Twilight shot...comments please (and please be gentle!)

[Hard-Drive]

Still just a newbie and only just messing around with my DSLR and I don't have photoshop yet, although I was thinking about buying it to edit this shot.

I quite like it, but would like to get rid of the wonkly plastic owl bird scarer, the white sign on the jetty, and somehow tone down the lighting at the bottom left which is from an electric light.

Can PS do this, and is it worth bothering with?

Thanks!

[Simpo Two]

Actually I like the light - it makes it look different, almost as if you spent ages setting it up with off camera flash!

[leightonjames]

Like this?

[leightonjames]

And a side by side

I would definately recommend purchasing it;

[_dobbo_]

Nothing there you couldn't do with the Gimp for free.

I couldn't in good conscience recommend to spend nearly £600 on a program so that you can use the clone stamp and a gradient mask. If you can't get on with the Gimp, consider Photoshop Elements which is significantly cheaper.

[leightonjames]

_dobbo_ said:

Nothing there you couldn't do with the Gimp for free.

I couldn't in good conscience recommend to spend nearly £600 on a program so that you can use the clone stamp and a gradient mask. If you can't get on with the Gimp, consider Photoshop Elements which is significantly cheaper.

Ah i didn't think about the price! as a student i got photoshop CS3 extended for £150! retails normally for £805!

[CVP]

_dobbo_ said:

Nothing there you couldn't do with the Gimp for free.

I couldn't in good conscience recommend to spend nearly £600 on a program so that you can use the clone stamp and a gradient mask. If you can't get on with the Gimp, consider Photoshop Elements which is significantly cheaper.

He's right, PS Elements can do virtually all of what you need and is only about GBP 60 rather than full Photoshop at GBP 600. Lots of books / magazine and on-line articles are published for Elements as well as the full version of Photoshop, so there is no shortage of resources to enable you to learn to edit.

Chris

[Hard-Drive]

Leightonjames thanks for that!

I was not aware of the Gimp, also was not aware PS was so much! I'll download Gimp and see how I get on with it...thanks for the pointers!

What about the shot, any good or not?

[leightonjames]

Hard-Drive said:

Leightonjames thanks for that!

I was not aware of the Gimp, also was not aware PS was so much! I'll download Gimp and see how I get on with it...thanks for the pointers!

What about the shot, any good or not?

No problem! If you would like me to do the same to the full size so you don't need to purchase anything i'd be more than happy!

[Hard-Drive]

OK, downloaded the Gimp. Being a bloke I did not read the instructions and just spent 15 minutes messing around with that clone tool.

Oh my god.

I had NO IDEA you could do that with editing software, I thought you could make small alterations here and there but it is just incredible what it will actually do.

OK so the below is just a first ever go but wow, I think editing software might just have totally changed the way I think about photography. I will now be spending many a long evening working out how to use it properly!

Thanks again for the pointer, I'm very grateful!

My 5 door Disco on Stanage edge...



My, er, 2 door softtop pickup with a few tweaks!

[CVP]

Hard-Drive said:

My, er, 2 door softtop pickup with a few tweaks!

First go in 15 mins, bloody good

Chris

[_dobbo_]

Impressive stuff! In a sense you are lucky not to have used Photo Shop as it means you don't have to unlearn the menu/control system in order to use the gimp.

The gimp has a massive user community who develop add ons and plug-ins, so if it doesn't do something you need, a search around should find something you can do.

With ufraw you can even open raw files directly into the gimp, hard to believe it's all free!

Have fun!

Edited by _dobbo_ on Tuesday 5th August 09:39

[EmmaP]

I actually like the original shot and think that the light bottom left adds to the shot. Also the 'blemishes' that you speak of give the location character and depth.

[911newbie]

+1 for GIMP

and if you really want the PS interface there is a GIMP skin to make it look like PS, called GimpShop.
(just google it)
and UFRaw as an add on to allow Gimp to read raw files (Or use RawTherapee like I do).

I've just bought a book called 'Gimp: from beginner to professional' or something like that which is the nearest thing to a manual / guide book to GIMP. It's looking very good. Just search for Gimp in Amazon books.
(NB the 'books' bit otherwise you may come up with some interesting DVDs)

Chris