First things first: I am new here. Lately I was photographing more and more, and now was the first time I got up in the morning hours for landscape shots. My problem: I am sometimes unsure about the post processing. I would love to get some feedback on the processing of these images. Haven't done much, but could I do more? Or even less?
Thanks alot, Max.
The first post looks like a samsung / iPhone picture. Heavy contrast and crushed details / oversharpened. Over-cooked for my taste. Looks more like a painting than anythin else.
If you dehazed the scene you need to remove contrast in order to get a more balanced look - Or just embrace the haze.
Second pic loks better, but again - the blacks are completely crushed in the foreground. Maybe lift the shadows in that area.
Thanks a lot, Alexander. This is exactly my thought: It looks like a painting. While I kinda like it with this scenery (it's what I would love to paint) I was wondering how I can lose this effect a little bit. Thanks for the contrast-feedback, I will try it out.
Terrific shots mate! Didnt mind the colour grade in these ones. Comp is on point. Only comment is perhaps try push a little more details.
Thank you so much, I will give it a try.
I'd say you need a balance between the sky and the landscape. The village on both pictures looks like a golden hour shot, while the sky doesn't. From experience, those hilltop village shots are very difficult to master. To start it's easier to do some telephoto shots, focus on details and composition. For a successful pano shot, you need a great sky, which you haven't got unfortunately.
Thanks so much for your feedback. I have some telephoto-shots of this scenery, but tbh, I wanted to embrace the whole scene. It's too beautiful to crop it. And actually I like the sky cloud-wise – colorwise you are definitely right. Thanks again!
Personally, I think these are good shots to practice your morning landscape processing. If it were me, I would lighten the shadows to bring out more detail and maybe use the texture fader to give the image a little more detail. For the sky in both images, I’d use the gradient filter to make them a little warmer to match the hilltop village.
Thank you, Mark! This is so helpful, I will later give it a try and post an update.
UPDATE:
Thank you all for your feedback. What I've done:
- Matched the toning of sky and rest
- brought back details in the blacks
- embraced the fog
What do you all think?
Much better! The sky has that warm morning feel to match the hilltop, and the trees along the hill add more color to the image instead of making it darker. I like it!
I think you're doing pretty well here, Maximilian! I agree with some of the comments about too-dark shadows, although according to my software you've got very little max black or max white - you've stayed just inside the limits. So while I don't exactly agree with Alexander on this point, the subjective effect is what counts. I presume the third image is a re-edit of the first after the comments, and is much more appealing - softer, less stark. Cloning out distractions, which you didn't mention, cleans it up.
I like the second image particularly. I'd just open up the foreground shadow area. I love that sky, just as it is! Hope to see more from you.
Thank you for your lovely feedback, Chris! About the shadows: I usually have an eye on the histogram, but the old post processing made the blacks appear to be too dark – even if they haven't been. Thanks for your own edit of my photo, muched better without the dark areas in the foreground.
All in all I really appreciate your (and everybody elses) help. Thanks so much!