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Ethan Chang's picture

Which photo do you like best? Open for critiques

Personally, I like the second one better.

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11 Comments

Third one is my favorite by far. Love the water in this one. It would be interesting to see it with a little bit of a warmer tint or bit of light added from the side. Regardless, they are all nice work.

Thanks! I'll see if I can try to make the third one a bit warmer.

Here's what I came up with:

I mean, it depends about what you want to create. Just with my feeling, I follow Ruth. The photography I prefer is the third one. Because it looks more more vanishing than others. But this is a very subjective state of mind. Now, you may put this technic into an artistic context. This try may take place in the first ground of a landscape photography.

They all have merit, Ethan. In contrast to Ruth & David, I least like the third! I prefer the first, probably for its colours. To me, the third looks a bit insipid, anaemic in this group, although I often prefer less saturated colours. The second might be my favourite, except that there seem to be processing haloes above the rocks, which distract. You might like David Baker s "Sea Fever" and Rachael Talibart's "Sirens" portfolios.

Hey Ethan,
I think it difficult/unfair to compare as they are 3 different images.

I like the 1st because of drama and bolder use of color (as per Chris). I do like the cold tones use and feel they complement the mood.
I think this might benefit from some judicious cropping as the rocks weigh so heavy in the frame and off little interest.
I've included a quick crop just so you can compare. Of course, it is entirely up to your personal taste, I am just including as an option.

The third image offers more mystery, but I think could have benefited from slightly more of the rocks/visual weight at the bottom to provide balance.

My least favorite is the second - it looks like it has been pushed to the point the water looks unnatural

All in all very interesting images, I prefer 1 & 3 for different reasons.

Thanks! Taking a second look at it, I agree with your thoughts about the second one, the shine on the rocks also looks a bit unrealistic. What do you think of the second pic after I re-edited it? I liked the second one because of the water on the rocks at the bottom.

Hi Ethan - I was thinking of a more sunlight warmth than and all-over uniform one. Something like this. ;)

That looks great! I'm kind of new to editing, how did you do that?

First thing - you had a solid photo to start with.
Second thing is ... Good news! I use Polarr which is a very simplistic light room style program which works on a chromebook. I don't have photoshop or any of the bigger, complex software packages.

Here's what I did:
1) I used the radial tool and made it into an oval covering the center of the image from the top left to bottom right corners. I used this to create "sunlight" by increasing the brightness and tinged it with the 'warmer' tint. These are just slide bar options for the tool - very easy.
2) I used the brush tool (like a paint bush), and, using this tool's slide bar options, brightened/warmed just the edges of the rocks that would be touched by the sunlight that I just created.
3) I did a tiny increase in overall contrast.

That's it! just always remember - less is more.

Polarr is a great program for very simple editing. There is a free version but it is pretty limited. I think the fee-based version is cheap but I got it the first year it came out and they gave lifetime subscriptions to anyone who signed up the first year.

Let me know if this was all clear as mud!

The first one! I especially like the look of the waves at the top and right. They have a look of smoke adding a mystical look to the image. I find the abstract look makes it stand out from just another image of waves on rock.