Need help adjusting picture.. - DPChallenge Forums

Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II for Canon

05/11/2011 07:27:34 PM · #1

I took this a while back, I dont have the RAW just the Fullsize FINE image.

I would like to bring out the colors and the blue in the sky if at all possible, but I just can not seem to work it out.. anyone want to take a crack at it?

Thanks in advance

Clay

jamesgoss

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

05/11/2011 08:11:48 PM · #2

not a paid member, so hosted on my personal.

//www.james-goss.com/dpc/dpc1.jpg

here's what I did PP:

image>> adjust>> color balance ------ adjusted the highlights to be more blue
image>> adjust>> replace color ------ selected segments of the sky, and adjusted the saturation/lightness/color

then ran topaz Denoise on it, then sharpened a bit with the highpass method.

there's still some trouble color spots, but it has a bit more pop now. Was this what you were looking for?

Message edited by author 2011-05-11 20:12:07.

Kelli

Canon EOS-D60

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

05/11/2011 08:22:20 PM · #3

05/11/2011 08:24:41 PM · #4

Here is a quick edit I did in LR. I left the editing steps on the image. It actually looks pretty good at full res with those editing steps. I didn't perform any sharpening for web on my edit. Originally I didn't see the bit about blue sky, so I went back in and pulled it back in.

Message edited by author 2011-05-11 20:46:15.

05/11/2011 08:45:49 PM · #5

Originally posted by jamesgoss:

On the right track, I was able to really clean up the sky in mine and give it a nice blue, but I wasnt able to get the trees as sharp (detailed as you were) or the detail on the eagle itself.

So I like what you did with the trees and eagle tho I think to much green for me on the trees

My edit so far

05/11/2011 08:46:22 PM · #6

Originally posted by bassbone:

Here is a quick edit I did in LR. I left the editing steps on the image. It actually looks pretty good at full res with those editing steps. I didn't perform any sharpening for web on my edit.

The thumbnail looks completely different then the image that appears.. the blues go away?

Message edited by author 2011-05-11 20:46:53.

05/11/2011 08:47:19 PM · #7

Originally posted by Socom:

Originally posted by bassbone:

Here is a quick edit I did in LR. I left the editing steps on the image. It actually looks pretty good at full res with those editing steps. I didn't perform any sharpening for web on my edit.

The thumbnail looks completely different then the image that appears.. the blues go away?

Reload the image and try again - I just updated the photo with the blues in.

05/11/2011 08:52:03 PM · #8

Ok, so I like my blues better..

but, bassbone and jamesgoss, your trees and eagle especially are soooo much nicer.. so how are you doing that?! :)

Kelli thank you for yours too :) I really appreciate it!

Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II for Canon

05/11/2011 08:54:58 PM · #9

Originally posted by Socom:

Your first problem is that you need to adjust the histogram - your shot is underexposed. As it is, the trees are way too dark. Go into levels and adjust the white slider so that the slider is next to the far right edge of the histogram. Second, I put a small amount of noise ninja on the image - which smooths the background and can do a bit of sharpening on the details as well.

jamesgoss

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

05/11/2011 08:56:12 PM · #10

Originally posted by Socom:

My sharpening technique was as follows:

duplicate the layer (after all other post processing ideally) and go to filter >> other >> high-pass. I believe I used 9.3 as my magic number, but generally anything from 5-12 will work well.

After hitting Okay, change the layer blending mode to Hard-Light, and use the opacity slider to adjust how strong you want the sharpening.

05/11/2011 09:00:00 PM · #11

Originally posted by jamesgoss:

Originally posted by Socom:

On the right track, I was able to really clean up the sky in mine and give it a nice blue, but I wasnt able to get the trees as sharp (detailed as you were) or the detail on the eagle itself.

My edit so far

My sharpening technique was as follows:

duplicate the layer (after all other post processing ideally) and go to filter >> other >> high-pass. I believe I used 9.3 as my magic number, but generally anything from 5-12 will work well.

After hitting Okay, change the layer blending mode to Hard-Light, and use the opacity slider to adjust how strong you want the sharpening.

Another sharpening technique useful for saving for web is to perform "Adamus Sharpening".

This involves the following:
1) Edit photo as you want but do not perform any sharpening prior to reducing the size.
2) Resize the image to 2X what the final web size is going to be (such as 1600pixels for DPC images)
3) Use 'sharpen' - not smart sharpen, not Unsharp mask, plain old vanilla "Sharpen". Perform this from 1 to 2 times. This image may appear oversharpened and grossly oversharpened looking - don't worry! Keep going.
4) Use "Resize for web" and resize the image to the desired size (800pixels for DPC), and adjust the size to less than 300kb.

