Is this over processed? - DPChallenge Forums

08/25/2005 01:48:51 PM · #1

A shot from Zion National Park
All suggestions and comments appreciated.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

08/25/2005 01:50:37 PM · #2

I wouldn't call it overprocessed, but the bright areas of the clouds are blocked up. Can we see an original to see what you have to work with?

Robt.

Cutter

Nikon D700

08/25/2005 01:51:34 PM · #3

absolutely not. i would even say do some dodging of the foreground to make it slightly more dynamic. its good.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

08/25/2005 02:31:11 PM · #4

here is the origional

Cutter...I'll give your images a look later tonihgt

Ennil

Nikon D200

08/25/2005 03:00:57 PM · #5

Over-processed? What the hell did you do to make it over-processed? It just looks like you played with the contrast.

cpanaioti

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

08/25/2005 03:04:47 PM · #6

I'd say overprocessed in the clouds but not the rest of it. There are parts of the clouds in the original that appear to be overexposed and the processing increased the overexposure.

What program are you using? In PS CS2, shadows and highlights would probably help as well as some dodging/burning.

If not using CS2 but an earlier version check out the tutorial on highlights and shadows.

08/25/2005 03:34:34 PM · #7

Originally posted by Ennil:

Over-processed? What the hell did you do to make it over-processed? It just looks like you played with the contrast.

It looks like he bumped the saturation (see the reds & yellows) and increased the contrast (see the clouds). The contrast bump had a very negative effect, at least as far as the clouds are concerned. Overall, the original is better to my eye. I'm working on a variation now...

R.

kyebosh

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 80-200mm f/2.8L

08/25/2005 03:49:37 PM · #8

I would edit the clouds and the land seperately for a scene like this if possible. That way you can keep the detail in the clouds. I would suggest dodge and burn rather than contrast adjustment for clouds. But please... go easy on it.

Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Aspherical ED Super Wide Angle Zoom

08/25/2005 03:57:30 PM · #9

Working from the unaltered 640-pixel image, I find that no selection is really needed; hue/saturation alone is sufficient to make this pop nicely, and no amount of levels work was able to rescue any detail in the brightest part of the clouds. So what I did was create a duplicate layer after doing the hue/sat adjustments, and on the duplicate layer I used healing brush to add detail to the hottest parts of the clouds. I then faded that level so it looked natural.

This was done quick-and-dirty, so it's not perfect, but it's a direction to experiment in. I also cloned out the pole while I was at it, and I used the dodge tool on the midtones in the dark areas lower right to bring back a little more relief there.

Robt.

By the way, has anyone noticed that in the upper right the clouds have the sahpe of two heads kissing each other lightly?

Message edited by author 2005-08-25 15:58:52.

JPR

Sony Alpha a55

08/25/2005 04:33:24 PM · #10

Originally posted by bear_music:

By the way, has anyone noticed that in the upper right the clouds have the sahpe of two heads kissing each other lightly?

Yes. Totally what makes this shot stand out to me!

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

08/25/2005 06:06:27 PM · #11

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll rework it and see what happens and re post. Is it best to do PS (I have PS Elements2) changes in a certain order? I usually do levels, then hue/contrast, and then bright/contrast. Does burn/dodge seem to create better results that bright/contrast?

tsheets

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

08/26/2005 12:17:54 AM · #12

Bear,

That is a great job processing that shot. Really pops!! It's amazing what a little tweaking can do to make a good shot (which IMHO, this is) into a great one (this one after the tweaking)! :-)

mystical_princess

Canon EOS-5D

08/26/2005 12:21:14 AM · #13

I think this looks great! No where near over processed! It's really an outstanding shot!

RedOak

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

08/26/2005 12:27:44 AM · #14

I took on the same approach as Music, here's my take.

Used the same process, but played with the Dodge/burn a little to bring out the light and power of the colors. I felt that bright colours would bring out a 'sunset' sort of feeling to the very hot rock its lighting is cast upon.

Message edited by author 2005-08-26 00:28:52.

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

08/26/2005 04:07:57 AM · #15

Originally posted by Pooba:

I presume you mean "hue/saturation", which is one of the controls? Levels, Curves, and Brightness/Contrast are three other adjustment controls, and they are all variations of the same thing. Brightness/Contrast is by far the coarsest of the three, Levels is in the middle, and Curves is most sophisticated. If you are using levels, you do not need Brightness/Contrast. If you are very good at Curves, you won't use Levels either, usually. In my case, I use Levels to set the white & black points and Curves to tweak the middle tones if needed; in this instance, it was not.

As to which order they should go in, I usually set Hue/Saturation first and then do the leveling if it's a reasonably subtle set of adjustments. Reason; sometimes the Hue/Saturation handles the bulk of the job on its own, because you can vary the lightness of the various color channels and this has the effect of expanding/compressing the tonal range to a limited extent. If the image is WAY out of balance and needs serious Levels and/or Curves adjustment, I'll do that first then work on the colors.

Burn/Dodge I use last of all, for small, local adjustments.

Referring to RedOak's version, IMO the dramatic lightening of the foreground on the right, while pretty in its own terms, is not right for the image as a whole because it serves to remove a tremendous amount of the visual depth that the darker version lends.

Robt.

stormy

Canon EOS-50D

08/26/2005 07:30:22 AM · #16

Hi, I had a quick try at editing the pic too :)

It is a bit darker, but I usually darken pics for some reason.

CEJ

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

08/26/2005 08:08:41 AM · #17

Very nice shot and does not look over processed at all. I might have cropped it more on the bottom to get rid of that fence in the lower left.