Post-Processing Challenge / Win a Lens

[Ginner]

Hello...first I would like to say that this is a great thread - thank you to the OP for starting it.

I was once told by a fellow photography enthusiast that he really loves to shoot clouds...at the time I thought he was nuts. Having recently moved to Kelowna, BC from Toronto, ON I now see what he is talking about. So, at least for the time being, I am a cloud nut, as well.

Therefore, for me, and right now, the focus on the photos submitted would be about the drama in the clouds and so I chose the first photo to work with.

I do not do a lot of PP - simple stuff, really. A little Silver Efex Pro 2 or HDR Efex Pro 2 if I really want to get into it; otherwise I am still using iPhoto and Aperture (I am still new to this). Here are my submission - one in colour and one in B&W.

B&W - Silver Efex Pro 2 - High Structure - Harsh
Colour - HDR Efex Pro 2 - Deep 1

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150755225@N05/shares/03hm0d

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150755225@N05/shares/t4CKF5

 

[asimplefarmer]

Some may or may not like the way I edit, but you shot it really well. The tiff had tons of info in it.

I used only lightroom to raise the blacks, and I used the gradient tool on the sky for drama and left side of the image to brighten it. I desaturated blues to make it cleaner looking.

here is the full res link: here

 

[mich rassena]

Here's an attempt at another of the images. I think it's more appropriate this time to go for lower contrast, so everything is processed to be a bit smoother, no harsh shadows. Added some warmth to the sky with adjustment brushes. Pulled up the shadows and brightness in the foreground. Pulled up the shadows a bit more on the bare tree in the foreground. And opened up the shadows on the distance hills and ridges from left to center. All-in-all, there's not a whole lot that needed to be done in post compared to the other image. In retrospect, I think I was too heavy handed on that image. Instead, I tried to keep things smooth, didn't add any clarity. I did lean a bit more on the saturation, because it seemed a bit dull without the added color.

Also I almost forgot, I burned in some of the darker clouds. There's a lot going on in the sky. The hanging cloud over the ridge needed more definition. It's a nice echo of the shape of the ridge. Also on the right, where the clouds obscure the sun, I darkened the top of the cloud to make it seem a touch more dramatic.

Here's something I've learned in the past few minutes. Compare my image with the one above. Note the openness of the shadows on my image and the yellow tone of the highlights. Compared to the one above it, my image seems sunny and almost an early-thaw type of scene. The image above better conveys the coldness of the scene. It's pretty remarkable that one image looks twenty degrees colder than the other through some very simple techniques.

 

[02Pilot]

Thanks for posting the challenge and the generous prize offer.

I selected the first photo primarily for the sky; I prefer the framing of the others, but ultimately the clouds won out. My interpretation is inspired by the look of early slide film. I started out in GIMP by adjusting the levels to bring up the darker areas. I added a little red saturation as well. I then applied Kodachrome Professional emulation in G'MIC. All of these were done in layers, adjusting opacities to achieve the result I wanted. I flattened these and sharpened lightly when I was done.

I then loaded that file, which was still a little flat for my tastes, into Analog Efex and fooled around with some of the filters. I don't know this software well at all, so it's hard to say exactly what I did in there, but I got to a result I was reasonably content with, so I called it good.

 

[astro8]

I want to get a colour version in before closing time.

Photoshop and Color Efex.

I'll add my method to my images probably tomorrow as it's getting very late here....

rff_colour by gregraphic, on Flickrhttp://

 

[retinax]

Hey,
Great idea for a thread and very generous prize!
Her goes:

The third image seemed to have most potential thanks to interesting lighting on the foreground. Too bad the sky has no clouds, but I think it works anyway.

I would have preferred a little more exposure. I enjoy, as you can see, snowy scenes processed to a somewhat "high key" look, that's just how they look to my eyes. You preserved all the highlights, but in this case, with a pretty much featureless sky and lots of snow, I'd rather sacrifice a few of them to get better drawing of the shadows. The fir trees on the left are a bit of a problem for my idea of this image, they constitute too large blobs of black to my eyes.

I used darktable, as I run Linux. Here's what I did:

Turned it monochrome after playing around a bit and deciding that the colours don't add much to this image for me.

Enhanced blue and green to make the sky and trees brighter-could as well have used a red or orange filter.

Contrast: Pushed most of the histogram to the right, using a curve that bends upwards. Essentially an exposure compensation that compresses rather than destroys the highlights. I applied this quite strongly because I wanted the snow to be bright and to bring out the lines that the forest, rocks and river form.
Fine tuning the darker part of the contrast curve to bring out structure in the trees.

Applied a very small local contrast enhancement for smaller, but not too fine details, to help the rocky peak in the background and the trees below pop a little more. Darktable has a very flexible tool named "equalizer" for this.
I try to avoid heavy application of local contrast enhancements (a.k.a "the clarity slider", the scattergun approach to dodging and burning), they invariably look unnatural to me. Also I wanted to retain the nice aerial perspective in this image, i.e. lower contrast in the background thanks to mist.

