Lesson Two

[mikemeister_admin]

Muddled through with these .. couldn't seem to get more detail in the skull without messing up the rest and couldn't get more blue in the sky without making the rest darker than I wanted .. anyway ... here we go ...Abby

[ggroess]

Let's take these on 1 at a time...

Image 1:  I want you to read the posting linked below.

http://www.curvemeister.com/forum/index.php?topic=894.0

This should help you get a bit closer tot he expected results. 
Fear not...you can do this...it does get easier...
For what it's worth these are pretty tough images but they are tough for a reason...

Greg

[ggroess]

Abby,

Image 2 has a problem...The color cast shown in the print screen could use a bit of help. 
Keep in mind this idea when you revisit this one:

Neutral does not need to be Grey...White and Black are great neutrals. 
You can set one on a white part of the boats and see if the image snaps into a different tone.  The image is also undersaturated.  See if you can kick that up a bit

Greg

[ggroess]

Abby,

Image 3:

Mike may call me crazy, but I think the shadow detail is important to this image.  He likes the contrast and the deeper shadows.    I like to be able to see into the dark places a bit to see some of the often hidden details. 

From the image you posted try making a change like the curve I posted and see if you can bring the shadow details up a bit...Maybe somewhere in between where you currently are and where I went... 

The key to this specific curve is to set marks along the curve in at least three places below where you are going to adjust so that the curvee does not twist around your adjustment and throw the rest of the image out of control.  Because of your previous adjustments I lowered the Shadow levels by dragging the curve down from the corner.

If you use lab you can finish by kicking the saturation slider up a bit.

Greg

[ggroess]

Abby,

And finally Image 4:

You have a good neutral and good contrast across the image.  Try revisiting the highlight and see if there is a better place for it.  some of the detail in the head of the moth is lost. 

You might also kick the saturation up just a bit...the image can handle it quite well.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Thanks Greg .. I'll see if I can get to it!  ..Abby