Helen Warnod, PPSA
About the Image(s)
Early morning market
Gear: Canon 6D Mark II, 24-70mm 1:2.8
Settings: f/2.8, 1/400, ISO-320, Manual, Centre weighted, Auto White Balance
Taken: 15 May 2021
Early morning trip to the market. Snapped this shot as a starter to see how I should adjust my settings early on a cold morning. It’s a fairly underwhelming shot, although I thought I’d have a play with it.
I warped the image a little to straighten the buildings in Photoshop , then I replaced the sky using Luminar (can’t recall if it is my sky or not now, so I’ll need to change it for competition I guess) . Then I put in some Luminar AI sunrays in. Back in Photoshop, I lightened the image and sharpened, contrast etc etc.
I was really bothered by the large white board on the left of centre, and tried a few things, but nothing seemed to work, so I used the Quick selection tool and selected areas and used Edit, Fill, to dull the board. I made a bit of a hash of it, but, I felt it looked better than before.
If you can suggest how I might have done this more successfully, I’d appreciate your advice.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
My first attempt at ridding myself of that white board was with the clone stamp tool and I made a complete hash of it.
What setting did you use for the Clone Stamp tool? I think that was my issue.   Posted: 07/02/2021 22:04:16
For me, I'm a tad confused on your subject. The market stalls are dark, but the signs above are very clear. And I love the skyscrapers and your fixed sky.
You have some great lines with the booth roofs and the the peaked roof center and the buildings rising out so powerfully in the background. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I think there are some wonderful bones here for one or more great compositions.   Posted: 07/03/2021 21:00:49
Welcome to the world of cloning, I've spent many many hours with the clone tool, and survived! In this case the casing you are trying to fix is already ugly, so have you thought about copy and flip the right side to make up a new stall (use masks to pick and choose which bits to keep so as not to make it obvious)?
As you become more proficient you may want to remove the 'shopping trolleys' sign and 'Hand tools' sign as they do draw the eye away from the centre.
I also thought that the background was a bit too sharp so the eyes wanted to go and look there too, so added a quick Gaussian blur on the towers.
Have fun with this one.
  Posted: 07/04/2021 12:15:50
Really like the leading lines to the center of the image. The sky/towers are great, and I really like the sky you've inserted (gotta learn how to do that!) agree with comments above that there are likely multiple unique and excellent compositions nested within this capture. Great image - TY!   Posted: 07/06/2021 09:39:36
I like the juxtaposition of the fancy new buildings and the slightly less modern market. The person walking adds interest and a subject (to Brenda's comment about not catching a clear subject).
You might even consider going vertical to bring the eye to the person while maintaining the hint of skyscrapers contrasted to the market ambiance.
In that case I'd leave a little more sky on top from your original.   Posted: 07/15/2021 13:25:28