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09/08/2006 08:46:35 PM · #1101 |
| I am just curious. I was trying to read bears instructons on con contrast masking and he says that if you have CS2 to just play with Highlight/Shadow tool. From what I was told Highlight/shadow tool is not the way to go. It's too destructive and tere are better ways of acomplishing this task. SO how do I go abou tthat? |
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09/08/2006 09:26:57 PM · #1102 |
Originally posted by maggieddd:
So I have this picture. How can I improve it?
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That is a very large jpg to post in a thread! :0) How to improve the shot depends on what you want to emphasize in it. I am assuming that the lighthouse is the main subject you wanted to capture. My suggestion for improvement would be to crop a large portion of the foreground out and move the lighthouse from the dead centre position. Although I have a lot to learn about post-processing myself, I have taken the liberty to try some quick PP on your shot and came up with this.
The details of post-processing are in the photographer's comments.
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09/08/2006 09:31:51 PM · #1103 |
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09/08/2006 09:36:31 PM · #1104 |
Originally posted by Prism:
Originally posted by maggieddd:
So I have this picture. How can I improve it?
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That is a very large jpg to post in a thread! :0) How to improve the shot depends on what you want to emphasize in it. I am assuming that the lighthouse is the main subject you wanted to capture. My suggestion for improvement would be to crop a large portion of the foreground out and move the lighthouse from the dead centre position. Although I have a lot to learn about post-processing myself, I have taken the liberty to try some quick PP on your shot and came up with this.
The details of post-processing are in the photographer's comments. |
Thanks Prism. Actually, I found the foreground quite attractive. I liked the path leading t the lighthouse and then the orange/grean in the foreground |
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09/08/2006 09:37:18 PM · #1105 |
Originally posted by Prism:
Originally posted by maggieddd:
So I have this picture. How can I improve it?
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That is a very large jpg to post in a thread! :0) How to improve the shot depends on what you want to emphasize in it. I am assuming that the lighthouse is the main subject you wanted to capture. My suggestion for improvement would be to crop a large portion of the foreground out and move the lighthouse from the dead centre position. Although I have a lot to learn about post-processing myself, I have taken the liberty to try some quick PP on your shot and came up with this.
The details of post-processing are in the photographer's comments. |
How did you darken the sky? |
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09/08/2006 09:39:13 PM · #1106 |
Originally posted by maggieddd:
I am just curious. I was trying to read bears instructons on con contrast masking and he says that if you have CS2 to just play with Highlight/Shadow tool. From what I was told Highlight/shadow tool is not the way to go. It's too destructive and tere are better ways of acomplishing this task. SO how do I go abou tthat? |
I have found the shadow/highlight tool to be quite a useful addition to my PP skills. It accomplishes with one tool what it would take much more effort and mousing selection skill to do using other methods. If you only apply it on a duplicate layer, it can always be reversed by deleting the layer. If you keep reading in the thread, there are assorted PP tips from various of the site photographers, that give similar results that are also acceptable under the rule sets for entering challenges.
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09/08/2006 09:43:22 PM · #1107 |
Originally posted by maggieddd:
Originally posted by Prism:
Originally posted by maggieddd:
So I have this picture. How can I improve it?
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That is a very large jpg to post in a thread! :0) How to improve the shot depends on what you want to emphasize in it. I am assuming that the lighthouse is the main subject you wanted to capture. My suggestion for improvement would be to crop a large portion of the foreground out and move the lighthouse from the dead centre position. Although I have a lot to learn about post-processing myself, I have taken the liberty to try some quick PP on your shot and came up with this.
The details of post-processing are in the photographer's comments. |
How did you darken the sky? |
By applying a fill layer in overlay mode with a graduated colour going from the darker blue to transparent. I then erased the colour over the lighthouse itself.
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09/08/2006 10:01:26 PM · #1108 |
Ok here is my post processing. What do you think?
