pdwoodswood Loc: Lewisville, NC

Very nice garden and yard....it has been a lot of work and the results are worth the effort.
I would like to see the blown out field in Black Eyed Susans. At least to me that would be beautiful. Other than post processing, good advice is offered for your current camera...........time to upgrade

robert-photos Loc: Chicago

A graduated ND is fine if you have a defined horizon. Unfortunately this is not the case.

dspoon2 Loc: Rockwall TX

I like what mommy115 did (grew a field)...this can be done using the cloning tool in PSE9...I've managed to save several images with that tool...if you get PSE I also recommend getting ther photoshop elements book by Scott Kelby

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

The logical solution to this is to shoot the scene at another time of day where there is less of a contrast difference between the two areas. There is so much being made of correcting blown out areas when the solution is to just take the picture with better lighting. HDR is very overrated and when you do a photoshop drop in it looks like it. Dont waste your time with photoshop tricks and HDR, become a better image maker in the first place.

boncrayon

Great crop work!

NIGHTHAWK Loc: Virginia

Well said Silver,It seems some are more interested
in the software than photography.go out and take
a so so picture and come back home,put it on the
computer go to your software and make a fine art
photograph out of it,if they would spend more time
learning photography than learning the software. to
read some of the post they know more about soft-
ware than they know about photography.do your
thing and the photographers will do our thing.
Nighthawk

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

Becoming a good image maker is much more important then becoming an image doctor. People are in such a hurry these days. Slow down and really look at what you are doing. Learn how to visualize and really see what is in the viewfinder. Also learn how to see the light.

NIGHTHAWK Loc: Virginia

You got it Silver, could not agree with you more. I signed
up to look at some of the photography some post and
some are good work but the more I look and the more
I read the comments the more it seems they are hung
up on software and manipulate the photos they take.
I wonder if when they sign the photo If they put
photo by joe blow and photoshop ©.oh well that's
the way it is. have a good photo shoot Silver. Night
hawk

boncrayon

PhotoShop is my graphics preference over other programs, but I still think a "click" is worth a thousand words if it is reality at its best. Though touch-ups are a skill, it becomes a "plastic" approach to Ansel Adams' catch the moment. Real, with technology makes the serious photographer the Master!

CAM1017 Loc: Chiloquin, Oregon

If you were to put the file in an editing program like iPhoto or Elements you should be able to bring out detail in the washed out garden area by using the light adjusting slider and possibly on the Histogram moving the right hand side back to 80%. This should bring out detail in the area you are concerned about.
You have a beautiful garden!

NIGHTHAWK Loc: Virginia

Right on Boncrayon you got it right.Nighthawk

George H Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Well, I am glad you think Ansel Adams did it in his photo, not the case. The mans darkroom skills are what made him, not just the photo.

OnTheFly Loc: Tennessee

Hey Nighthawk. I have to agree with what you're saying. I got into photography with a Minolta film SLR before the time of digital editing. When I started noticing all the photos in magazines were being edited I started getting frustrated to the point I got out of the hobby. As you mentioned earlier, we do need to learn to take the photo right and then we don't have to edit it.
However, there have been times that I was glad I could edit. If it happened to be a once in a life time shot that I knew I wouldn't get another chance at but maybe there was something in the photo like a stand-up ash tray(cigarett receptical) in front of a beautiful old mill in a national park. I could take this out with photoshop. This would just be one example.
I guess I have accepted that slight tweaking is O.K. in my book under certain situations. But, if it is something in your back yard that you could restage I vote to restage the shot. We do need to remember, however, that our cameras do a lot of this tweaking for us. I don't guess there is a difference between adjusting white balance in camera and adjusting it with photoshop.
What's your thoughts on this. And should we start another thread on this. It might be interesting.

CocoaRoger Loc: Cocoa Florida

Developing a film negative often is tweaked to bring out what the photographer wanted. That's why so many developed their own photos. Now, we use some form of RAW file for tweaking. Pretty much all professional photos have been worked one way or another.

brokeweb Loc: Philadelphia

THANK GOD FOR DIGITAL! I used to dread putting the film into those developing tanks. You had to, in complete darkness, roll the undeveloped film into that little tank perfectly. I ruined many a roll of film doing that.