Page 1 of 1

Picture or painting...

Posted: Mon 1 Mar 2010 23:16
by RudyDusslier
I like heavy postprocessing in landscape pictures as you see in the underneath samples.
These two landscapes are hanging in the waiting room of my practice and I get good comments, also from a couple of photographers I have as patients, and also to my taste, I find them to look gorgeous, especially in print...

I would like your comments and thoughts on this subject.

Both are made out of severals shots while using bracketing and PP in CS4 and HDR program.
Image

Image

Critiques and comments are welcome
Greetings,

Rudy

Re: Picture or painting...

Posted: Sat 6 Mar 2010 23:41
by DirkVermeirre
Hello,
To start I must say that personally I strive to bring post processing to as low as possible. Mostly adjustments in contrast and levels and for portraits sometimes dodging and burning (like in the old darkroom). But that's because I prefer to put as little time as possible with the computers to keep as much time as possible to make new photographs. And because I'm not a purist I have nothing against photoshopping even when it's heavy. I also don't care if an image looks more like a painting (or a painting like a photo), for me it's the resulted image that has to be strong, interesting, artistic, etc.. How it was done isn't crucial and the last time Photoshopped images are more and more seen in leading art galleries. There are also several well known photographers who are coloring their images with the hand and others are mixing painting (real painting) with photos. Many well known painters are starting from photos to make their painting. The mixing of these two forms is increasing more and more in my opinion.
So now back to your images. I like the result of your images, the color tone settings, the warm effect and the end results. But I have one remark. Because it clearly are realistic images there's something wrong with the light (and the direction of the light). As I see in your images, because the sky is more clear at the down side it has to be a sunset or sunrise and then the much lighter parts in the foreground are impossible because the main light source is behind the scene. That makes it unnatural for a real life situation. In the first I see also that the lowest part of the sky as another hue (more going to blueish and white what is not normal in such a colored sky, the most part would normally be the most yellow part of the sky (or going to white around the sun when she would be in the image due to overexposure for that part). Fog could cause that effect also but then it's strange that it's not above or beneath the small part that we see now. In the second image the light source is situated on the low right part of the sky. The fact that it's lighter in that corner of the sky indicates that the sun is sitting there on a low level. Then it's strange to have the lightest parts in the image on the lowest houses and the bushes in the foreground. I think that if you could make the sky more even, without the light sitting at the bottom of the sky, you would gain credibility about the light in your images.
Painters are giving much attention to the light in their works and so I think that the problem isn't if your images are going to much in the direction of paintings, for me the only problem is in the light spread over parts of your images.

With kind regards,

Dirk

Re: Picture or painting...

Posted: Sun 7 Mar 2010 00:10
by RudyDusslier
Hello Dirk,

Thanks a lot for your comment.
I agree about the light spread over the picture. Your reply was very interesting because I still have to learn a lot about light. I wish I was a painter, then everything should be easier for me.

Greetings,
Rudy

Re: Picture or painting...

Posted: Sun 7 Mar 2010 01:56
by DirkVermeirre
Hello Rudy,

With pleasure. Being interested in beautiful light since I was young that made me a kind of light hunter and light is about the most important thing in photography (the word means painting with light). Light set the mood, define the visibility of structures and much more. Apart from painters many architects and photographers are also very interested in light. Studying paintings while visiting museums could help a lot in seeing and understanding light and the quality of light. When we ever met in real life I could tell you a bit more about light and how to look for finding better light.

Greetings,

Dirk

Re: Picture or painting...-My turn..

Posted: Sat 10 Apr 2010 21:33
by Stany Buyle
Originally posted them here

Image

and one more...

Image

Your comments and critics are welcome...

Re: Picture or painting...

Posted: Tue 4 May 2010 18:54
by ADeVos
Very special sunsets. I like them!

Re: Picture or painting...

Posted: Tue 11 May 2010 20:13
by Stany Buyle
ADeVos wrote:Very special sunsets. I like them!
Thanks Andre!