Before
After
Message edited by author 2006-09-08 22:01:51. |
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09/08/2006 10:17:35 PM · #1109 |
| Personally I like the Before shot. Natural colors, nice gradient in the sky. Crop it so the composition is better and that's about it. Colors in the After are too saturated imo. |
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09/08/2006 10:31:09 PM · #1110 |
Originally posted by routerguy666:
Personally I like the Before shot. Natural colors, nice gradient in the sky. Crop it so the composition is better and that's about it. Colors in the After are too saturated imo. |
Thanks. I just happen to like oversaturated color. I used to love shooting with Velvia and I guess I am trying to imitate the look. The only think I don't like is the sky. It always looks very cyan. |
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09/08/2006 10:49:33 PM · #1111 |
OK, I tried to fix the sky
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09/08/2006 11:38:13 PM · #1112 |
OK, here is one more
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09/08/2006 11:45:26 PM · #1113 |
| That one looks pretty good. |
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09/09/2006 01:29:13 AM · #1114 |
Originally posted by maggieddd:
I am just curious. I was trying to read bears instructons on con contrast masking and he says that if you have CS2 to just play with Highlight/Shadow tool. From what I was told Highlight/shadow tool is not the way to go. It's too destructive and tere are better ways of acomplishing this task. SO how do I go abou tthat? |
I have CS2 and, yes, shadow/highlight is destructive in the sense that it can only be used on a data layer. However, just like with any other 'destructive' process you duplicate the data layer and apply it to the duplicate. In essence, Bear_Music's contrast mask method is also 'destructive' because changes are applied to real data layers as well. I use shadow/highlight and like it, but it does have a learning curve because of all the possible adjustments that you can make. That can be intimidating. Both things worth experimenting with.
Bear_Music uses his contrast mask technique in a wide variety of ways to bring out detail and color contrasting in images in ways that shadow/highlight does not, but shadow/highlight does things contrast masking cannot.
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09/09/2006 02:07:21 AM · #1115 |
The main issue in Maggieddd's image is composition. Centering the lighthouse, the main subject, is its biggest weakness. That makes it seem very ordinary. It is a natural for the current rule of thirds challenge. I re-cropped it to center the lighthouse on the upper right ROT intersection point for a little extra viewer interest.
Post processing from original:
1-Crop for rule of thirds on center of lighthouse (This retains all the interesting foreground)
2-Add standard 'Levels' layer for slight luminosity adjustment
3-Add standard 'Curves' layer for increased mid-tone contrast
4-Add blue 'gradient' layer for sky selection to bring out more sky depth
5-Add 'Selective Color' layer to bring out reds and green
6-Add 50% greyscale 'Overlay' layer for some subtle highlighting for added viewer interest.
Message edited by author 2006-09-09 02:09:41.
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09/09/2006 02:36:06 AM · #1116 |
Beautiful images. You should be pleased with all three of these images.
I would not change 'Moyie River' in any way. Strong composition. Technical quality is excellent and sharpness is perfect, especially in the fine detail of the trees.
'Between Storms' has great lighting brought out in the trees and around the lake. That is its main strength. It is a stunning image. Processing to bring out the dramatic sky is a great idea and works except for the leftover haloing along the horizon. The haloing is a distraction in the picture. I would clone that out by hand, if necessary, if it were my image. You might also consider additional highlighting to bring out more detail in the foreground reeds.
'Evening Mist' is another stellar landscape. It is a perfect example of capturing what nature provides. Like 'Between Storms' you could adjust it to make a more dramatic sky too. A technique I use as opposed to using the dodge and burn tools is to add a 50% greyscale layer and paint on the greyscale layer with black (for burning) and white (for dodging). This blends with the rest of the image in a more natural way than dodging and burning does and is non-destructive. You might want to try that and see how it works for you. A tutorial explaining this process is found here:
//www.bairarteditions.com/pages/tutorials/photoshop/exdandb.html
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09/11/2006 02:53:30 PM · #1117 |
Thanks for your suggestions Steve. I have made some adjustments to the 'Evening Mist' shot and will try to post the newer version after work. I am having trouble with getting the lower edge of the sky defined clearly to make the edits crisper along that line though.
I recall some tips on how to do that earlier in this thread, so I'll have to peruse back and see what I can find. For now...back to work....
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09/13/2006 12:51:10 AM · #1118 |
Here's one I shot today. The sky wasn't quite that smooth, there were some clouds and I removed them and definitely did a lot to the colors.
Thoughts? There's a few flaws with my processing, but it's not going to print or a challenge so I didn't spend a terrible amount of time on it. |
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09/13/2006 06:49:03 AM · #1119 |
Originally posted by MadMan2k:
Here's one I shot today. The sky wasn't quite that smooth, there were some clouds and I removed them and definitely did a lot to the colors.
