Bev Caine
August 2020 - Sights of Brugges
About the Image(s)
I took this many years ago while on a trip to Amsterdam and Brussels. I kind of brought the image back from the dead in processing as I have spent a lot of Covid time reprocessing old images. Made some adjustments, vibrance, added that touch of blue sky into what was a white blown out space, etc.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
11 comments posted
(Group 95)
Love the town, and I see this more as a travel image v street image. Technically it is crisp, with a nice composition and leading lines. The color combinations and lighting are all very pleasant. There's nothing that holds my interest as a viewer for very long or arouses any curiosity from me, but it's still a nice image. Posted: 08/02/2020 23:10:05
(Group 95)
Love the town, and I see this more as a travel image v street image. Technically it is crisp, with a nice composition and leading lines. The color combinations and lighting are all very pleasant. There's nothing that holds my interest as a viewer for very long or arouses any curiosity from me, but it's still a nice image. Posted: 08/02/2020 23:10:07
I agree that this is really a travel photograph. It has a nice composition to it, and it's sharp. It's a nice soft image that I think offers a certain sense of peace to the viewer. I think it's a nice shot. It's the kind of image that I would expect to see hanging on someone's wall. Posted: 08/06/2020 21:10:16
(Groups 24 & 48 & 58)
I can't disagree re the travel image comment but not having gone anywhere in months except to doctors, I had to "stretch the envelope" a bit in researching old images. I do appreciate your comments on the image itself. Posted: 08/07/2020 05:35:16
Bruges looks like it would be an interesting city to explore, ether on a tourist boat or by just wondering around, both would have their advantages. I am enjoying the movement in this image, the boat passing by, the one just comping into or leaving the dock, and the anticipation of the due to board the next boat. I find the architecture to be interesting. My first focus is on the white building that stands out from all the rest.
I think that the image is well composed, with the lines of the dock and water edge leading my eye deeper into the photo, to the architecture of the building behind. The movement of the boats add a lot to the image for me.
This image appears to me to have been taken on a bright but overcast day (Noted from the diffuse shadows under the white buildings ledges.) The darks in the water along with the blown out highlights in the water for me tends to be a bit contrasty. I think you could soften the image a bit by taking the image into Lightroom or ACR and filling the shadows and blacks while reducing the highlights. (If you are working with a RAW image you will have a lot more dynamic range to play with than the jpg version.)
The image appears a little soft to me as presented, perhaps a little sharpening would help.
I don't think that the added blue sky is consistent with the rest of the image, the soft shadows indicate an overcast day. If the sky area was overblown white, I understand that you would like to tone it down a bit. Perhaps a more subdued grayish blue would be more consistent with the rest of the image. (I would also expect some of the sky color to be reflected in the highlights in the water, which I don't see. Also, I would expect the highlights on the water to be less bright than the sky.)
I think that street photography is a component of travel photography. Travel photography includes larger overview place setting images, and then works closer, including the people that populate a place (Street) and some detail images. I think this image contains some aspects of environmental setting and people, tourists in this image. In its broadest definition, Street photography is any image taken from the street or public place in an urban environment that may or may not contain people. This image certainly fits that definition. Posted: 08/15/2020 13:18:44
I think that the image is well composed, with the lines of the dock and water edge leading my eye deeper into the photo, to the architecture of the building behind. The movement of the boats add a lot to the image for me.
This image appears to me to have been taken on a bright but overcast day (Noted from the diffuse shadows under the white buildings ledges.) The darks in the water along with the blown out highlights in the water for me tends to be a bit contrasty. I think you could soften the image a bit by taking the image into Lightroom or ACR and filling the shadows and blacks while reducing the highlights. (If you are working with a RAW image you will have a lot more dynamic range to play with than the jpg version.)
The image appears a little soft to me as presented, perhaps a little sharpening would help.
I don't think that the added blue sky is consistent with the rest of the image, the soft shadows indicate an overcast day. If the sky area was overblown white, I understand that you would like to tone it down a bit. Perhaps a more subdued grayish blue would be more consistent with the rest of the image. (I would also expect some of the sky color to be reflected in the highlights in the water, which I don't see. Also, I would expect the highlights on the water to be less bright than the sky.)
