DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Learning Thread — Landscape Photography
Pages:   ... ...
Showing posts 301 - 325 of 1229, (reverse)
AuthorThread
04/23/2006 06:21:24 PM · #301
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:

Some vertical shots:
Original: Edited:
These are from the Grand Caynon of PA the other day, I masked the sky and mountains to adjust each on its own.

Original: Edited:
An older shot from Ithaca, but the one I like better of the two. Curves, Hue&Sat, Selective Color, Contrast, and Gothic Glow ;-)

Curious to know what y'all think.


The "grand canyon" shot seems to me to be almost beyond salvation, actually. I'd be interested ins eeing the full-sized, original exposure.

The river shot is an interesting exercise. You used curves, hue/sat, levels, and gothic glow. I used multiple passes of contrast masking, as described before, and a smidge of hue/sat in yellow and red ranges, plus a gradient in the sky:



Interesting comparison, eh? The different color of the bright reeds can be adjusted as desired, I just like it this way.

R.
04/23/2006 06:23:37 PM · #302
Originally posted by Melethia:

Yeah, that first one didn't suck, Robert. :-)


Of course not, but the final version is what I was "seeing" when I took the shot, and I post-processed to attain that vision, for better or for worse.

R.
04/23/2006 06:43:44 PM · #303
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

The "grand canyon" shot seems to me to be almost beyond salvation, actually. I'd be interested ins eeing the full-sized, original exposure.

The river shot is an interesting exercise. You used curves, hue/sat, levels, and gothic glow. I used multiple passes of contrast masking, as described before, and a smidge of hue/sat in yellow and red ranges, plus a gradient in the sky:



Interesting comparison, eh? The different color of the bright reeds can be adjusted as desired, I just like it this way.

R.

Wow. I'm with you on the river shot, Robert. The range of colors in your edit is much more vibrant. Back to PS to learn the finer points of contrast masking.

Since you asked, here's the full-size file of the canyon shot:

However, I do have a question for you now. Several times you've mentioned using gradients in the sky of photos. Can you explain how to use it properly, please?
04/23/2006 07:01:41 PM · #304
Allthough a lot can be achived in photoshop, it's important not to forget grad ND filters. They are a essential tool for landscape, and help getting the proper exposure.

Patrick have some taken with grad ND filters, and they are nearly unprocessed.


04/23/2006 08:23:06 PM · #305
First time trying contrast masking. That's pretty cool. I did two passes then adjusted reds, yellows. There's a purpleish band I the sky I couldn't get rid of. I didn't notice it is also on the raw until I was done. Resized and small dose of usm.




EDIT: Hmm, strange. I don't see that purple band when uploaded here.

Message edited by author 2006-04-23 20:24:56.
04/23/2006 08:47:37 PM · #306
Wait!! Don't stop! Perhaps you under estimate the number of us lurkers who are soaking up information. I'm even taking notes for my upcoming trip to Africa.

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

It would appear there's very little interest in this learning thread, or at least very little activity currently. Probably because I'm not doing it in a way that people want to see. Is there something I can do to make it more interesting and/or effective?

R.

04/23/2006 09:18:08 PM · #307
Not sure if I did any of it right, but I did try the cntrl-alt-~ thing to separate highlights and shadows, then play with them a bit. Also did layers for curves, hue/sat, brightness/contrast, and probably a couple other things. Burned the clouds just a bit, then USM (though I forgot to do it again on the resized image). The first is a simple convert-to-jpeg then resize of the original, the second is what I have so far. And yes, this is a river bed - we just don't happen to have any water in it at the moment.





Exposure info is on the edited picture.
04/23/2006 10:31:36 PM · #308
Originally posted by Bear_Music:


Contrast Masking

In PS CS2: use the shadow/highlight dialogue box and play with it. Can't help you there, don't have it.

In PS 7.0 (and maybe CS, if no shadow/highlight there) do this:

1. Open image and save-as a psd file.
2. Key "cntrl-alt-tilde" (tilde is ~) to create a feathered highlights selection
3. Key "cntrl-J" to create a new layer with only the selected areas on it. Name this layer "highlights"
4. Click BG layer to make it active again
5. "cntrl-alt-tilde" again, then "cntrl-shift-I" to invert the selection, and "cntrl-J" to make another new layer with the shadow selection loaded; call this layer "shadows".


