Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

A once-in-a-lifetime shot of relatives traveling with us in Austria. When cropping across bodies, would a crop below the hands or above the hands be "standard"?

Austrian Castle

(Download)

tsilva Loc: Arizona

Whichever you prefer to tell your "story" - general "rules" don't crop at joints, don't cut chins (tops of head are ok, try not to crop limbs going out of frame and coming back in. don't crop fingers or feet.

I am sure there are others but my mind is fading at the moment.

I think if you had shot this from a little lower perspective you could have used the castle as more of a "backdrop", and some fill flash would have helped with the shadows on his face.

Nice shot, it will be one for the family annuals. :-)

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

Thank you!

DrWilk Loc: .

I agree with tsilva, if shot from lower perspective the castle would have been a stunning backdrop. But a very nice shot for your album.

This looks like Hochosterwitz?

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

Thanks, and right you are! We take fellow vacationers there from time to time. I take it that you have explored the area and castle, as well?

mper812 Loc: Atlanta GA area

This is a wonderful shot and will evoke memories for years to come. AS to cropping, it is always a personal preference as to your own vision of what you want to achieve. I have attached a crop suggestion for your consideration and I lightened up his face a bit. Of course this is just a suggestion and I hope you do not mind.

Austrian Castle crop

(Download)

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

Thanks, and I don't mind. I'll go back and recrop and lighten shadows some more.

mper812 Loc: Atlanta GA area

Or you could download mine to your computer if you wish. I also intensified the clarity and colors just a bit as well

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

I have my original raws at hand, thanks.

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

Here's my latest crop, to minimize the field dirt, and even more shadow lightening. The crop also, I think, puts the castle more into the photo.

Thanks again for the comments and offer.

Austrian Castle

(Download)

tsilva Loc: Arizona

I like the crop on this better Fred. Well done!

It could still use a little "pop". Perhaps more contrast/clarity.

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

I see what you mean, and value the input and effort, but that pop wasn't there at the time, which raises another PP question that may have no answer...how much recovery, etc., how much artistic license, is sufficient to recreate the scene? I ask, because some with good memories and color vision prefer their original recall (yet favoring some pop).

Always something to think about.

tsilva Loc: Arizona

Well Fred, welcome to the world of "The Great Debate". You will get as many different answers as there are people. I will attempt to give you a glimpse of my viewpoint.

First, I belong to the camp that believes a Photographer makes a great photo based on the view on his mind. Now I will contradict myself by saying I try to get the best photo I can in camera and then use post processing to enhance my shot, NOT correct the errors I made in capture.

So where does this lead us to regarding your shot? A great photo (and bad ones too) all start with one thing - LIGHT.

Your shot begins with a strike against it which I believe you had little to no control over. The time of day. You just didn't have great light to start with. Preferably you want to shoot early morning or twilight times. Overcast days can work nicely too in bringing colors out.

Ok, so we couldn't shoot at a good time, so what can we do now? I don't know what you use for processing; I use Lightroom/Photoshop so I will use them for reference.

Take your raw file and set the white and black points. Next decrease the highlights a bit to get some detail in the clouds. Increase the shadows to brighten his face a tad more.

Add clarity to give the sky a deeper blue and make the clouds pop a little. Add a touch of saturation to help offset the harsh light. Next throw a bit of sharpening in the mix to flavor. Finally crop some more off the top. Finis.

In my workflow I would have also applied lens corrections, chromatic aberration correction, a color profile for my camera and finally used Topaz Effects Photo Pop (basically clarity on steroids)

As usual it doesn't matter what I would do or like. Ultimately it is your photo and you are the one that must be happy with it.

Best wishes to you and good light!

ringo Loc: australia

I like what you have done with this one too,,,regards ringo

mper812 Loc: Atlanta GA area

On my crop which I sent to you I slightly increased vibrancy and clarity, both of which you can easily do in Camera raw or Lightroom. In my crop I did these adjustments to set up more color contrast and making the sky a bit more blue. The fun of working with Raw images is that you have literally thousand of tweaks you can to to bring out the best in your photo with out them looking over-processed.