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03/02/2005 06:43:54 AM · #26 |
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03/02/2005 07:28:39 AM · #27 |
Ok everyone talked me into it I guess I will try some post processing in Photoshop. But I am still going to try and see what I get just out of the camera. It isn't about a ribbon for me. I just want to further my skills not win a virtual ribbon. True a ribbon gets you noticed more but people will notice progress when they see it right. I will have to do more resaerch on Ansel Adams this weekend before I go out and shoot.
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03/02/2005 12:43:46 PM · #28 |
I downloaded the action on that site - nice!
I then took a pic i had
and ran it through the action (there are 3 choices...). I then selected the sky, as Adams' skies were usually dark, and ran a curves layer on that, just playing until it looked dark and moody.
I flattened it all, and pulled up Levels, and adjusted each level (RGB sepeartely..neat way to give a pic a color cast/tone. Many of ansel's pics were not true b&w, so this works for that as well.
What do you think?
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03/02/2005 01:06:02 PM · #29 |
I think your processed picture is gorgeous.
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03/02/2005 01:16:11 PM · #30 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
I downloaded the action on that site - nice!
I then took a pic i had
and ran it through the action (there are 3 choices...). I then selected the sky, as Adams' skies were usually dark, and ran a curves layer on that, just playing until it looked dark and moody.
I flattened it all, and pulled up Levels, and adjusted each level (RGB sepeartely..neat way to give a pic a color cast/tone. Many of ansel's pics were not true b&w, so this works for that as well.
What do you think?
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The processed image is dramatic, but the dark areas are totally without content or life and there are noticeable dodging artefacts aroudn the builidings. In thumbnail view you can see those artefacts even on the "original". It's worth noting that almost without exception it's best to do your conversions from an untouched original and only didge and buyrn, or whatever other local controls, AFTER the conversion is accomplished.
Robt.
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03/02/2005 01:30:04 PM · #31 |
Originally posted by bear_music:
The processed image is dramatic, but the dark areas are totally without content or life and there are noticeable dodging artefacts aroudn the builidings. In thumbnail view you can see those artefacts even on the "original". It's worth noting that almost without exception it's best to do your conversions from an untouched original and only didge and buyrn, or whatever other local controls, AFTER the conversion is accomplished.
Robt. |
i ran the actions on the lowly JPG file. A sin, i know. I prefer a brighter image (the buldings are too dark, lack detail) There is no and was no dodging and burning. I see the 'halo' in the sky around the tallest buildings...ugly and odd. The fix to the detial needs to be accomplished first, before all the b&w and contrast conversions and checked after. The halo thing..I have no idea about that. I did tweak the original to get some interest in the sky - it was a very overcast day and not a very pretty sky. So in essence I compounded the errors and have seriously over processed and over compressed the image. Add to that I am working on the b&w version in a sunny room, with window reflections on my monitor.
It was a quickie test to see what the action yielded. And then to get an Adams like look to the sky I muched with the workflow. I like the action - it converts yet leaves layers with some control in them. Many actions i have tried give you a finished result, and the layer(s) left actually give little control to the final result.
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03/02/2005 02:18:55 PM · #32 |
In response to using P/S actions for the Ansel Adams challenge.
You should abide by the rules and use the standard photoshop techinques that everyone else is using for the project. I know its human nature to find the easiest and shortest route, but you are not learning or playing on the same field as the others. For what its worth and you can slam my advice, but here is my approach to the Ansel Adams challenge.
1. Shoot in black and white if can.
2. Shoot in color and then covert to greyscale.
3. The following are the steps to make your image pop.
After turning your image to "greyscale" in photoshop.
Turn into RGB mode.
Go to "Selective Colors option, click on black, slide black to about +2 or +4%, then push yellow slider to +2% and so on with all of the remaing colors. Check your preview for more or less adjustments.
Last step is to click on "Shadow and highlights". Check preview again
as every image has its own shadwo and highlight range.
There you have it. "Ansel Adams" Legal. |
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03/02/2005 03:02:18 PM · #33 |
Originally posted by zagman:
In response to using P/S actions for the Ansel Adams challenge.
You should abide by the rules and use the standard photoshop techinques that everyone else is using for the project. |
Photoshop actions are not against the rules unless a component of the action is illegal. Many of us make our own actions. You can (and arguably should) make an action of the process you describe in your post. It's the bestw ay to benchmark your techniques. And nothing about using an action preculdes your later tweaking of the same action; it's all recorded as layers on the pallette.
I have found the use of other peoples' actions an invaluable larning tool; once I've run them I can open up the layers and SEE what they did, and apply what I have learned to my own work. I would, however, agree with you that is a hypothetical shooter just makes his shots then runs actions and posts them, s/he is learning nothing. But it's not illegal.
Robt.
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03/02/2005 03:10:46 PM · #34 |
Originally posted by zagman:
You should abide by the rules and use the standard photoshop techinques that everyone else is using for the project. |
FUD - Photoshop actions are perfectly within the rules.
Some people have paid for plugins which convert to B&W, others have years of experience in converting to B&W. All I'm trying to do is give those who aren't experts a bit of help.
If I were to take your method and save it as an action would it then be 'wrong' for anyone to then use that method in the challenge?
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03/02/2005 03:39:16 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by zagman:
...here is my approach to the Ansel Adams challenge.
1. Shoot in black and white if can. |
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but... NO! Debate the best technique for conversion all you want, but actually shooting in B&W in the camera is a very bad idea. If you shoot in B&W, and its saved in 8-bit greyscale mode (this is the part I'm making an assumtion on), you will have lost 2/3s of your brightness detail before you ever download the picture. An 8-bit greyscale image will only contain 8 bits (256) of brightness levels per pixel, where the color image will contain the full 24 bits (16 million) of brightness levels per pixel - 8 bits for each of the three color channels. (Technically, at least acording to Luminous Landscape - see table about 2/3 of the way down the page - you actually get even less than that after jpeg compression, but that would just emphasize the need to retain as much recorded information as possible to work with later.)
I do think you're misguided on the action thing too, but that's been addressed already. :) I do, however, agree with you that its useful for everyone to actually understand what the action is doing, and along those lines, there is a link on the action page to a detailed article covering the technique that the action is actually scripting. Well worth the read before just loading the actions and running them.
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