Okay, something's fishy here. I'm trying to finess this, and when I go to invert (Ctrl-I), it makes my background all faded grey. When I look on the "Select" dropdown menu, it says "Inverse" is Shift-Crtl-I, which does in fact seem to grab the shadows so I can throw them in a layer all their own.

Is this just a different mapping on my computer, or was there a type in here that could be causing the same problem for others? Or is what I'm perceving as a problem really the way it's supposed to be working?
04/23/2006 11:05:29 PM · #309
Ok, my contribution to the latest assignment, taken a bit earlier this evening. Shot at f8, 1/15 sec, ISO200 just before a cloud covered sunset.

Flat lighting, but couldn't be helped with the clouds diffusing everything. Rested the camera on a log as I was too low to the ground to use the tripod. Long shutterspeed resulted in some movement in the leaves.

original (RAW, 5.9MB) <- "save as..." may be required.
edited

post processing steps
- Converted from RAW in RSE as shot to 16-bit tiff.
- contrast masking to expand dynamic range
- haze removing USM to add a touch of clarity
- Hue/Sat to bump up saturation and lightness just a bit
- levels to balance the tones within the dynamic range
- USM for sharpness
- resize and save for web



Message edited by author 2006-04-23 23:18:49.
04/23/2006 11:13:25 PM · #310
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:


Contrast Masking

In PS CS2: use the shadow/highlight dialogue box and play with it. Can't help you there, don't have it.

In PS 7.0 (and maybe CS, if no shadow/highlight there) do this:

1. Open image and save-as a psd file.
2. Key "cntrl-alt-tilde" (tilde is ~) to create a feathered highlights selection
3. Key "cntrl-J" to create a new layer with only the selected areas on it. Name this layer "highlights"
4. Click BG layer to make it active again
5. "cntrl-alt-tilde" again, then "cntrl-shift-I" to invert the selection, and "cntrl-J" to make another new layer with the shadow selection loaded; call this layer "shadows".


Okay, something's fishy here. I'm trying to finess this, and when I go to invert (Ctrl-I), it makes my background all faded grey. When I look on the "Select" dropdown menu, it says "Inverse" is Shift-Crtl-I, which does in fact seem to grab the shadows so I can throw them in a layer all their own.

Is this just a different mapping on my computer, or was there a type in here that could be causing the same problem for others? Or is what I'm perceving as a problem really the way it's supposed to be working?

Ctrl-I inverts the pixels -- that is, they will be opposite colors on the color wheel.

Ctrl-Shft-I inverts the selection - that is, the pixels that were not selected are now selected, while the pixels that were selected are not.
04/23/2006 11:49:54 PM · #311
All right, here are a few vertical composition landscapes:

orig: edit:

orig: edit:
04/24/2006 12:56:14 AM · #312
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:


However, I do have a question for you now. Several times you've mentioned using gradients in the sky of photos. Can you explain how to use it properly, please?


1. Click on the foreground color swatch in the toolbox to open the color picker. move the cursor over the image and select a cark-colored portion of the sky with the eyedropper. A circle will appear in the color picker. Move that circle straight down to select a darker sahde of the same hue; this is now your foreground color.

2. Select the gradient tool from the tools palette and in the toolbar at the top of the window click the drop-down list and select "forefround to transparent" gradient

3. Make the topmost layer in your layers palette active and hit shift-cntl-N to create a new, empty layer.

4. Drag the gradient tool down from the top of your image a fair distance and let go

5. Set the layer to muliply and fade the opacity until the gradient looks natural. If necessary, go to image/adjust and adjust the hue/saturation of this layer to change the color of the gradient slightly.

6. If you bollix it up, just hit cntrl-Z to undo if you have just drawn the layer, or alternatively use the history palette to revert to the new layer stage, and start over again.

