How to improve this pic.

[RimBlock]

Hi,

I took this pic in Koh Samui - Thailand last month and am a bit shocked that it was not anywhere near as sharp as I expected.....

I have gone through rawshooter and PS CS2 with it to sharpen and improve colouration. Not sure how to get it any sharper.

Well fire away, suggestions very welcome on the picture.

The pic is hosted on Photobucket so I hope it works with the tags

Cheers
RB

 

[longleyc]

1. Unsharp Mask
2. High Pass Filter
3. Lab (Lightness + ab) Mode....Lightness channel sharpening.

Worst to best order of results.

If printing you can increase the dpi to get a smaller pic footprint, that`ll give the illusion of a sharper image.

 

[paulnewsom]

Hi RB

I would suggest that the first aspect to consider is the composition.

I suggest the horizon is straightened first.

The I suggest that you lose the blue thing in the foreground.

This will leave a simpler composition of the boats partly framed by the branch.

Next I would give the image some more punch. Try adjusting the levels, bring both sliders in. Or look at the highlight/shadow filter with shadows setting to 0 and highlight set to around 25.

I have done this for you but don't know how to show it on the thread. If you send me your e-mail address, I will forward it so you can see the result.

Paul

 

[kbfern]

Using picasa, free photo software I straightened sharpened and cropped hope you think its an improvement.

You can download the programme free,give it a try its an easy to use programme.

 

[thebigkung]

Hi,

How about this. 5mins spent in Photoshop.

straightened horizon
levels on sky - darken - removed noise
levels on sea - darken
cloned out umbrella
Cropped
Gave depth to highlight boats by g-bluring forground and background.

Finally added a bit more saturation.

 

[mjw123]

Sky no longer looks real though.........

 

[bowenjones]

Here's my 5 minute effort.
All I did was straighten, crop, cloned out the umbrella, added a bit of contrast and saturation and finally sharpened a tad.

 

[fraggle]

I like the original the best.

Good efforts by the photoshoppers but the editing has added that much noise into the sky (and sea) I'd just straighten the original and leave it at that.

 

[longleyc]

True Fraggle, noise has been increased.
People really should delve into how computers and cameras handle colours before delving into Photoshop.
Everybody should learn that the Blue channel holds 80% of the "Noise" in images. This can really show up in skies scenes. Jpg artifacting in the large block of similar pixel values doesnt help either.

 

[thebigkung]

True Fraggle, noise has been increased.
People really should delve into how computers and cameras handle colours before delving into Photoshop.
Everybody should learn that the Blue channel holds 80% of the "Noise" in images. This can really show up in skies scenes. Jpg artifacting in the large block of similar pixel values doesnt help either.

Come on peoples, it was just a quick 5min job to give Rimblock some ideas. Not a lesson in photoshop.

No need to diss others with your perception of what you think others know or don't know about Photoshop that is not what this thread was about.

 

[RimBlock]

Woh,

Thanks for all the replies guys (and possibly girls) .

The image had been through the unsharp mask and a number of items had been cloaned out. Some boats on the horizon, a black lump on the same and another umbrella on the right.

I liked the umbrella as it was a bright primary colour and I felt added a holiday aspect to the whole picture rather than just making it a 'life in Thailand' picture although I think both concepts are good.

My concern is that the boats seem to suffer from lack of detail. I had hoped for a bit more of a zoom / crop on the boat until I saw this when I got home. The image posted is around 1/3 of the original and was taken for this purpose rather than as a generic holiday snap.

It was taken with a 350d EOS and 28mm-135mm IS lens. No tripod as I was sitting in a resturant at the time .

Err... yes, straighten the horizon. Can't believe I missed that one.

There are a few more I will be working on over the next week or two although they generally feature ladies (yes all within the forums rules ).

Thanks for the suggestion and for having a go at improving all of you. My tin hat has supprisingly few dents in so thanks for being 'tactful' with a first effort.

Cheers
RB