your critiques.

Nice detail in the shadows and good exposure. Just lovely.

I like the light reflected from the cobbled road. Here is a version with more shadow detail for comparison.

Colin, you did well to get so much detail and it certainly adds depth. I did lower the contrast a bit but my limited PS skills make me hesitant to tamper too much. My version is fairly dark but from experience I suspect more detail would show up in a print. Alas, my printer is feeling grumpy these days...must be the weather.

And I think I'd like it somewhere in between, but a bit more toward the dark side. It's wonderfully magnetic in the dark, pulling you at warp speed to the center of the image. There's more to distract when lighter.

Hanna, getting shadow detail is fairly simple. This is everything you need to know (from PS Elements). Try it and see what you get!

 

1) Select whole frame using the marquee cropping tool then click Edit > copy

 

2) File > New from Clipboard (creates a new background layer so you are not changing the original file)

 

3) Edit > Paste (adds a second identical layer on top of the background)

 

4) Click 'layers' tab and select top layer

 

5) Enhance > Adjust brightness > levels

 

6) Adjust the mid-tone to the left for lightening the mid-tones. (Play about till you can see the right amount of shadow detail).

 

7) back to layers tab then click on the 'opacity' slider. (adjust till the top lightened layer disappears but still shows the lightened detail).

 

8) Layers > Flatten image

 

9) File > Save as (whatever)

 

You are done!

just like Colin sayd, a little loss of details. And Colin,

there's an easier way. In PS2 there's a tool named shadows/highlight. The advantage is that the trees keep their tone and don't fade to much.

There's also lot's of other ways, but this is the simple one.

Colin, thanks so much for taking the time to give me such detailed instructions. I use Paintshop Pro so am not sure if the procedure is the same but I can certainly have a go. Your version and Hans' bring out all the structural and fabric details. I particularly like how the doors have come up. But I do also agree with Stephanie that the lure from the darkness into the light is somewhat lost, and is what caught my eye when I first took the photo. Perhaps a version of each would solve the dilemma. You're a credit to Photonet with your continued level of contribution with your images and your interaction with other members.

 

Hans, I generally simply adjust through the shadows, mid-tones and highlights, but couldn't maintain the level of contrast that you achieved. Thanks for your interest.

Hanna, I agree about the dark - it can add mystery to the shot. I find Paintshop Pro is difficult to use compared to PS and not nearly as versatile. If you have the PS Elements from the Canon 300D I think with a little perseverance to get you over the initial stages (which are always the hardest!) you would find it more rewarding. (Thanks for the bouquet!)

I can appreciate all these versions, but the stark contrast works in this case for me. I like the original.

 

As for shopping, I will open Photoshop when I have to, but I use its sophisticated tools sparingly, perhaps because I like a minimum of post-processing. Nine times out of ten, I will use Paint Shop Pro, reserving PS for when I want perspective correction or the healing brush, etc.

 

--Lannie

Thanks Lannie. I'm with you on the post processing business. As for the healing brush; I haven't heard of that one. Can I use that when I get those nasty 2-1 ratings?