At first it will seem awkward, but with practice you can get it right on first or second pass every time. When I have it where I want it, I usually merge it into the layer beneath to lock it in. But I save snapshots before i do it, so I can undo it by reverting sometime in the future, if needs be.

R.


04/24/2006 01:16:11 AM · #313
Originally posted by Melethia:

Not sure if I did any of it right, but I did try the cntrl-alt-~ thing to separate highlights and shadows, then play with them a bit. Also did layers for curves, hue/sat, brightness/contrast, and probably a couple other things. Burned the clouds just a bit, then USM (though I forgot to do it again on the resized image). The first is a simple convert-to-jpeg then resize of the original, the second is what I have so far. And yes, this is a river bed - we just don't happen to have any water in it at the moment.





Exposure info is on the edited picture.


Here's a much more aggressive rendering of the same scene, for what it is worth. Contrast masking used twice, with the shadow mask set to soft light on the second pass. Hue/sat bumped and lightened the yellows, bumped and darkened the reds, desaturated blue and cyan a little. Slight vignetting applied and faded, USM used. NO dodging or burning.



Robt.
04/24/2006 01:29:03 AM · #314
Originally posted by David.C:

Ok, my contribution to the latest assignment, taken a bit earlier this evening. Shot at f8, 1/15 sec, ISO200 just before a cloud covered sunset.

Flat lighting, but couldn't be helped with the clouds diffusing everything. Rested the camera on a log as I was too low to the ground to use the tripod. Long shutterspeed resulted in some movement in the leaves.

original (RAW, 5.9MB) <- "save as..." may be required.
edited

post processing steps
- Converted from RAW in RSE as shot to 16-bit tiff.
- contrast masking to expand dynamic range
- haze removing USM to add a touch of clarity
- Hue/Sat to bump up saturation and lightness just a bit
- levels to balance the tones within the dynamic range
- USM for sharpness
- resize and save for web


Here, again, is a more aggressive approach to this image. Working from the small version, not the large one. Double dose of contrast masking with vivid light mode set on the shadows in the second pass. Hue/sat to amp the yellow and greens. slight gradient applied to foreground to mute the rocks.



R.
04/24/2006 01:51:34 AM · #315
Originally posted by justin_hewlett:

All right, here are a few vertical composition landscapes:

orig: edit:


Here's a different take on the fence shot. Again, much more aggressive. One thing I particularly noticed about yours is that the sky was a very cartoonish blue, so I specifically changed that. This was working from the original, not the glow version.

Aside from the contrast masking in 2 stages, I also created a glow layer then selected for the sky and cut that right out of the glow layer, then faded the glow layer to about 50%, capturing some of the luminance without having it go totally hazy/misty on me. Added a gradient at the top also.



One of the things we MOST need to watch out for when hyper-coloring landscapes is that the skies not go out of control in a cartoonish blue. For some reason that doesn't work well at all for most viewers, in most cases. We can ramp up foliage, for example, much more than we can skies and still have it look rational enough.

R.
04/24/2006 02:01:57 AM · #316
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Here's a different take on the fence shot. Again, much more aggressive. One thing I particularly noticed about yours is that the sky was a very cartoonish blue, so I specifically changed that. This was working from the original, not the glow version.

Aside from the contrast masking in 2 stages, I also created a glow layer then selected for the sky and cut that right out of the glow layer, then faded the glow layer to about 50%, capturing some of the luminance without having it go totally hazy/misty on me. Added a gradient at the top also.



One of the things we MOST need to watch out for when hyper-coloring landscapes is that the skies not go out of control in a cartoonish blue. For some reason that doesn't work well at all for most viewers, in most cases. We can ramp up foliage, for example, much more than we can skies and still have it look rational enough.

R.

Thanks. I'll agree with you on the cartonish blues. Thanks for pointing that out. Your edit appears quite dark to me, however, lacking highlights. Is it just my monitor?
04/24/2006 02:09:49 AM · #317
Originally posted by justin_hewlett:


Thanks. I'll agree with you on the cartonish blues. Thanks for pointing that out. Your edit appears quite dark to me, however, lacking highlights. Is it just my monitor?


