Show me how guys ... - DPChallenge Forums

08/22/2007 09:20:06 PM · #1

Hello all! I'm a relatively new contributor to DPC and to photography in general. My early attempts haven't done well, but I've learned a great deal along the way and have definitely enjoyed the journey.

I really murdered one of my entries in the post processing. The original .jpg and my submitted version are below. While I really liked the selective desaturation (and it looks great as a print on my wall), it didn't fair well. More importantly, I really blew it with USM and learned the limitations of viewing on a laptop screen without checking on a better monitor before submitting!!!

Anyway, I upload the original to see what others might have done with it. It was submitted to a Free Study, so Advanced Editing rules apply.

Show me how guys ... I thought this might be a great way to get a thread going about post processing ideas and tricks.

Thanks in advance!

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

08/22/2007 09:26:30 PM · #2

Oops ... I guess I need to post a link to the full size JPG file.

This should work better.

Full Size Image File

smurfguy

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

08/22/2007 09:34:13 PM · #3

That's not bad, Barry. People here sometimes don't like selective desat because they claim it's overused. If you enjoy it, use it.

As far as the sharpening, it looks like the radius was a bit large, and the amount a bit much. PP is often about subtlety - still being believable. I'll have a go at it in a minute...

The other thing is, people here often don't like flowers because they're overdone. Unlike selective desat, they really are overdone. =) But I think all of us have taken flower shots, because they're pretty. Actually, 5.4 is pretty good for a flower shot. Still, any flower you enter in a challenge must be phenomenal, or it'll be passed off.

Message edited by author 2007-08-22 21:36:12.

codfish

08/22/2007 09:41:38 PM · #4

Wow if you consider your challenge results bad, I'd hate for you to have my scores!

You have some really nice shots, welcome to DPC

08/23/2007 09:42:15 AM · #5

Thanks for the comments guys!

I was hoping I'd get some people to play with the original .jpg and see what they can do!

Yeah, it was a radius issue - at least in part. I used some settings I found on somebody's website and when i saw it for the first time on a real monitor I literally shrieked! That's definitely one lesson I'll tuck away for the future!

Barry

08/23/2007 10:06:07 AM · #6

Originally posted by brayburn:

I was hoping I'd get some people to play with the original .jpg and see what they can do!

Hi Barry,
Sometimes completely desaturating a background is too much of a conflict with the overall look.
What I did here, was to go in-between:

-----------original--------- --------your entry--------- --------my edit------------

The way I did this was to mask off the flower, and apply a toned black & white over it, so the background still has a semblance of mood & tone, but not void of all color. Some selective color adjustments were done to punch the colors a bit on the main flower, mostly adding yellow to the yellow channel without making it look over-saturated, and bumped the black level as well.

08/23/2007 02:47:29 PM · #7

Thanks, Brad. I like that.

I agree that it didn't look good with full black and white desat in the background. I actually selectively took channels down and left some green channel on mine.

So your "toned black and white" is applied as a layer?

08/23/2007 02:54:30 PM · #8

Originally posted by brayburn:

With a mask layer, I would do it in two steps:
(1) black/white gradient map, fill scaled back to, say, 80%ish so it's only a partial desaturation
(2) photo filter, sepia, playing with the slider until it looks right

Brad may have a different method.

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Nikon

08/23/2007 03:07:00 PM · #9

Oh I'm different alright.
:)

There are 3 ways I could accomplish this with exactly the same effect:
Mask the flower, and apply the toned b&w over in a new layer, adjusting the opacity in the blending or edit, fade and adjust.
or
make a new layer via copy, edit, fade and adjust (or adjust blending, normal, and use the slider) convert to the toned b&w, then erase back the flower and/or whatever you want back.
or
Open the image, make the image the toned b&w, edit, fade to suit, then use the history brush in normal mode to bring back the flower.

levyj413

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

08/23/2007 03:21:57 PM · #10

Brad, what's "toned B/W" mean?

08/23/2007 03:23:23 PM · #11

Means it's like black & white, but not.

Lemme get a couple of examples. brb

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

08/23/2007 03:25:20 PM · #12

I'm confused too. You make it sound like one step, but I can't think of a way to do it in less than two.

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

08/23/2007 03:35:37 PM · #13

Originally posted by Rebecca:

I'm confused too. You make it sound like one step, but I can't think of a way to do it in less than two.

In CS3 the Black/White Adjustment allows you to apply a color tone as well.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

08/23/2007 03:42:44 PM · #14

So if you took the original

and converted it to one of the toned shots above

then edit, fade, 50% for instance

then history brush back just keyboard:

Could have been done by making a new layer via copy, adjusting the normal blending to 50% did the toning, erasing back what I didn't changed, in this case the keyboard, then flattening.

LanndonKane

Nikon D800

08/23/2007 03:49:32 PM · #15

Here's my variation.

Used a toned layer like brad, but more dodging burning was applied, and I didn't mask off the entire flower- just the center, to give it a glowy effect. Is glowy a word?

08/23/2007 03:57:19 PM · #16

Originally posted by yanko:

Originally posted by Rebecca:
I'm confused too. You make it sound like one step, but I can't think of a way to do it in less than two.

In CS3 the Black/White Adjustment allows you to apply a color tone as well.

Ahh, I just got CS2 for Christmas, you fancy-pantsed people.

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

08/23/2007 04:12:58 PM · #17

Toning b&w images is so easily done and infinitely variable.
Make your b&w conversion (not duo/tri/quadtone), making sure it's still RGB, then go to Image, Adjustments, Color Balance. There you can fiddle to your heart's content. You can tone the highlights green and the shadows red, leaving the Midtones alone, or any combination your sliders can slide, or do all 3 the same, making an even color cast/toned, black & white.

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

08/23/2007 04:42:39 PM · #18

Originally posted by Brad:

Where's all the oil and grease on your hands and keyboard???

violinist123

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

08/23/2007 04:45:49 PM · #19

Originally posted by Brad:

A more granular approach can be had by using the Selective Color tool. Depends on how anal you want to be about it.

08/23/2007 04:46:07 PM · #20

Originally posted by Brad:

Actually, I do this to nearly all my b/w pics. Shadows <5 pts to blue, highlights <5 pts to yellow. It really makes a flat picture pop, and the change is nearly imperceptible unless you stick it next to a pure grayscale.

08/23/2007 05:01:55 PM · #21

Originally posted by yanko:

Originally posted by Brad:

Where's all the oil and grease on your hands and keyboard???

Those hands belong to my neighbor Fred: