[nelliestew]

Comments welcome - tried out the conversion software a bit more today - I know its not perfect - but some more input is very much welcomed!
Nellie

[Chilliman]

Probably my monitor, it's just a tad dark, probably because you used a slow shutter speed hence the smooth effect on the water which is very nice. If it could be rightened up a little would be good for me. Nicely composed scene, Raw certainly is worth it to get that bit more out of a pic.

[Larne]

I would boost the saturation a bit to give the colours a bit more punch. Also think about increasing the brightness a little and maybe the contrast. Need to watch those yellow flowers though, and the white on the water as I reckon they could start to burn out.

I like the composition - just a bit lighter and boosted colours and I think you have a really good image.

I do all my work from RAW files using Elements so happy to swap tips / experiences anytime.

[nelliestew]

Cheers both! I'll have another go at lightening it and also the saturation
I found the use of elements RAW before importing into elements 6 much less fddly with more effective results. I had a real go with this first time last night - previously had jusyt gone into elements 6 first.
I'll put the next one into critique that I did, as Roger prefers it ....
Nellie

[WOODY]

IT'S LOOKING GOOD NELLIE, NOT MUCH WRONG WITH THIS, THAT A BIT MORE TWEAKING WON'T CURE. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

[nelliestew]

Cheers Woody
I'll have another go
Nellie

[silkstone]

Have a play but don't overdo it, Nellie. As it stands the pic is probably not too far off what you saw. It wasn't a bright sunny day and the colours wouldn't have been very intense. It's the sort of photo where too much adjustment could make it look false.

[nelliestew]

Thanks for your help silkstone - i did play around with the shot and it didn't 'tweak' well enough to make any positive difference. As predicted, the definition on the gorse and water was lost.
Thanks for everyone's comments - its very encouraging to have viewpoints and guidance.

Nellie

[Rob Barron]

I love the composition here, it all flows (forgive the pun!) very nicely

I have made an adjustment to show you what can be done without touching any of the lighting or saturation but merely using the layers and blending modes. Just so you know how I got to this result, I'll detail the steps I used here:

1. Copied the layer twice (Ctrl+J x2)
2. Select top layer and change blending mode to Color Dodge. The result will look too strong!
3. Reduce the opacity of the top layer: I used 40% here.
4. Combine the top two layers: select top layer and press Ctrl+E.

You will now have punchier colours but it will be less sharp. Don't just reach for the USM though...

5. Copy top layer again (Ctrl+J). Apply High Pass filter (I am assuming Elements has this, it is in most versions of PS). Move the slider all way to left and then move it the right just enough to start seeing detail.
6. Change blending mode on top layer to 'Soft Light'. Again, you will want to reduce the opacity to stop it being over sharp. I again used 40%.

Combine the top two layers again (Ctrl+E). If you want to see the differnece, just switch off the top layer and the original picture will still be there as the bottom layer. You can switch it on and off to get a good comparison. If you think it is still a touch dark, just push it up GENTLY with the Curves tool or the mid-point adjuster in the Levels tool.

I hope you find that understandable and helpful.

Cheers,
Rob