A Colorful Mishmash

[RSL]

It looks oversharpened to me. I went back to the original, which is roughly 20 x 31 inches at 240ppi and reduced it without any sharpening. Still looks crunchy. There doesn't seem to be any way to shrink and convert to jpeg without this result.

[petermfiore]

Looks like a great spot to make a painting. The eye and hand will find the subject in this one.


peter

[RSL]

Right, Peter. If I were a painter I'd be there this morning with an easel. This kind of thing defies a camera, but it's a natural for brush and canvas.

[Rob C]

Right, Peter. If I were a painter I'd be there this morning with an easel. This kind of thing defies a camera, but it's a natural for brush and canvas.

Okay; where is Stephen King?

Rob C

[walter.sk]

Beautiful scene!  I think it really works.  As for the impression of oversharpening, could the Clarity slider be the cause?  It looks like the kind of local contrast that Clarity can be so good at.  You might even try reducing clarity a bit, and even doing it with the adjustment brush in LR, selectively.

I also think that the feeling of the scene could be brought out even more by subtley burning in the darker areas, which would bring out the variations in lighting.  Great picture!

[RSL]

Thanks, Walter. Great ideas. I went back to the original and pulled clarity down to -18. It definitely gets rid of the crunchiness, though I lose sharpness in the moss. On balance, though, I think it's a real improvement. I also did a bit of burning per your suggestion. I think that helps too. My problem with the shot is that it doesn't seem to have a precise focal point. On the other hand, if I were hanging it in my living room I'm not sure that would matter.

[walter.sk]

Thanks, Walter. Great ideas. I went back to the original and pulled clarity down to -18. It definitely gets rid of the crunchiness, though I lose sharpness in the moss.

If you choose the Adjustment Brush in LR or ACR and add a moderate feather to it, you can set it for a reduction in clarity and just brush it over the areas that you don't want to soften.  If you haven't tried this technique yet, it's the next best thing to using layers and masking.  It really works.

[RSL]

Yeah, I've done that in the past. Thing here is that I've already made a print. The problems all popped up in making a jpeg copy for web posting. The print was easy.

[Dale Villeponteaux]

Thanks, Walter. Great ideas. I went back to the original and pulled clarity down to -18. It definitely gets rid of the crunchiness, though I lose sharpness in the moss. On balance, though, I think it's a real improvement. I also did a bit of burning per your suggestion. I think that helps too. My problem with the shot is that it doesn't seem to have a precise focal point. On the other hand, if I were hanging it in my living room I'm not sure that would matter.

A gator always makes a nice focal point. 

Regards,
Dale

[RSL]

Believe it or not, Dale, there are plenty of gators already in the Palatlakaha. Just didn't happen to have one in sight at the time.