Darkroom Challenge Digital Darkroom Challenge #142 -- CLOSED - Results Posted

griffljg

Top Veteran
Location
Lota, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Name
Larry Griffiths
Start Date
Aug 16, 2023
End Date
Aug 19, 2023
This is Digital Darkroom Derby #142, a digital image editing/processing challenge.

Please read the rules here. -> Short version: The host provides the challenge image / images and selects the winner, who then becomes the next host.

In July 2016, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Delville Wood, in which my grandfather and two of his brothers fought, I went with a group of South African military veterans on a tour of World War I battlefields, museums, churches, cities and villages of northern France and southern Belgium. It was avery sobering visit.

One of the cities we visited was Albert, where we visited the Basilique Notre-Dame de Brebières. This is one of the photos which I took inside.

LJGG2556.jpg
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The ORF (raw) and JPEG files are here: DDD #142.

The challenge will close at 05:00pm (17h00) AEST (07h00 GMT) on Saturday 19 August 2023.
 
Not competing, and nothing special here. I first converted the raw file using an antediluvian version of DXO, then moved that to my prehistoric version of Photoshop. My main aim was to experiment with pulling the light into the center of the frame and downplaying the shadowy areas on the sides. (Looking at this a second time, I think I might have made the center too bright and not churchy enough, but I'm done.) I'm really going to have to buy a new computer and drag myself by the heels into the 21st century whether I like it or not. I'm missing out on too many useful editing tools. :dash2:

cathedral-1200.jpg
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Last edited:
Beautiful. I thought I'd try doing just a detail from the roof in order to allow me to play while disqualifying my entry :) DxO PL5, then Elements (with ON1 effects, and Topaz Photo AI plug-ins).

View attachment 406644
Nice! I also was struck by that detail, but I didn't even think of doing a crop. Good eye! I just noticed the Star of David. Nice touch. I'd like to know the story behind that.
 
Thank you to Irene and Ken for submitting entries, and also those who were just playing around. One thing that surprised me was how bright everything was. - OK, so it was a very bright and sunny day, which helped. Compared to most of the other churches which we visited, which were dark and sombre, this one gave the impression of being a bright and happy place. I processed my example below to show how I remember it. The bright light made the roof detail stand out really clearly and I also took some photos looking straight up so that I could study it later. Even so, I hadn't noticed the Star of David.

Looking at the entries, I had a lot of difficulty choosing between Irene's #2 and Ken's #1. Ken's white balance / colours were a bit warmer and closer to how it appeared in real life, whereas Irene's shadow recovery was better, but the white balance / colours left the image looking a bit cold.

So, in the end I decided on:

Well done both of you. Over to you now Ken.


LJGG2556-ORF.jpg
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