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The reason I have not submitted for some time is only because too much of my effort lately has been trying to teach myself Photoshop in an effort to improve the pictures I already have and then realised that photography is about taking the shot and doing it right.
When I see the very high standard of the beautiful landscapes that are being published in magazines and comparing them to my poor attempts, I shrink from going anywhere near this field of photography and realised that my preference always was remains in candid, macro and unusual studies so I will stick with this direction for now.
I also came to appreciate that ePhotozine offers the wonderful opportunity to have an honest crit, plus advise and modification done by the experts. This, to me is far more valuable than what any Photoshop can teach or do for me.
On the above fence post, I have also cropped the picture down to zoom in on middle two wires wrapped around the post and quite like that as well.
| Camera: | Canon EOS 450D |
| Lens: | EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS |
| Recording media: | JPEG (digital) |
| Title: | Study of a Fence Post |
| Username: | 
Disee |
| Uploaded: | 13 Apr 2012 - 6:16 PM |
| Tags: | Close-up / macro |
| VS Mode Rating |
Unrated These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode |
| Votes: | Voting Disabled |
 | Critique Wanted |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
Comments
Hi Dinah, don't beat yourself up too much, we all try to get the image as good as possible in the camera but rarely, if ever, post a shot here before it goes through Photoshop. Sometimes it's only to sharpen or give the colours a bit of a lift, more often it's a crop in an attempt to improve the composition.
Willie, banehawi, from the critique team made a very interesting point only the other day, when he talked about professional photographers from the magazines taking great shots, but these were aided by teams of Photoshop experts spending days on each image to get it perfect.
There is also pages of useful Photoshop tips in the Techniques section of this site.
So my advise is to try your best with both and enjoy what ever comes out at the end.
I know it's not critique on your image... but my fingers are getting tired of typing
Trev
Hi Disee, I know exactly what you mean! 
I've been trying to learn to use those softwares as well, also to get a more 'professional feel' in my images and it hasn't been easy.. But I have found Lightroom to be A LOT more friendly than Photoshop.. So I would recommend to check it out.. Also I bought some Scot Kelby's books on that matter, I have learned a few useful things, but what have REALLY helped me (because of its simplicity) is this website:
http://mansurovs.com/
by a photography team called The Mansurovs. They have a lot of photography tutorials and tips that I have found more simply, useful and easy to remember than those of Scot Kelby and it has really helped me to improve a lot my digital photos!!
So don't feel like you have to limit yourself because Photoshop is so difficult to use and check that website (they have a lot of info about Photoshop as well) and if you have the opportunity I really recommend you to get Lightroom 3. It's amazing all you can do, from setting the right white balance and exposition to eliminating noise, applying graduated filters, and it's not that difficult to learn if you follow the tutorials on that website.
Keep on photographing whatever you want, because the most important thing that really sets apart great photographers is composition (they all started in B&W film, right?), the rest will come eventually!
Ahh I almost forgot, also it is very important that in order to apply changes in Photoshop or Lightroom to take your pictures in RAW rather than Jpeg, because RAW record a lot more information so you'll be able to change the white balance and exposition (over-expose o sub-expose) without loosing information or colors
For this particular picture you have uploaded here my suggestion would be to shoot from higher angle and include just teh grass as background. Roger and out.
I've taken landscapes like this, and in my mind they work better in monochrome, though other people often still think they are undramatic... but then, sometimes it's about symmetry.... Though the sky may not work in this one - hard to imagine....
Do what you like, and develop a thick skin! But listen to advice, too. You don't have to take it. Photoshop can give hours of fun, if you let it. But never publish until the next day at least - cos it may look good at 10pm after 4 hours on the computer, but it may not in the light of the next day.
Evening Dinah,
Believe me I know where your coming from, it seems so easy yet frustrating and I think i've pulled all my hair out. Dinah keep going simple adjustments will drop into place in no time, in the mod I have made only the slightest change to give it stronger feel as it looks a little soft. All i've done is to make a copy which we all do for processing and then turned it to B&W just one click then in the blend modes, you know, where things like "Soft light", "hard light" etc are I selected "overlay" and reduced the effect to 40% then flattened. This has given that rusty barbwire and post a darker and stronger feeling.
Dinah you have received some good advice above and mansurovs.com are a good site to learn from but I think you will benefit from video tutorials and there are some on EPZ. The thing with these are, as you watch them you can pause the video and make the adjustment you've just seen, if you don't get it right just go back, rewind and watch again. Although there are videos on EPZ I always use "youtube" you get a greater choice, in the search box at the top of youtube type in something like "How to change a sky in Elements or Photoshop or CS5 etc and you will get a choice of tutorials to watch.
If I can help just get in touch.
Take care
Martin
It's good to see you uploading again, I always enjoyed your pictures.
I think the editing side of your photography has been dealt with in great depth, Dinah.
I use PaintshopPro and have always been very happy with it.
As to this image of the fence post, I can see the attraction, and have several like this of my own. I have tried experimenting with shallow depth-of-field so that the wires and post are in focus, with the background blurred. It may be that you will get a lot of pleasure from trying things like this instead of getting overly bothered with editing. By the way, I look at some pictures on this site and am gobsmacked, but I have got past the desire to emulate other photographers. This should be a pleasurable hobby, and you should be enjoying it, and developing your OWN style. The more pictures you take, the better you will get.
There are several things you can get right in-camera, and if something intrusive needs cloning out, or your image needs a crop, sometimes that's ALL it needs. I hope you have found the Critique Gallery of help in this respect in the past, so keep on keeping on, you will get there.
I like this image, but would personally have gone in closer, concentrating on the fence post, the wires and the bits of grass that are going across it. Find an angle that excludes the trees and sky, as these will only act as distractions. You want as much detail as possible in the wood and it would be preferable to have your background blurred. You haven't given your Exif data for this shot, so it's difficult to advise you about the settings you used, or how you could have changed them.
Your colour, detail and exposure look fine. I have done a very simple modification that I feel sure you can emulate. I cropped to place the fence post in the left third and had to add some more sky and clone in the tops of the grasses in order to get about one third sky and two thirds grass on the vertical (see Rule Of Thirds). If you have a grid on your camera, you can use it to compose in this way at the time of shooting. I keep mine in view most of the time, as it also helps to get lines, horizons and buildings straight (the funny thing is that your fence almost looks like a grid). I then used Levels to adjust the colours and contrast (don't overdo this) and sharpened.
You say that you cropped the original, and I wonder if you had a bit more sky to play with, so that you don't have to add it like I did.
Pamela.
Wow, how do I thank you all enough for your amazing fast responses filled with all the advise you took time to give me. Thank you all so much, I did not expect it at all and am very grateful.
Thank you also for all your words of encouragement as well, Pamela I was most encouraged to read that you enjoyed my pictures, meant a lot. Thank you for the modification, it looks much better.
I will certainly go through all your comments and take advice. Some of the programs and books and video tutorials you have individually mentioned I have or have tried and will do what you all say...basically press on and keep on keeping on.
Thank you all again
Dinah (aka Disee)
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