Cropping: I played around a lot there as I found it difficult to keep the composition in balance. Think I found sort of a sweet spot finally.
A little bit of dodging and burning.
A wee bit of vignette.

Best,
J.

 

[ferider]

Updated my gallery (https://ferider.smugmug.com/Technical/RFFPostProcessingChallengeResu)

Please make sure your image(s) are in there. Thanks,

Roland.

 

[pacco]

Great idea and I see many well done post-processed images. Particularly some color ones turn out very nicely!

I agree to Retinax as the third one has beautiful light in the foreground. No clouds, though, and I was thinking of photoshopping the clouds from one of the other pictures in this one! 😉

Anyway, here is my submission:


Ferider-Post-Processing-Challenge by Pacco Racco, on Flickr

After opening the picture in PS CS 6.0, I started to recover lights and shadows and cropped the frame. Then, converted it into black and white using the dedicated option in PS and applied a set of selective masks to change the curves for different parts of the picture. At the end, I did some burn and dodge actions and slighly adapted the levels.

 

[lynnb]

As an alternative to bw and colour I thought it would be interesting to try a split tone to bring out additional highlight/shadow contrasts.. this is the same as earlier bw version but with added split tone in LR4:
highlight hue=51 saturation=4
shadows hue=222 saturation=8
(if only one picture allowed then go with the bw in post #22)

 

[fjolnir]

Converted to b&w by darkening blues & red, sharpened slightly, added a bit of grain, rotated & lightened the lower half of the image with a gradient mask

 

[kuuan]

yes, my image is in the gallery, thank you ferider.

since my B&W version looks a bit different to those already submitted ( and since you seem not to mind if someone shows more than just one, but I don't mind if this one does not count for the competion )
here a B&W version of the third photo, I tried to make it looking crisp as the snow and cold suggest, cheers

[url=https://flic.kr/p/PL4mqB]
Untitled by kuuan's lens tests, on Flickr[/URL]

 

[retinax]

Very nice, kuuan! My favorite version so far right after my own 😛 You apparently went to a similar direction as I did, but more boldly.

 

[astro8]

I was meant to write down how I process my images today but as I was starting, a thought struck me. The idea for this thread is for Roland to learn how others process their images.

So, instead of describing how I process images in Photoshop, I thought it better that I describe how I process an image using the software that Roland mentioned he is a fan of, PaintShop Pro. He also mentioned that he uses Lightroom only to import images, so I downloaded and installed a trial of PSP and also the free Nik Collection.

I judge myself capable but by no means expert. All including Roland may hate my processing and hate the way I do things! I always process and image with the intention that the end result will be printed.

I already have two images in this thread, so to be fair, this image should be disregarded.

I broke my method down to the least and most simple steps that I could to acheive what I think is not a bad result. I've never used PaintShop Pro before as I have always passed it over, but to be fair, it's quite good. Combined with the Nik Collection it appears very capable....I like it.

So...I opened the last file in PSP, it opened in the EDIT panel, I searched around the menus and clicked 'Adjust/Smart Photo Fix' and clicked 'Suggest Settings'. Tweeked it here and there to lift it out of the shadows without blowing too much highlight and settled upon these settings...

1 by gregraphic, on Flickr




Next thing was 'Effects/Plugins/Nik Collection/color Efex Pro4' Selected 'Pro Contrast' and applied these settings which lifted it out of the gloom.

2 by gregraphic, on Flickr

Next was a tiny bit of the 'Dodge Brush' just to highlight some of the snow on the peak and a couple of the branches and that was it. No sharpening either.

3 by gregraphic, on Flickr

If the colours are a bit too saturated 'Adjust/Hue and Saturation/Hue,Saturation,Lightness'

4 by gregraphic, on Flickr

For a black and white version you could more or less go through the same steps and finish with the Nik Silver Effex plugin and end up with something quite presentable.

5 by gregraphic, on Flickr


Anyway, hope this helps some...

Forgive any typos...it's very late here, ha!

rff_PSP by gregraphic, on Flickr

 

[ferider]

The idea for this thread is for Roland to learn how others process their images.
: : :
So...I opened the last file in PSP, it opened in the EDIT panel, I searched around the menus and clicked 'Adjust/Smart Photo Fix' and clicked 'Suggest Settings'. Tweeked it here and there to lift it out of the shadows without blowing too much highlight and settled upon these settings...
: : :
Next thing was 'Effects/Plugins/Nik Collection/color Efex Pro4' Selected 'Pro Contrast' and applied these settings which lifted it out of the gloom.

You will get extra credit for this one, Greg 🙂 Only half kidding, your method would save me computer time, which is always appreciated (bad enough to spend 12h/day in front of the screen at work ...).

One of the big conclusions for me already, is that I have to start using Nik Silver Effex, as many of you guys do.

Roland.

PS: I will ask moderators to close this thread now, to fairly stop submissions. Will open a new thread to follow up. Thanks all.