Eye in the Sky

[firsty]

From todays balloon launch at Parramatta
I just wish the second balloon had not been there and I don't think my PPing skills are up to cloning it out

not many keepers today

[Yi-P]

That is a great eye!!

Very nice colours and contrasts!!


About cloning, just select the larger balloon's edge and around the 2nd balloon with a lasso too (magnetic lasso will do fine here), apply a 5px feathered selection, then clone the smaller balloon out of the way, you will then have a perfect clone without worrying about the edges.

[firsty]

thanks Yi-P
its no so much the selection, but finding the right back ground gradient/area to clone in so it will match up with the rest of the background

[iposiniditos]

Wonderful photo.
I totally agree with Yi-P about the colours and contrast.

[Stargazer]

Wow! Great shot.

I gather the sun is hiding just behind the balloon?

[wendellt]

that is so vivid
great angle too

[Yi-P]

thanks Yi-P
its no so much the selection, but finding the right back ground gradient/area to clone in so it will match up with the rest of the background

Healing brush is your friend here

Clone and then use the healing brush at large diameter with very soft edges, will do the job pretty well in most cases.

[fishafotos]

Beautiful. not too much saturation here, it looks just right, great colors and contrast in it. Did you use a polariser??

[firsty]

thanks for the comments guys
this effect is from using Adobes new lightroom beta
the plan was to crop the balloon out with no sky (it was very flat and dull) for an abstract geometrical image
but I have found a number of presets for lightroom... a few different B&W, sepia, velvia, high contrast, HDR, selenium, split tones, etc. that I can use as starting points.
you can hover the mouse over the list and it gives a quick preview in a thumb nail, one of the velvia presets has very strong vignetting added and the photo just popped when I hovered over it. then it was just a matter of playing with the sliders to get the light right.
I only exported it as 640x428 jpeg as I didn't plan on any further editing other than sharpening and adding the border in PS2 but ended up dodging the white part of the balloon a little to give it a little more luminance. If I was to re-edit this I would try to bring out some of the detail in the bottom of the basket as the pure black square annoys me a little

[marcotrov]

Vibrant colours and great perspective Keith. Interesting features you have used well on Beta Lightroom. As for the black rectangle, I see what you mean. Pity someone hasn't come up with the idea of the base of the basket as advertising space.
cheers
marco

[beetleboy]

Hope ya don't mind..



Made a path around the edge of the balloon and cloned from right and left. Healing brush isn't so useful with edges like this cos it often picks up colours from the selected area. The trick is to use the stamp at 40-50% opacity to smooth things out a little!

Lemme know if it wasn't cool to mess with your image and i'll take it down

[Onyx]

It's a great shot and I don't find the second ballon intrusive at all. In fact, you could clone in several more ballons scattered around the sky!!

[stubbsy]

Keith

This is a great image. I had to look a few times before I even saw the second balloon after reading your comment on it. I'd not bother to clone it out. It's fine just how it is.

[firsty]

Beetleboy you have done a great job with the cloning
at this stage I will leave it in but if someone wants to buy the image less the second balloon I'll give it a try

[radar]

Firsty,

I'm sure Rengain Consulting would!!

Great image, well caught.

Cheers,

André

[colin_12]

Nice light Kieth. It would be nice to see a little more in the bottom of the basket as you have said.
Regards Colin