"Houston, we have a problem"

#1

Hello,
I wanted to try myself in space art. I’ve chosen nice picture with couple reflections. I like difficult images with a lot of “problematic” light, to learn as much as I can.

   [img]http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-31/lores/iss031e123071.jpg[/img]
   
   This is my WIP so far. I'm pretty sure there are couple problems. I thought it will be a good idea to post it here since David for example has a lot of experience with planets while working on Start Craft :)
  
  I need to work on blending some areas/colors, need to figure out how to cover this big white reflection and create some story or leave it as it is. 
   
   [img]http://31.media.tumblr.com/a9ea857d076993ae498870bddb206843/tumblr_ms8wkhlqKM1qfj01go1_1280.jpg[/img]
  
  Cheers :)
  Jacek
#2

Hio Jacek,

When I was looking for reference for this scene for you, I came upon almost the exact same angle as your base plate above, but it seems it’s just a little cropped:

http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/great.lakes_.sunglint.jpg

But yeah the refletion on othe water is just too overexposed and bright, there’s no real interest in it. Instead, try to cover it up in detail, or add new texture…something like this:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0804/ISS007-E-10807_highres.jpg

or a smaller sun reflection while still seeing the texture on the ocean or clouds on the surface:

http://i.imgur.com/QQAxN.jpg

The sky extension and sun glare on the top right is nice, some cool film grain too. Also some of the black levels on the bottom extension and overall midtones are a little too dark, maybe gammaing that up a bit using the Curves tool for the middle of the curve. Good foreground and satellite object!

#3

Thank you David,

Trying to fix it all. I’m wondering if there is “enough” elements or maybe add another space station etc. or leave it as it is now?

#4

Next step. Fixed and painted a lot of small details and sunrays direction. I’m not sure if i went too far.

Cheers!

#5

Hey Jacek,

The effects you added help, and overall the image has a really nice feeling; I also like the extra cloud highlights you added at the bottom.

However, I too think the water is waaay to bright; That might be realistic in itself, but you should try to have the photo work for you, not the other other way around! Because of that bright highlight your eye is instantly drawn there, but at the same time there’s nothing to see there… I think you should either take advantage of this and place your subject in that area or remove it altogether (aka lower the brightness or paint another value)

#6

Hey Tiberius,

Thanks for your comment. I played with this reflection and tried to create a balance between lower part of the image.
In the projection I would like to create slight camera move from the bottom to the top with small rotation. Also space station will move a bit.

#7

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