DONE!

05/11/2011 09:01:09 PM · #12

Originally posted by bassbone:

Originally posted by Socom:
Ok, so I like my blues better..

but, bassbone and jamesgoss, your trees and eagle especially are soooo much nicer.. so how are you doing that?! :)

Kelli thank you for yours too :) I really appreciate it!

Your first problem is that you need to adjust the histogram - your shot is underexposed. As it is, the trees are way too dark. Go into levels and adjust the white slider so that the slider is next to the far right edge of the histogram. Second, I put a small amount of noise ninja on the image - which smooths the background and can do a bit of sharpening on the details as well.

Is there a way you do selective sections of levels, like you can with layers of hue/saturation. (i.e. remove areas you dont want leves to adjust)

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS II USM Lens

05/11/2011 09:02:33 PM · #13

Originally posted by Socom:

Originally posted by bassbone:

Originally posted by Socom:
Ok, so I like my blues better..

but, bassbone and jamesgoss, your trees and eagle especially are soooo much nicer.. so how are you doing that?! :)

Kelli thank you for yours too :) I really appreciate it!

Your first problem is that you need to adjust the histogram - your shot is underexposed. As it is, the trees are way too dark. Go into levels and adjust the white slider so that the slider is next to the far right edge of the histogram. Second, I put a small amount of noise ninja on the image - which smooths the background and can do a bit of sharpening on the details as well.

Is there a way you do selective sections of levels, like you can with layers of hue/saturation. (i.e. remove areas you dont want leves to adjust)

Yes - you can mask hue/saturation/ levels and all other adjustment layers. But for my edit, all adjustments were global and no masking or cloning or dodging or burning was done.

hahn23

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

05/11/2011 09:16:27 PM · #14

Viveza 2
Color Efex 3, Tonal Contrast
USM

Message edited by author 2011-05-11 21:18:40.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS II USM Lens

05/11/2011 09:23:00 PM · #15

Originally posted by hahn23:

Viveza 2
Color Efex 3, Tonal Contrast
USM

Thats pretty much exactly what I was looking for, tiny bit washed out guessing that happened to bring out the details of the trees and eagle.

hahn23

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

05/11/2011 09:26:52 PM · #16

Originally posted by Socom:

Originally posted by hahn23:

Viveza 2
Color Efex 3, Tonal Contrast
USM

Thats pretty much exactly what I was looking for, tiny bit washed out guessing that happened to bring out the details of the trees and eagle.

A little less red. It's touchy. Trade-offs galore.

05/11/2011 09:33:32 PM · #17

Originally posted by hahn23:

Originally posted by Socom:

Originally posted by hahn23:

Viveza 2
Color Efex 3, Tonal Contrast
USM

Thats pretty much exactly what I was looking for, tiny bit washed out guessing that happened to bring out the details of the trees and eagle.

A little less red. It's touchy. Trade-offs galore.

Dont see any differences between the two, but I get what your saying in regards to tradeoffs.

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens

05/11/2011 10:02:31 PM · #18

Originally posted by hahn23:

Maybe it is my monitor, but I almost get the sense of a purple-ish tone in the sky with your edit Richard. Other than that, it has a good balance of colors.

skewsme

Canon EOS-6D

05/11/2011 10:24:49 PM · #19

i tend to be goofy when it comes to processing, but i might go with a gradient for the sky if there weren't any restrictions.

hahn23

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS II USM Lens

05/11/2011 10:40:52 PM · #20

Originally posted by bassbone:

Originally posted by hahn23:

Originally posted by Socom:

Originally posted by hahn23:

Viveza 2
Color Efex 3, Tonal Contrast
USM

Thats pretty much exactly what I was looking for, tiny bit washed out guessing that happened to bring out the details of the trees and eagle.

A little less red. It's touchy. Trade-offs galore.

Maybe it is my monitor, but I almost get the sense of a purple-ish tone in the sky with your edit Richard. Other than that, it has a good balance of colors.

Yes, I see the purple-ish tone, too. Doesn't look like that in AdobeRGB colorspace, but there's definitely an odd color cast when converting to sRGB. It needs more work. I think there is color clipping going on. I use an AdobeRGB proofing profile in Aperture 3.1.2. To get this right, I'd use an sRGB proofing profile to steer away from the color clipping.

The sky gradient by

skewsme is a good solution.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

05/11/2011 10:53:05 PM · #21

Originally posted by skewsme:

i tend to be goofy when it comes to processing, but i might go with a gradient for the sky if there weren't any restrictions.

I really like it, never thought of that

kenskid

Nikon D700

05/11/2011 10:59:54 PM · #22

Well since it is not going to be in a challenge, lets go all out.

Enjoy.