Thoughts? There's a few flaws with my processing, but it's not going to print or a challenge so I didn't spend a terrible amount of time on it. |
I am just curious, why would you remove clouds? Were they terrible? In majority of the cases I find the images with nice clouds more interesting than without clouds, but it does depend on the image.
Message edited by author 2006-09-13 06:54:48. |
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09/13/2006 08:27:15 PM · #1120 |
Originally posted by MadMan2k:
Here's one I shot today. The sky wasn't quite that smooth, there were some clouds and I removed them and definitely did a lot to the colors.
Thoughts? There's a few flaws with my processing, but it's not going to print or a challenge so I didn't spend a terrible amount of time on it. |
There's noticable haloing around the tree, but other than that, nice job. |
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09/13/2006 08:50:38 PM · #1121 |
| I didn't really have a reason, just expirementing mostly. There weren't that many clouds, I just did a gaussian blur to smooth out the jaggy edges from bumping the colors up so much, and painted over the clouds to see what it'd look like, and left it. |
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09/13/2006 08:51:49 PM · #1122 |
Originally posted by MadMan2k:
Here's one I shot today. The sky wasn't quite that smooth, there were some clouds and I removed them and definitely did a lot to the colors.
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What? You REMOVED clouds? Heresy!!! Just reinforcing maggieddd's comment.
Nice sharp detail from your 350 in your minimalist composition.
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09/14/2006 01:19:54 AM · #1123 |
Here is my re-edit using a grey overlay layer to add some definition to the clouds.
Original  With Grey Overlay
As a new question, would you consider a photo such as this with the old truck as a subject, to still be a landscape photo?
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09/14/2006 01:38:33 AM · #1124 |
Originally posted by Prism:
Here is my re-edit using a grey overlay layer to add some definition to the clouds.
Original With Grey Overlay |
I do like this picture! Good job with the greyscale overlay layer.
Originally posted by Prism:
As a new question, would you consider a photo such as this with the old truck as a subject, to still be a landscape photo?
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I would. A vehicle, just like a building, can be part of the landscape.
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09/15/2006 10:25:57 PM · #1125 |
Mini-Lesson -- The Power of 'Levels'
Before Levels... After Levels... ... Levels Settings 
Hello ladies and germs! Time once again folks for another exciting mini-lesson from the wild and wacky world of landscape photography.
In this thrilling episode we will find out what we can do with the simplest of all adjustments - Levels. Your job, should you chose to accept it, is to make a bland landscape better using only levels in ‘normal’ mode and share it with the group. This is perfect for basic challenges and those using Photoshop Elements.
Introduction
A fundamental understanding of what you can and can't do with each type of adjustment is essential for effective post processing. We have a tendency to over complicate things by creating zillions of layers to perform image gymnastics on our photographs. It gets so complex we lose our way. We do something in one layer only to undo it in another on our infinite quest for the perfect picture.
Poppycock! Keep it simple. Understanding a little about each adjustment can go a long way toward simplifying your image processing. The proud goal of this lesson is to learn very little about one adjustment. That way we can go around bragging about how little we know.
Primary use of Levels
‘Levels’ is most commonly used for establishing the black and white luminosity starting points in a picture. That is where you set the mode to ‘Luminosity’ and slide the black triangle right and the white triangle left until they are just under the left and right edges of the histogram. This sets the black point at 0 and the white point at 255 where you have real pixel information so that you have a full range of pixels from black to white.
But in this mind-expanding lesson we will see Levels can be used for more.
The Task at Hand
The left image up above is an untouched, bland looking out of camera sunrise shot. There is a prettier picture hiding inside it just waiting to be released. Lets release it. Download it now so you can play with it. The technical term describing what we will do is called ‘screwing around’.
There are other things that can be done with Levels, like setting a grey point or color corrections and other boring stuff, but we are going to ignore all that. :)
The Details
Lets get started. Resist the urge to work on data layers! For many reasons choose to use adjustment layers whenever possible. Start here by selecting ‘Layers->New Adjustment Layer->Levels’ to create a new adjustment layer.
