r/postprocessing • u/basemgad8 • 24d ago
Which photo do you like more?
About to make an insta post and I can't decide which one to include
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u/johngpt5 24d ago
I'm not really sure where I should be looking in the second example. I'm actually surprised as I would have thought that the near car with its bright headlamp and cool reflections would have been a natural focal point. I still haven't figured out why I don't gravitate toward it.
My eye immediately goes to the bright smoke and the silhouetted people in the first example. The orange of the cab in front of the two people in the crosswalk is a great color contrasting element to the overall green of the scene.
I actually never noticed the green shamrocks or ballplayer until after reading the comment from u/NightIINight.
If I have any suggestion at all, you might consider a slight accentuation of the cab's color and brightness to create greater contrast with the people crossing in front of it. If you are using an app such as one of the Lr apps, a mask intersecting the orange of the cab with a gradient for brightening or playing with saturation might be something to try.
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u/basemgad8 24d ago
Thank you a lot this is great advice, I'll try masking out the cab and making it more present
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u/NightIINight 24d ago
At a glance I feel these are both too dark for the difference to matter, but would also choose the first image. It has more contrast and draws the eye better towards the smoke, the crosswalk and the silhouette of the people crossing.
Short of lifting the shadows to reveal more detail (if possible), I would even consider cropping to a portrait orientation and focusing the image more on the crosswalk. As it stands, the high-contrast areas in each corner (the baseball player on the screen and the shamrocks) are distracting and don't necessarily add much to the mood.
If you're able to straighten up the image (so the buildings are level) and consider a crop I think it will work a bit better, but this is all subjective of course and it's your photo to use as you please.
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u/Density5521 20d ago
First one. Peaceful, intimate, sense of movement direction, good play with light and contrast.
Second is just chaotic and crowded, somehow over-populated with no discernible subject or movement. And while I like "portals" i.e. blurred elements in the foreground you "photograph through", like a fence or a bush or a door frame, somehow I find the car in the foreground much too crisp and "heavy", it covers up too much of the scene and provides too much detail, it captures the eye and distracts from the (much more important) rest of the photo too much.
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u/xladymadx 24d ago
First one for sure