Iron Bridge

[skagit]

Does the blown out sky ruin the image?

[Photography~girl~]

Umm, a little bit. It helps that it doesn't take up a lot of the shot, but it would be more stunning if the sky was blue...or not just a blown out white.
[:

[dana]

How do you take this shot w/o blowing out the sky? ND filter, polarizer?

[Pokie]

Split or graduated neutral density filter - clear on half and ND on the other.
This will leave the clear part as is and bring down the ND part by the number of stops the filter is.
They come in at least two different strengths.
But because the blown out area is mostly a circle and not a horizon, the line separating the clear from ND might be hard to hide as it goes through the trees.
I haven't done it, but you can combine multiple exposures, exposing for the highlights in one and darker areas in another.
Someone else will have to give instructions - I'm not even sure the Elements 4.0 that I'm running will do it.

FWIW - I find the half a rock in the bottom left a little distracting. I'd like to see all of it or none of it. I don't know if that vantage point was possible.

I do like the saturated colors and texture of the water and the overall feel of the photo. The blown out sky is the main issue.

Pokie

[dana]

I see the problem using GND. I don't like to do much PP but I guess this is the best way for this composition other than taking the shot in different conditions.

[bob_r]

You could try adding some color to the sky. Hope you don't mind, but I edited your image. I used the "magic wand" tool to capture the sky and then used the paint bucket to replace the color. I then lightened the color so it wouldn't draw attention away from the trees, bridge or stream. This was the result.

If you want me to delete this image or post, let me know and I will remove it.

[skagit]

Thanks for the critique and suggestions.

I will try the "magic wand" trick and see how I do.

Does anyone know how to do a composite photo using elements 6?