Photos

graffer (1800) 2008-12-21 5:16

Hello Thomas,

I have been looking through your very interesting gallery, particularly the Middle East pictures. I am surprised they have not attracted more interest.

I especially liked this one for its strong composition, and the good contrast of the green colours of the trees with the red colours of the roofs and the flower pots.

The leading lines of the sides of the road take the eye straight to the church, which stands proudly against the sky. The tower behind and to the left of it looks more like a Muslim minaret, but it helps to break up the symmetry of the skyline.

I feel that the impact of the image might be enhanced with an adjustment of levels - especially in the lower [non-sky] part, so I have tried a WS for your consideration.

I have no experience taking photographs under the very strong sunlight that you found in the ME, but a common problem seems to be the flat appearance of the images, which often lack the full range of tones from the darkest black to the brightest white.

I don't pretend to be an expert in PP, but I have learned a lot since I became a member of TE. The first thing I do now with any image in PhotoShop, is to look at the "Levels", and the histogram which shows how the range of tones is distributed in the image.

Auto Levels is always worth a try - also the further "options" that are presented in the Levels dialogue box. AL doesn't work with all images though, and sometimes adjusting the separate R, G and B sliders in the Levels histogram is needed to achieve a good result.

I now hardly ever use contrast or brightness adjustments, finding that Levels, and sometimes Curves, do the job better.

For more useful info on levels and curves, you might be interested in this website, and this one.

Regards,

Peter.