NO. it's dark. I tend to push things to opposite extremes int hese exercises to help define limits, you know? I felt yours was maybe too bright, so I made mine darker. Usually something in the middle will be optimal.

Seems to work better to me to do it that way, hover around the outer fringes for the "examples". None of them are "finished work", I just bang them out. Even in my own work, I'll go too far and then pull back when i create the final edit.

It's something my father taught me a long time ago (he's an engineer); when you're trying to optimize something, it's better to quickly find the limits and then pull back; how else can you know if you've reached as far as you can? So, for example, with materials you test to destruction first :-)

Robt.
04/24/2006 03:44:57 AM · #318
sorry

Message edited by author 2006-04-24 03:51:28.
04/24/2006 03:53:53 AM · #319
Here's my go at it. I like this shot but am sure you could help me improve on it.

original

edit
04/24/2006 06:37:36 AM · #320
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Contrast Masking

In PS CS2: use the shadow/highlight dialogue box and play with it. Can't help you there, don't have it.

In PS 7.0 (and maybe CS, if no shadow/highlight there) do this:

1. Open image and save-as a psd file.
2. Key "cntrl-alt-tilde" (tilde is ~) to create a feathered highlights selection
3. Key "cntrl-J" to create a new layer with only the selected areas on it. Name this layer "highlights"
4. Click BG layer to make it active again
5. "cntrl-alt-tilde" again, then "cntrl-shift-I" to invert the selection, and "cntrl-J" to make another new layer with the shadow selection loaded; call this layer "shadows".

To decrease contrast to preserve highlight detail and shadow detail both, in the layers dialogue box set the layer mode of the "highlight" layer at "multiply" and of the "shadow" layer at "screen". Adjust the relative opacities of both layers so it looks the way you want it to.

Regarding CS2 I'm not so sure that "Shadow/Highlight" is all that great. I keep trying to use it to good effect but it tends to make images flatter and with more artificial borders than I like. Might just be because I have not yet figured out how to use it properly. One thing I don't like is that it is a destructive process on a real data layer so requires an additional layer like noise reduction does.

PS7's method of contrast masking seems to work better to me than PS CS2 "Shadow/Highlight" feature does. However, I remember I felt that way about the PS7 method of separating USM into "darken" and "lighten" layers to adjust those two things separately until I got experienced with Smart Sharpen. Now I think "Smart Sharpen" is better than even third party products like Focus Magic. I just can't seem to get there with "Shadow/Highlight" yet.

Another thing... We are talking about applying contrast masking and/or CS2's Shadow/Highlight to "flat" light landscapes. Seems to me that these methods are designed specifically for overly contrasty images where detail is lost in both shadow and highlight because of the extreme lighting differences where you want to recover shadow or highlight information. That is the opposite of "flat" lighting. Here it seems like we are suggesting using it like an effects filter moreso than it's primary purpose. Am I just drug flashbacking back to the 60s or what? :)

Message edited by author 2006-04-24 06:54:13.
04/24/2006 11:26:30 AM · #321
Here's a vertical landscape from my archive (shot in fairly heavy mist)

Original

Edited Version

Used levels to set the black point. Played with curves a bit. Also a bit of dodge and burn.

Exposure: 1/50 at f5.6, ISO 100
04/24/2006 01:27:58 PM · #322
Originally posted by stdavidson:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Contrast Masking

In PS CS2: use the shadow/highlight dialogue box and play with it. Can't help you there, don't have it.

In PS 7.0 (and maybe CS, if no shadow/highlight there) do this:

1. Open image and save-as a psd file.
2. Key "cntrl-alt-tilde" (tilde is ~) to create a feathered highlights selection
3. Key "cntrl-J" to create a new layer with only the selected areas on it. Name this layer "highlights"
4. Click BG layer to make it active again
5. "cntrl-alt-tilde" again, then "cntrl-shift-I" to invert the selection, and "cntrl-J" to make another new layer with the shadow selection loaded; call this layer "shadows".

