[ralph]

Took this on the weekend havent done anything to the image what do you think?

[Rob Barron]

Good idea. I'd prefer the boy to be a bit to the left, right into the glare section so that the silhouette would have been sharper and there would be less burnout in that area. Also it would decentralise him and give him an area to look into.

I think I would crop some of the left in order to move the boy away from the centre as he is cutting the image in half. There could still be a good image in there.

Cheers,
Rob

[ralph]

Thanks Rob for the comments only had a split second to capture it before my son ran off again back to splashing in the rock pools. The original image is pin sharp i have lost quite a bit of detail reducing for posting for some reason! will try cropping the left a bit and have a look!

[Charlotte]

Hope you don't mind Ralph, had a go with this ...



Did some levels adjustments to enhance contrast. Cloned out burnt highlights. Brushed in some golden colour. Added light effect to simulate setting sun shining on sea above the figure (to fall in line with the direction of his shadow). Sharpened, dodged + burned, to bring out texture. Dodged, burned, painted + cloned to even out the lighting in front of + behind the figure. Wish I spent as much time on my own images But I liked your image so much, had to see what I could do to bring it to life (hope I succeeded in doing that), + it's one of those fix-me-ups that you can only see what's to be done as you're working on it, not just a simple "do this, do that, + there ya go" Looking at it after uploading here, it looks over-sharpened, but I ain't re-doing it Anyway, it's not perfect + maybe a bit OTT, but had to show you my effort

[Dabhand16]

I think you have done a top job Charlotte

My only comment, (not aimed at your work on the picture) would be the subject is a little too central, and I'd crop a bit from the LHS but that is an easy fix (if wanted).

[Charlotte]

Thank you Graham

[ralph]

Many thanks charlotte for your effort, looks amazing!We all seem to spend ages playing with other people's images but i find it's a really helpful learning curve when you can see other people's results and interpretations and it hopefully makes us all better photographers! Many thanks also to dabhand and rob for your suggestions tried a few suggestions and had another go myself! Mainly cutting and pasting then blending into the shot hope you all like it!

[Charlotte]

Hi Ralph, you've re-placed your son nicely in the path of the highlights, now all you need to do in that regard is increase overall contrast to make it a stronger silhouette effect, as tonally it's a bit flat - low contrast - except for the blown highlights, which still need toning down.

Re: composition, you've placed him nicely on the third, which I think definitely works better here.

You have changed a coupla things that I would've left as they were, namely (1) cropping some off the bottom, + (2) removing the rock + also the pebble at the LHS. I think these elements are quite important for balancing the composition: The shadow + footsteps in the foreground, as well as the rock + the pebble all added interest + texture to the image, + they also served to balance the tonal distribution in the image.

This is a lovely image, which I think could be a great image, with a these changes

[Rob Barron]

The work done by Charlotte and by you Ralph is showing that there really is a great image in there so well done

Cheers,
Rob