Tom Rice
November 2024 - Autumn Trails
Original
About the Image(s)
Thought I would share how I use gradient masks this month. Nearby town of Winnsboro, Texas has a yearly series of events for 'Autumn Trails' and one of the events is a trail ride welcome parade that includes dozens of covered wagons. The people inside the wagons are often lost in the shadows in the photos, but I found I can use a Radial Gradient mask placed over the dark shadowed area to adjust exposure/shadows/highlights for that area of the photo and bring out the people. Other editing included cropping, and use of a Linear Gradient mask to take care of the over exposed/blown out highlights of the back side of the wagon.
4 comments posted
Must be a very colourful and interesting spectacle to see.
The gradient masks have worked really well and you can see all the details of the people inside the wagon. Everything is lovely and sharp. Like that you cropped out the horse rider on the left side.
Well done. Posted: 11/08/2024 15:28:05
The gradient masks have worked really well and you can see all the details of the people inside the wagon. Everything is lovely and sharp. Like that you cropped out the horse rider on the left side.
Well done. Posted: 11/08/2024 15:28:05
Tom I like you brightened up the people in the covered wagon. That said, I find using a global brightening caused the rest of the picture to get washed out, lose detail, and overall brighten it too much. The background now competes with your subject. By the way you can still crop out on the left as some of the horse is still there. Look at the Brillance of the horses pulling the wagon in the original and you will see that was lost in the processed version. You did a good job on the top of the covered wagon. Posted: 11/10/2024 18:27:56
Tom, thank you for sharing the story of this unique experienceof the "Autum Trails" through capturing of the image. The gradient masks were a great choice to bring out the people inside the wagon, adding so much detail! The overall sharpness and selective brightening enhance the scene beautifully. Nicely done! Posted: 11/11/2024 17:04:59
Kurt Reinhard
Hi Tom. The image is really sharp, and the edits do a great job of showing the people in the covered wagon. The detail in the wagon is also much better in the edited version. The only suggestion I have is maybe play a little with the background, and don't brighten that as much as the rest of the photograph. I think that might help the covered wagon and horses standout more. Posted: 11/12/2024 00:41:15