Darkroom Challenge Digital Darkroom Challenge #143 - Winner announced

[kae1]

Start Date

Aug 19, 2023

End Date

Aug 22, 2023

This is Digital Darkroom Derby #143, 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.

A Lotus Cortina in the pits at Oulton Park.

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RAW and JPEG images are #143

Challenge finished at 17:00 BST on Tuesday 22nd August.

 

[Irene McC]

ah look, 57 - that's my number I'll have to give it a go

 

[Irene McC]

I haven't done much to it really (Capture One) Mainly straightened the uprights

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[griffljg]

Wow! A Lotus Cortina!!! Memories of my youth, when Ford Cortinas were well-nigh ubiquitous. And how about the old Ford Mustang behind it? Well, at least it looks like a Mustang to me.

Entry #1:

First ran the ARW file through DxO PureRAW 3, mainly for lens correction and sharpening, before importing the resulting DNG file into Capture One Pro 23 for further processing. That had the dual effect of bringing out the detail on the trophy on the roof and making the Lotus badge / decal on the grill more legible.

Straightened the verticals and cropped out the fluorescent light, which I felt was just being a distraction. Then performed a bit of Highlight recovery, which brought out the slightly creamy colour of the car, and some shadow recovery. - Not too much, as the dark background allows the trophy on the roof to stand out.

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[RobD]

#1. Aurora, ACR & PS

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[griffljg]

Entry #2:

The same as entry #1, but warmed up the White Balance a bit.

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[kae1]

Wow! A Lotus Cortina!!! Memories of my youth, when Ford Cortinas were well-nigh ubiquitous. And how about the old Ford Mustang behind it? Well, at least it looks like a Mustang to me.

It is a Mustang, plus the headlight and bit of blue bodywork belong to an AC Cobra. They were at a race meeting for historic* cars. (*which means, as I remember most of them, I'm historic too!). A few others are here Sports - Show Motorsports

 

[Stiga]

#1 PL6 for lens correction and denoise > SNS-HDR to deal with the dynamic range > Viewpoint to straighten things up > PS to tidy up and resize

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[kae1]

Still got time to have a go!

 

[kae1]

What better way to test FF dynamic range then to have bits of the white car in the open and things happening in the garage at the back in the dark. In my edit I'd struggled to improve the garage lighting without messing up the car's whiteness. Plus I want to thank you for pointing out something which I'd ignored in my edit - straightening the verticals.

Even though there was a small, but very select, number of entries I could make an argument for each of them and have learnt something too .

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However, my winners are :-
Runners up - @griffljg #1 - I liked the verticals, the lighter garage, switching off the florescent light and the car's colours
Winner - @Stiga - I liked the verticals but especially the amount of shadow recovery you'd achieved whilst still retaining natural looking colours.

Congratulations @Stiga and over to you.

My attempt

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[aKilter]

Since there is quite a bit of Ai involved in my processing, I thought I’d wait until the Challenge ended to post my image and perhaps give a glimpse of what’s to come(and in many cases is already here) in image editing.

There are lots of “errors” in my post that’s typical of the current state of Ai. However, Ai programs are improving at a rapid rate and these obvious, and sometimes comical, errors are becoming less frequent.

Traditional processing: straightened image and adjusted crop. Ai processing: modified the car(including adding British Racing Green accents) and changed the background.

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[Stiga]

Many thanks for the win.

I'll get a new challenge uploaded later today

 

[Stiga]

DDD #144 is now live