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alastair27 · Joined: 24 Aug 2010 Posts: 218

Have been getting a lot of these rejections, can understand the poor lighting but not so sure about the noise and where to look for it. Often think I have been oversharpening! Also in the past have got rejections for shooting architecture straight on rather than at an angle.

Anyway have reworked the photo lessening the sharpening and replacing the sky, however the building still looks as if it was taken under an overcast sky.

Looking at it on the forum, both look totally OOF

alastair27 · Joined: 24 Aug 2010 Posts: 218

this is the reworked version - again OOF

mscates176 · Joined: 10 Feb 2011 Posts: 77

A good place to look for noise is in any dark areas of an image.

semmickphoto · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:50 am

first one has more contrast and looks better to me, i like the sky better in 2nd

nadger · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 259 Location: God only knows

Are you putting the images through HDR processes?

hhltdave5 · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 7:03 am

The reworked version looks over exposed. I think one of your problems is that you are mucking around too much with post processing.

My first question is why are you doing all the sharpening? If you shot it in RAW then it can be of a help to do a tiny amount but I hope you are not doing it to try and get the shot in better focus because that is not going to happen.

Sharpening does not make an image sharper it just gives the illusion that it is. Also too much processing can create artifacts.

As mentioned noise is easily found in dark areas or often in places such as the sky.

alastair27 · Joined: 24 Aug 2010 Posts: 218

have always done a little bit of sharpening, maybe a bad habit I've got into but have got away with it until recently.
Now trying to do only 20% sharp smartening and use manual focusing.

The first one did use HDR processing in Photomatrix to give the sky more impact. The original, as seen below, was dull as dishwater and therefore in need of a little post-processing

semmickphoto · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 9:21 am

HDR processing in Photomatix tends to create noisy photos. Sometime a lot of noise.

semmickphoto · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 9:28 am

Simple adjustments in LR

Exposure, Clarity, vibrancy and contrast

nadger · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 259 Location: God only knows

fotomak · Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 984

Your problem is in the lack of balance between the clouds and the building ( front ). You need more light in the front, and this will wash out the clouds. I would replace the clouds with blue sky which nicely complements the building and the path. You can do this or if you have a chance go back and shoot at different light conditions.

rinder99 · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 12:16 pm

+1000 Nice job.

fotomak · Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 984

Thank you sir :)

semmickphoto · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 12:32 pm

There's floating leaves now

fotomak · Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 984

It was just a quick fix to serve as an example.