Take a look... something I've been working on

10/29/2012 12:15:12 PM · #1

A few days ago I was looking through old photos and this one caught my attention. I took it on a motorcycle ride in Oklahoma and never edited it.
So... here's the progress thus far.

I want to make a print of it, but want it to be perfect first.

Thoughts?

Here's the original shot:

Here's the edited version:

10/29/2012 12:27:00 PM · #2

Way too much tonemapping. :)

Neat shot though!

Alex_Petrini

Sony Alpha a7R III

Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM

10/29/2012 12:28:37 PM · #3

It's a little too HDRized for my taste, but you surely did a good job with editing.

Maybe you could give some brightness (check the histogram in PS)

10/29/2012 12:39:19 PM · #4

Originally posted by Cory:

Way too much tonemapping. :)

Neat shot though!

I wish I would have had a wide angle lens at that time!!!

Originally posted by Alexkc:

It's a little too HDRized for my taste, but you surely did a good job with editing.

Maybe you could give some brightness (check the histogram in PS)

thanks, I will check that out.

Tiny

Apple iPad mini 4

10/29/2012 01:19:56 PM · #5

I would like to know the steps you have taken so far to get to this stage.
Its certainly getting better in my view.

Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS

10/29/2012 01:25:28 PM · #6

Originally posted by Tiny:

I would like to know the steps you have taken so far to get to this stage.
Its certainly getting better in my view.

I don't remember them all. Just playing around with different features.

Did a few different layers with Topaz.

I need to start documenting all the steps I take so I can learn from them. :)

And thanks.

rooum

10/29/2012 01:26:00 PM · #7

I like it. It's certainly heavy on the tone mapping and glow but i think that can work sometimes to give an otherworldly feel to an image particularly in black and white. I imagine it would look hideous in colour.

mariuca

Fujifilm X-T30

10/29/2012 01:33:18 PM · #8

I like very much the softness of the original. Sometimes we tend to "improve" too much. Love the clouds in the edited version , perhaps toned even less, but prefer the softness of the cabin and grass of the original.

10/29/2012 01:35:30 PM · #9

I'm kind of going for an HDRized look, simply because it's something that'll be in a somewhat "plain" room. So it needs the "pop" factor. If that makes sense.

Canon EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 II

10/29/2012 01:51:09 PM · #10

I just realized... this shot was taken when we were going about 65+mph. Not a bad catch!

dtremain

Canon EOS 80D

10/29/2012 02:44:55 PM · #11

I suggest you divide the picture into layers - one for the sky, and one for the grass and buildings. I think they want slightly different editing. For me, I like the sky as you've edited it - the increased contrast, the stronger lines - very nice. But, in getting the sky to look right, the detail in the buildings has lost its touch with reality. My gut feeling is that the buildings / grasses want a little gentler touch than the sky - about 1/2 way between original and your edited version. FWIW... ;-p

10/29/2012 03:24:43 PM · #12

Originally posted by mariuca:

Originally posted by dtremain:

They're quite right, both are very good assessments.

10/29/2012 03:27:17 PM · #13

if anyone feels like having a go at it... by all means, be my guest.
always open to learning more! :)

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

10/29/2012 05:03:54 PM · #14

Ok,

I took a whack at this, let's see what you think. Clearly I could have done a much better job with the original instead of having to just crop down the 800 pixel original from here.

After a quick crop and clone, this was a Topaz re-mask job, took the sky and isolated it from the ground, and created a new layer containing only the sky.

Next, I did a high-radius unsharp mask, something like 70 pixels at 10 percent or so - but this will change depending on image size, so don't pay attention to the actual values, just make the radius big enough that you stop seeing the halo effect.

Then do an unsharp mask or smart sharpen on the ground layer (it's really a full image, but with the cloud layer above it this becomes effectively the "ground" layer). I used a radius of 0.9 at something like 60 percent.

Then I copied the entire image as a merged copy (Ctrl+Shift+C)and created a new layer that I pasted this into.

Next I adjusted the Levels to give me true blacks, and bring the whites up a little, and push the midrange to a little bit of a lighter zone.

Then I did a topaz de-noise on the image, and set it for light denoising. Next I did another run of topaz with low denoise settings, and a high amount of detail recovery.

After that, I ran one more pass of smart sharpen over time image (0.6 px radius 20 percent) just to give it that crisp look.

Remember, ignore the actual numbers and pay attention to the methods, since the numbers will vary.

I also did this very quick "dark skies" version for added drama.

If you have any questions, just post here, I'll try to keep an eye on this for a bit.

ETA: Just for fun, I did a very quick dodge brush job on the ground layer before I closed the image, just to add some dynamic light here and give it a bit more life.

--

ETA #2 - After looking at your edit again, I saw that you REALLY want the sky to go bang, so here, I pushed it about as far as I could without feeling like it was too much. I expect this is probably more of what you're after... All I did here was just do another run of unsharp mask, high radius, on the cloud layer. Settings depend on what you want, start at 15% strength and a radius of 80 pixels and adjust from there according to your taste.

-CB

Message edited by author 2012-10-29 17:18:12.

BrennanOB

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

10/29/2012 05:44:39 PM · #15

Lately I have found with editing that once you are working on an image for a while, you can slip down the rabbit hole, tweaking and shifting stuff, version after version. You tend to lose reference for what it was in the original image that made it seem that is was an shot you thought was worth working on in the first place.

When you finish editing pull up your original and try overlaying the edited version and work with opacity layers to fade back and forth between the two; then use brushes to bring up areas you want to accent and submerge of the edited version and the original. I am always shocked how much of the original image is better than the results of all that editing.

10/29/2012 06:10:05 PM · #16

Originally posted by BrennanOB:

Too true!

10/29/2012 10:31:30 PM · #17

Here, I did one last edit - I just darkened the sky a bit, gave it some "structure" with Nik Silver Efex, and hit it with some Topaz De-Noise.

That's really about as close to your vision as I think I can come. Hope you like it, and this helps you to get the original to where you want it.

MinsoPhoto

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

10/30/2012 06:12:10 AM · #18

I love black and whites but I thought this shot needed a little color so here is my take.

Used a lot of NIK software and dodge and burn etc...

Tiny

Apple iPad mini 4

10/30/2012 07:31:15 AM · #19

Originally posted by Cory:

Here, I did one last edit - I just darkened the sky a bit, gave it some "structure" with Nik Silver Efex, and hit it with some Topaz De-Noise.

That's really about as close to your vision as I think I can come. Hope you like it, and this helps you to get the original to where you want it.

That looks real good to me,seems like Cory does have his uses after all.

10/30/2012 07:46:50 AM · #20

thanks guys! love the different edits. I think the last one you did,

Cory, is my favorite. :)

10/30/2012 12:18:10 PM · #21

For my friend Mr. Minso. :)

MinsoPhoto

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

10/30/2012 12:26:29 PM · #22

Originally posted by Cory:

For my friend Mr. Minso. :)

quite impressive

Alex_Petrini

Sony Alpha a7R III

Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM

10/30/2012 12:28:51 PM · #23

Originally posted by Cory:

For my friend Mr. Minso. :)

All these versions look like a contest from Worth1000 - title: color Danielle's image :)