Help wanted to improve picture

dinneenp

Hi,
Claregalway castle has an open day recently. I took a few pictures but am not happy with any of them.
This is about the best of a bad bunch.
I want to give the owner a picture of the open day (free). He's community involved and planning further open days, all non-profit.
Would anyone be able to improve this picture for me?
I can e-mail it on full size if that'd help anyone. (link here, don't know if others can access/download this

I'll reward whoever with a pint or two or however else I can...


Thanks,
Pa.

Thecageyone

You don't want anything omitted from the picture? or cropped out? Just enhanced?

I was able to download the full sized version from your Pix account. I can give it a go.


Ok, Lightroom keeps freezing up on me, so finished off in PS, I think B&W suits it, maybe you won't think so.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Fajitas!

I doubt anyone else'll like this except me, but hey;

Otherwise a less contrasty B&W than LoneWarriors above me might work well.

Thecageyone

Was a bit contrasty alright, but I like bringing the people out.

Less contrasy:






And in colour:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

dinneenp

Thanks for d replies; Ill look through them all now (on iPhone so slow to look at)
I don't mind if it's cropped or whatever you think works. Whatever you think the owner if the castle would like.
Pa

Heebie

Here's my take on it. (reduced to proper 800 on the long side sizing.)
I also attached the full resolution I pulled off your pix.ie site so you can snarf it. (I did sharpen the small one slightly.. didn't do that with the full size, as I don't believe in sharpening for anything but final output.)

Please.. let me know what you think. I did this kinda quickly in GIMP, rather than pulling out PS.

I adjusted the color a little to make it warmer and makes the mix of overexposure and clouds all blend together (the clouds were distracting.. although if I'd had a RAW format file of that, I probably would have tried to pull some detail out of them rather than wash them out.), dodged a couple of people to bring them out a bit, and got rid of the eaves from the building I cropped out on the left. That building really ruined the shot for me.. (although the old woman sitting in that section was kinda cool).. being a ruin.. with a modern cinder-block building built inside of it... I'm guessing it's probably part-way through restoration.. but if they're restoring it.. they should do it right.

ThOnda

Oh, you meant enhance

dinneenp

@thecageyone- i really like your one with colour.
Would you be able to send it to me full sized? I'll PM you my e-mail address.
I'll update you after I've given him the photo and let you know what he said/thought.

Thecageyone

Sure, no bother. For some reason it's 12mb! I had to re-size it down to upload to Imageshack as their cap is 10mb. But should fit in a gmail? [or are restrictions still 10mb on there?]

milos

Great pp cageyone

Did some lens correction in PP
I think this might look a little better

Thecageyone

Thanks, I love the PP part as much as the shooting

Not sure what you did there but it looks less sharp? The crop either side is fine but you've cropped the top of the upper flag and the central two people's feet.

Nebezpeci Mys

So, I also had a go... don't know why but don't like the shots in colour, no matter what I tried.

@ Dinneenp
Have also a lightly coloured, cropped and cleaned version (similar to the one by Heebie) but wasn't sure how much PP was acceptable/ethical, so it will stay on my pc for the moment. But if you would like to see it, it can go up straight away.

dinneenp

Hi,
I don't mind how much PP etc is applied.
I'll take a proper look when on laptop, thinking I'll give him a few pics.
The contact from the castle Garden Fair said that the local paper (Nuacht Clair- local Claregalway paper) might be interested in photos as they'll be doing an article in the castle recent Garden Fair. Are ye happy if I submit any photos that ye have PP here? If used I'd ask for photo credit to mention me and you.
Cheers,
Pa.

Heebie

No bother.

dinneenp wrote: »

Are ye happy if I submit any photos that ye have PP here? If used I'd ask for photo credit to mention me and you.
Cheers,
Pa.

Thecageyone

You can fir away and use either of mine bw/colour if you want. Up to yourself The sepia works well too.

Nebezpeci Mys

Fine with me too...

armchairninja

was bored at home, decided to have a play around with it, not the best though, computer is having issues:([IMG][/img]

dinneenp

2 images were incuded in Nuacht Clair online. (near the end)
@Heebie- I've contacted them asking to update the credit to your full name.

PopeBuckfastXVI

Hey Cagey,

Would you mind sharing what steps you took to make your versions - really excellent work, and from a jpg too! Bit of a 'shop wizard!

Thecageyone

Don't know how I missed the update on this, nice one on the credit

It's hard to explain Pope as I have a bit of a routine in LR, a messy, off-the-cuff one. It involves some exposure tweaks and fill light, upping of black levels mixed with either darkening of shadows or lightening , depending. It really depends on the image, I more or less do it by eye. I use the adjustment brush a lot on select areas too, the castle will have been treated separate to the people in the foreground for example.

I usually take the resulting image to Cs5 and give it a few High-pass layers and unsharp mask if required. I might use a selective colour layer at times too, if there's a strong distracting colour trying to take over! In this case I tweaked the reds and blues, to make them less contrasty.

Cheers though

Heebie

No need.. "M." instead of my full middle name is adequate.

Thanks for letting me know.

dinneenp wrote: »

2 images were incuded in Nuacht Clair online. (near the end)
@Heebie- I've contacted them asking to update the credit to your full name.