I think that street photography is a component of travel photography. Travel photography includes larger overview place setting images, and then works closer, including the people that populate a place (Street) and some detail images. I think this image contains some aspects of environmental setting and people, tourists in this image. In its broadest definition, Street photography is any image taken from the street or public place in an urban environment that may or may not contain people. This image certainly fits that definition. Posted: 08/15/2020 13:18:44
(Groups 24 & 48 & 58)
When I got CC it included Lightroom, which I would love to learn, but the online courses seem to be running anywhere from $ 350 and up and right now that's beyond my budget, so I'm plugging along with Photoshop, Topaz and Luminar. The sky was so white I added the blue because I thought it looked better than empty space I guess I certainly could have tuned it down. It was actually not a very bright day as it was heading into winter at the time, if I remember correctly. Part of the problem in grabbing reflections is that the canals are narrow and the buildings overshadow everything even though they are not very tall.
Thanks for your input. I am going to print it out and see if I can get some of those changes made. Posted: 08/15/2020 14:04:52
Thanks for your input. I am going to print it out and see if I can get some of those changes made. Posted: 08/15/2020 14:04:52
I personally do not have Lightroom, so I can't help you much there. I did drop this image into Luminar and can make the changes I recommended. In Luminar I droped the highlights and increased the shadows to even out the contrast. (Just adjusting the contrast makes the image look bland in my opinion.) I found that increasing the shadows in the "advanced contrast" section also helped. The "Accent AI Filter" is another control to play with to adjust contrast and clarity. Anyway, these are just some stuff to mess around with and see what you like. Good luck and have fun. I hope you have a chance to get out. Posted: 08/15/2020 14:28:26
I think if you open up Lightroom, you might find that you already know it better than you think. As I understand it, Camera Raw in Photoshop is the same program as Lightroom just brought over into Photoshop. So, if you can work with that then you can work with Lightroom. Also, Adobe has a number of free tutorials on how to use its software. And for only $130, Matt Kloskowski has a great Lightroom course online at
https://mattk.com/online-course-list/
You can access Adobe's free tutorials on Lightroom at
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/tutorials.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwj975BRBUEiwA4whRBwj3hk81adMHGJV60EreghqWB4XWVQwU4rNiayFbku-w57Vxdm_uixoCz5kQAvD_BwE&sdid=JRSIL&mv=search&ef_id=CjwKCAjwj975BRBUEiwA4whRBwj3hk81adMHGJV60EreghqWB4XWVQwU4rNiayFbku-w57Vxdm_uixoCz5kQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3085!3!405119257138!b!!g!!%2Badobe%20%2Blight%20%2Broom Posted: 08/15/2020 15:20:05
https://mattk.com/online-course-list/
You can access Adobe's free tutorials on Lightroom at
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/tutorials.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwj975BRBUEiwA4whRBwj3hk81adMHGJV60EreghqWB4XWVQwU4rNiayFbku-w57Vxdm_uixoCz5kQAvD_BwE&sdid=JRSIL&mv=search&ef_id=CjwKCAjwj975BRBUEiwA4whRBwj3hk81adMHGJV60EreghqWB4XWVQwU4rNiayFbku-w57Vxdm_uixoCz5kQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3085!3!405119257138!b!!g!!%2Badobe%20%2Blight%20%2Broom Posted: 08/15/2020 15:20:05
(Groups 24 & 48 & 58)
Thank you so much Posted: 08/15/2020 22:52:17
Brugges looks like a lovely place to visit. I would love to be on one of those tour boats going on the canals. It is a very pleasant and peaceful image. I do agree about the sky not being consistent with the lighting of the photo tho.
Camera Raw and Lightroom are nearly the same so you could transition to LR very easily if you wished. There are also a great number of books out there that give you instructions. Posted: 08/23/2020 10:47:19
Camera Raw and Lightroom are nearly the same so you could transition to LR very easily if you wished. There are also a great number of books out there that give you instructions. Posted: 08/23/2020 10:47:19
I think this scene works for both Travel and Street. However, having just read an article about Travel, the mere switching of the sky to blue makes the image Street and ineligible for inclusion in a Travel Photography group. I like the scene, it tells a nice story, that you've composed nicely. Agree with Victor re:Shadows/Highlights.
Posted: 08/23/2020 11:07:33
Posted: 08/23/2020 11:07:33