[doroth2]

I took this picture over the holidays some fog rolling in over the Mississippi at sunset. I am generally happy with the colors, but could use editing suggestions for how it could be improved. I am using Lightroom only. I would love for the fog to be more obvious, for one. And the boat. I have no clue how to do this. Any other suggestions on how to improve this shot would be appreciated.

Thank you!
Dorothy

[Bruce Clark]

Lovely photo, with so much potential.

Using Lightroom only this is what I did and how. Bear in mind that LR has many ways of achieving the same result. The techniques I use may seem not suit you. The result I get may not be to your preferences. But hey that's half the fun.

Cropping. I kept the same ratio but set the sun and water line to be at approximately 1/3's. Classic composition rule. I was tempted to turn it into a pano but resisted for the moment.


Whiite balance. Left alone

Tone. This is where the fun starts
Exposure. No change
Contrast +12
Highlights -100
Shadows +100
Whites +24 (Holding Alt key until pixels just start to appear then back off a bit)
Blacks -90 (Holding Alt key until pixels start to appear. The adjust for preference. I usually go a bit darker.)



Adjustment Brush. I used two adjustment brushes. One to darken some of the darker areas, brushing over dark patches on clouds and water. One to lighten and increase saturation on some of the lighter areas of cloud and water.

Vignette. -7

That is my take on your excellent photo and briefly the techniques I use. I hope this is some assistance but the key is to understand there is no single correct way and personal preferences may lead one on an entirely different path. I heard a wonderful saying the other day. "The opposite of a fact is an untruth. The opposite of an incontrovertible truth may well be another incontrovertible truth". Quite appropriate I feel to photo editing.

Good luck in your processing and Please post some results.

[caliscouser]

I love the colors and softness and the gentle calm mood and would want to maintain this.

If I was editing this I would use a soft touch.
- Tighten the crop a touch to emphasize more of the fog.
- negative clarity to soften and calm the water in the foreground
- small adjustment brush or radial filters with postive exposure to pick out some of the shoreline detail on the horizon.
- gentle graduated filters with negative exposure to close out the shot at the top and bottom and keep the viewers eye in the middle of the frame.
- keep the gentle colors and tonality and resist the temptation to push saturation, contrast and clarity.

I hope you'll post your results!

[Kerrowdown]

There's so much here in this image you could change if you wanted to, here's my take all done on Lightroom.

Graduated filters both top and bottom, add haze with the dehaze filter and remove haze with adjustment brush on horizon, usual tone tweaks and bring up the colours and add a bit of contrast.

Attached Images

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[doroth2]

Thanks to all of you! I love the suggestions. I haven't gotten back to the computer to give it another go yet. 2 little kids don't like me focusing on anything other than them. I will definitely post my next attempt when I get it done.

Kerrowdown, I don't have a dehaze filter as I'm using a stand alone copy of LR 6, not the creative cloud. Unless it's there and I just can't find it.

[Kerrowdown]

I don't have a dehaze filter as I'm using a stand alone copy of LR 6

Your right, the dehaze filter came in as part of Lightroom CC.

[doroth2]

So, I worked on this a bit. Followed some suggestions, though not all. I am very new to editing and am really playing around with a lot of the tools. I'm not sure if I like this version better or worse, but here it is:



I think I prefer the colors and lightness of the previous edit, though I was able to bring out the fog a bit in this one. Any and all critique is welcome.

[Bruce Clark]

So, I worked on this a bit. Followed some suggestions, though not all. I am very new to editing and am really playing around with a lot of the tools. I'm not sure if I like this version better or worse, but here it is:



I think I prefer the colors and lightness of the previous edit, though I was able to bring out the fog a bit in this one. Any and all critique is welcome.

I think you have done very well in capturing your intention of enhancing the fog.. Certainly better than my effort. As you no doubt realise editing is a very personal affair and has ultimately to follow your own personal tastes. After all you were the person on site and only you know your own interpretation of the scene. It is good that you sought advise and then made your own choices. This is what it is all about.

All the best and we hope to see more of your work.

[mee]

There are so many ways to go with this photo. And, of those ways, only I can show you *my* way... which understandably might not be *your* way. Processing is so subjective.

With that in mind. I edited your image in the free Google Nik Collection plugins (that work inside Lightroom).

Using Viveza (for Structure, mostly in the clouds selected through individual control points), Color effex pro (The 'Pro Contrast' sub module to 'correct' the color cast as well as add a bit of drama overall and 'Darken / Lighten Center' submodule to create a subtle vignette with the sun as the target point), and a little HDR Efex Pro with some subtle work mostly in the graduated filters section to darken the sky a little and brighten the water area.