The Levels Dialog Boxâ€Â¦ 
The graphic display in this dialog shows a histogram, like you see in your camera. It shows the number of real pixels at each luminosity value from 0 to 255 where 0 is pure black and 255 is pure white. Below the display are three triangles. The one of the left is black, the middle gray and the one on the right is white. The value of any colored pixel can be made so dark as to become pure black or so light it becomes pure white. The left and right triangles set those values.
The gray triangle brightens or darkens the middle tones and balances colors. The numeric values above the histogram, titled ‘Input Values’, shows the current values for the triangle positions. Black starts out at 0 and white at 255. The gray triangle starts with a value of 1.0.
Drag the triangles around and the values change and so does the appearance of the picture. The black triangle resets the starting point for pure black. Any pixels left of it will be turned pure black. The white triangle resets the start point for pure white. Any pixels to the right of it are made pure white. The gray triangle balances colors and varies between .1 and 9.99. Why, you ask, isn̢۪t it 0 to 255? To mess with your mind, that̢۪s why.
You can see there is a huge peak on the left of the histogram around luminosity value 25. This indicates these pixels are very, very dark but not completely black. They are in shadows. That is why you can see detail in the dark areas. You could try to bring out the detail by simply dragging the gray (middle) triangle left toward the big peak. Try it. You will see the detail in the dark areas is very weak and bringing it out completely blows out the sky. That makes the image worse. So it is better to go the other way around, make the dark areas black for artistic beauty and bring the most out of the sky where the detail is. Both goals can be accomplished with simple Levels triangle adjustments.
A Secret Trick
If you hold down the 'alt' key ('option' on Mac), then select the black triangle then the screen will turn white. Try it. This visually displays where your pure blacks are in the picture. Move the triangle right and blacks will start to show more on the screen. To produce a pure black silhouette drag right until you can plainly see the silhouette you want.
If you select the white triangle while holding down the 'alt' key('option') the screen will turn nearly black and you can visually see where pure whites show up as you drag right.
So far we've only looked at the full RGB channel but you can make all these adjustments separately in each of the red, green or blue channels for even better results. You select individual channels from the popup list at the top. So go select different channels and go 'screw around'.
Example Adjustments
Levels Settings
Drag the sliders around for a while to see their effects, then move them to the values shown. The black triangle was moved right of the big peak to make the silhouettes completely black. You can plainly see this if you hold down the ‘alt’ (‘option’) key when you select and drag the little triangle. Normally you would not drag that far, but in this case it serves an artistic purpose.
The white triangle was moved left to brighten the sky but not far enough to blow out the highlights.
The gray triangle was moved to the right into the brighter side of the histogram to brighten and saturate the existing colors. Making further adjustments in the individual color channels will have even more dramatic color effects. You will want to try that out to.
No, you are not mistaken, Levels is a ‘drag’!
Adjustment Layer Masking
Layers Pallet...  ... Mask Update...
Making adjustment layer changes across the whole image can have negative side effects to small areas of the picture. These can be toned down or eliminated completely by painting with gray or black on the layer mask. What this does is partially or totally block the effects of that layer adjustment from showing through in all the places you paint with black. This is not allowed in basic challenges but is an important technique in the "real" world. And, more important, it is easy.
In our example the triangle adjustments screwed up the detail in the bushes. Detail was lost and colors near the edges of the branches got unrealistically over saturated.
Select the adjustment layer mask by clicking once on it (it will display a wider border around it when properly selected) and pick an appropriate sized soft brush with opacity set to about 15% and airbrush over dark areas in the bushes to recover lost detail and tone down the color over saturation often caused in detail areas like this after changes.
Oh, for those of you inclined to make mistakes, you can switch to white by pressing the ‘X’ key and erase.(Or switch background and foreground colors on the tools pallet). The ‘X’ key toggles between foreground and background colors.
Assignment
Pick from one of your many lousy poor quality pictures and, using only Levels, make it look the best it can be and then share your results in this discussion.
Conclusions
We have seen that Levels can do more than just set the upper and lower luminosity points in a picture. In ‘normal’ mode it can be used to make significant artistic changes, such as insuring your silhouette is pure black, and have a dramatic effect on colors and contrast with gray triangle repositioning.
Levels makes a good starting point and should be seriously considered as the first adjustment step in your post processing workflow.
Yup, it happenâ€Â¦ you’ve just been leveled!
Message edited by author 2006-09-15 22:36:38.
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