To decrease contrast to preserve highlight detail and shadow detail both, in the layers dialogue box set the layer mode of the "highlight" layer at "multiply" and of the "shadow" layer at "screen". Adjust the relative opacities of both layers so it looks the way you want it to.
... Another thing... We are talking about applying contrast masking and/or CS2's Shadow/Highlight to "flat" light landscapes. Seems to me that these methods are designed specifically for overly contrasty images where detail is lost in both shadow and highlight because of the extreme lighting differences where you want to recover shadow or highlight information. That is the opposite of "flat" lighting. Here it seems like we are suggesting using it like an effects filter moreso than it's primary purpose. Am I just drug flashbacking back to the 60s or what? :)

Below what you quoted are instructions for increasing the contrast (essentially spreading the flat detail out toward the edges. This works well without the 'spread to thin' look I tend to get with levels.
04/24/2006 02:23:36 PM · #323
Originally posted by stdavidson:

We are talking about applying contrast masking and/or CS2's Shadow/Highlight to "flat" light landscapes. Seems to me that these methods are designed specifically for overly contrasty images where detail is lost in both shadow and highlight because of the extreme lighting differences where you want to recover shadow or highlight information. That is the opposite of "flat" lighting. Here it seems like we are suggesting using it like an effects filter moreso than it's primary purpose. Am I just drug flashbacking back to the 60s or what? :)


Bear in mind that I am doing all this by the seat of my pants; the use of contrast masking in PS7 to add depth to flat images is something I have come up with entirely on my own. Others may have done it, but I haven't seen it anywhere else.

I used to do this primarily with curves, and it was always frustrating me.

I don't worry about the "destructive" component because I separate things out into different layer groups. Here's a typical workflow for me (this restates some of what I have said before and adds to it a little):

1. Make a duplicate of BG

2. with that as the active layer, do the contrast mask thing, usually with highlights multiplied and shadows screened, and opacities adjusted as needed (if the image is low contrast, I may not screen the shadows on first pass)

3. make BG layer invisible and merge the 3 remaining layers

4. Dupe the merged layer

5. Do contrast masking on the merged layer, creating 2 more layers, and play with layer modes on those. Most often I will run the shadow layer in "soft light" or even up to "vivid light", and frequently I may fade the highlight mask close to zero on this pass.

6. make the original layer and the first contrast mask layer invisible, merge the 3 remaining layers

7. Now I have 3 layers: BG, masked 1, and masked 2. I adjust opacities and layer modes on the 2 masked layers until it starts to click.

It's all a work-in-progress for me. I've just discovered, earlier in this thread, the ability to use cntrl-alt-1,2,3 to make feathered COLOR RANGE masks, and I am working on how to integrate those as well.

R.
04/24/2006 03:07:11 PM · #324
There is nothing wrong with your stated workflow and certainly nothing wrong with your results either. In fact, I like the way you do things. Results, after all, is what post processing is all about. Whatever gives a good result is what we all want to do. :)

You are doing a terrific job leading the landscape photography discussion and I am learning good things even though I've been an infrequent contributor. I am very interested in this discussion.

My personal perference is to do as few "destructive" processes as possible. That guides my actions. Not because they are not necessary, many are, but because later when I look at my post processed master file I can't remember what I did on those combined layers and want to repeat it somewhere else. LOL!

Oh, I'm one of those people that actually remembers the 60s, so maybe I wasn't really there. ;)
04/24/2006 03:10:32 PM · #325
Originally posted by Penny Lane:

Here's my go at it. I like this shot but am sure you could help me improve on it.

original

edit


That's a very nice shot. I'm not sure where you want to go with it, but in keeping with my ongoing theme of hyper-colored landscapes, to show where the extremes are, here ya go:



As usual, multiple contrast masking, flattening it on the first pass and then bringing back contrast (with vivid light this time) in the second pass on shadows. I also used cntrl-alt-3 to select the blue/cyan range and tone it down, faint gradients top and bottom, and some minor tweaking of hue/sat to make the reds darker and the yellows lighter for more sense of relief in the sand.

R.
Pages:   ... ...
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 05:24:04 PM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 05:24:04 PM EDT.