Even if you dislike my treatment, I'd strongly recommend you download the Nik Collection and play with them. Especially Color Efex Pro and Viveza plugins in the collection. They are great for landscapes.

[doroth2]

There are so many ways to go with this photo. And, of those ways, only I can show you *my* way... which understandably might not be *your* way. Processing is so subjective.

With that in mind. I edited your image in the free Google Nik Collection plugins (that work inside Lightroom).

Using Viveza (for Structure, mostly in the clouds selected through individual control points), Color effex pro (The 'Pro Contrast' sub module to 'correct' the color cast as well as add a bit of drama overall and 'Darken / Lighten Center' submodule to create a subtle vignette with the sun as the target point), and a little HDR Efex Pro with some subtle work mostly in the graduated filters section to darken the sky a little and brighten the water area.

Even if you dislike my treatment, I'd strongly recommend you download the Nik Collection and play with them. Especially Color Efex Pro and Viveza plugins in the collection. They are great for landscapes.

I like your edit, mee, especially the clouds. I'm reluctant to download another editing program at this point, even a free one. I'm just getting to really understand Lightroom and I'm a little nervous trying something else. That said, I am a bit curious. Not sure my 2007 MacBook could handle it though. It can barely handle Lightroom.




---------- Post added 02-16-17 at 03:01 AM ----------

Ok, I feel dumb. I didn't realize the Nik software was just a plugin. Just downloaded and installed. Thanks for the tip!

[madphys]

Hi! Nice shot but still I have some comments if you are interested.
The evening is when things get tricky - the exposure meter on the camera does not know weather it is evening, morning, midday or midnight - all it wants to do is to "properly" expose. And I think this is exactly what has happened here. Does the original shot looks similar to what you were experiencing in person with your eyes? I suspect not - it is all quite greyish - and the mood is probably quite different as was in person! In such case it is advisable to switch to manual mode or to at least dial in some minus exposure compensation. It will improve the mood of the shot and save some potential trouble in post-processing. Of course - in modern era you can post process almost everything - but if you are unlucky enough and the parts of a bright sky are saturated (overexposed) then it won't be possible to save them.
Second thing - If you want to put emphasis on the fog, then you should have used a considerably longer focal length lens - that would have really brought out the fog and the sun playing with it.
I allowed myself to do a very quick tweaking with the adobe camera raw and you can see how it turned out. I wanted to show, that in a tighter crop the fog is more obvious. I maybe overshot a bit and it turned out too dark, but I hope you will see the general idea.

[doroth2]

Hi! Nice shot but still I have some comments if you are interested.

The evening is when things get tricky - the exposure meter on the camera does not know weather it is evening, morning, midday or midnight - all it wants to do is to "properly" expose. And I think this is exactly what has happened here. Does the original shot looks similar to what you were experiencing in person with your eyes? I suspect not - it is all quite greyish - and the mood is probably quite different as was in person! In such case it is advisable to switch to manual mode or to at least dial in some minus exposure compensation. It will improve the mood of the shot and save some potential trouble in post-processing. Of course - in modern era you can post process almost everything - but if you are unlucky enough and the parts of a bright sky are saturated (overexposed) then it won't be possible to save them.

Second thing - If you want to put emphasis on the fog, then you should have used a considerably longer focal length lens - that would have really brought out the fog and the sun playing with it.

I allowed myself to do a very quick tweaking with the adobe camera raw and you can see how it turned out. I wanted to show, that in a tighter crop the fog is more obvious. I maybe overshot a bit and it turned out too dark, but I hope you will see the general idea.

Thanks madphys. I like you version too, and appreciate your comments. The 35mm was unfortunately the only lens I had with me when I shot this. And you're right, it did look a bit different in person, though not much. It was a beautiful day. I may play around with this a bit more and see what I can come up with. I'm not entirely satisfied with my edit.

[NS_Sailor]

I applied the following simple technique that I use to enhance shots like this with Photoshop Elements and got these results. I expect you can do the same with Light Room even though the menu tabs may be named differently
In Expert Mode and Layers Tab Visible
From the Layers Menu
Select New and Layer via Copy or Ctrl+J
From Filters Menu
Select Blur and Gaussian Blur
Set the level of Gaussian Blur to 8 and save
Under Enhance Menu
Select Adjust Color and then Hue & Saturation Ctrl+U
Under the Master Tab
Adjust the Saturation Slider Level to between 40 and 50 (I used 48)
Adjust Lighting Slider level to between -10 & -20 and Save (I used -15)
In the Layers Tab
Reset the Layer Blending Mode from Normal to Color
Merge the Layers back together or select Flatten Image