Darkroom Challenge Digital Darkroom Challenge #230 - Closed - Results Posted

[griffljg]

Start Date

Oct 2, 2024

End Date

Oct 5, 2024

This is Digital Darkroom Derby #230, a digital image editing/processing challenge.

These challenges are open to everyone. If you have any interest in practicing or improving your image editing and post-processing skills, please feel free to join in!

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

If you feel that you may be unable to provide an image for the next challenge, please submit your entry with the words "Non Entry" at the top.

Background Information

This is a standard problem that I have when trying to take photos of little birds in Brisbane's wetlands reserves. - They flit around so quickly that, if you happen to spot one, it is difficult to frame the photo correctly or, if they do pause for a bit, they are just a bit too far away..... Unless you are lucky!

I was slowly wandering around the Sandy Camp Road Wetlands Reserve when I spotted this little Sacred Kingfisher perched on a branch. Even accepting that I would have to crop the image, it was still just a bit too far away for my liking. But I decided to fire off a burst using ProCapture just in case it did something interesting. I could always delete them when I got home. My camera was set up in my 'birds-in-flight' mode. - Very fast shutter speed which with a maximum aperture of 6.3 at full stretch, tends to push the ISO values up into the stratosphere, introducing a fair bit of noise.

When I got home and went through culling all the "non-keepers" (Probably upwards of 90%), I decided to see what I could do with one of the kingfisher photos. So I fiddled around until I got the exposure about right. Then the cropping! - The OM-1's 20 megapixel sensor doesn't allow for excessive cropping without losing image quality. This gave me a great chance to play around with some upsizing software. That improved matters, but it was still way outside of my 'acceptable' range. If it wasn't for this challenge, this photo would be straight into the bin.

I would be interested in seeing if you can do better. Please also tell us what software and techniques you used so that the rest of us can also learn. I'll post my attempt on completion of the challenge.

The RAW and JPEG files are here: DDD #230

This challenge will end on Saturday 5 October 2024 at 5:00pm Brisbane Time (07:00 UTC).

Have fun! 😄

 

[RobD]

#1. Topaz Photo AI, ACR & PS

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Rob R]

Set color, cropped, Topaz Denoise , vignette and some burning and dodging. ACR and photoshop.
Nice looking bird!

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[RobD]

#2.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Zeus1]

Denoising using PureRaw version 3. Pepper and salt work in Camera Raw (cropping, blurring and softening background, changing color of bright spot to the right of the bird, some sharpening, increased color saturation over the bird). Then over to Topaz Photo AI for object sharpening using "natural" at 25.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Rob R]

#2
I was going to go back and make the background darker and then I got some ideas from Zeus.
So I selected the bird and inverted the mask, made the background darker and then used the blur gallery in camera raw filter to shatter the background.
I reselected the bird and made it look as good as possible.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

Another post that is out of competition, just because I had a spare hour. The entries are all very good!

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

I used DxO PL7 as usual. I applied extra noise reduction and sharpening and cropped it to 1600 pixels. Then I used Topaz Photo AI, followed by Gimp/G'mic/Nik to recover or create the impression of detail.

 

[kae1]

Entry #1 DXO PL7 then Elements, PhotoAI and Gigapixel AI (old version)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[kae1]

Entry #2 Not a B&W DXO PL7 then Elements and PhotoAI (inc Upscale).

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[gecko]

Beautiful bird. I edited raw file in DxO PL7 (light levels, noise reduction) then tweaked result in Elements (further light level adjustments, cropping, resizing to 1600 pixel width), then ON1 Effects (contrast levels, slight dynamic contrast), then Topaz Photo AI (further noise reduction, selective sharpening of bird).

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[gecko]

Entry #2: Used entry #1 and converted background to B&W keeping the bird in color. (I don't know how to use masking, etc., so I used very elementary methods: I duplicated the last layer of entry #1, converted it to B&W using Nic Silver Efex, then selected the bird and erased it to show the bird in color in the layer below.)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Peano]

Not competing, just thought I'd try the smudge brush for a painterly effect. It's also a good way to wipe out noise. ACR and PS. A light sandstone texture on the background. Haven't tried one of these in donkey years.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[griffljg]

Just over 12 hours to go on this challenge. I see some great entries there. Still time to get in some more.

 

[griffljg]

This challenge is now closed. Results shortly... I hope! There were some excellent entries here.

Sorry for the late notice. I have just got back from taking photos of flowers in Toowoomba.

 

[griffljg]

Thank you to all who submitted entries in this challenge. I learned a lot from your attempts. That encouraged me to try another attempt of my own. Many thanks for your input.

What I was looking for was a way to crop and upscale the image without it looking 'artificial' and to also remove as much noise as possible without losing too much definition. - Admittedly a tall ask! But I was also not blind to alternative treatments of a more 'artistic' nature. - I am thinking of @Peano's non-entry at the end.

All the entries were good and each had its merits. Initially I resorted to a bit of 'nit-pickery' to decide which ones were the best. But that was a thankless task, as I found myself going around in circles. So I finally resorted to my time-honoured method of scanning through the images and choosing those that I found most pleasing to my eyes. - Hence my comment on David's (@Peano ) non-entry.

But finally, I still had to choose a 'leader board'. So here are my choices:

• Winner: Ken (@kae1 ) Entry #2 -> A nice balance of corrections combined with a lesser crop which gives the photo additional context.
  
  
• First Runner-Up: Rashid (@gecko ) Entry #1 -> A nice balance of corrections made this a rather pleasing solution.
  
  
• Second Runner-up: @Rob R Entry #1 -> A nice balance of corrections on the bird, but a bit over-done on the background.

Congratulations Ken (@kae1). Over to you now.

For what it is worth, here are my attempts:

#1:

This image was processed by first passing the raw file through DxO PureRAW 4 for noise reduction and lens correction purposes, before importing the resulting DNG file into Capture One Pro for further editing / processing. As this image had been severely cropped, it was further upscaled using Topaz Photo AI. I found that it looked a bit too artificial.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

#2:

This time I decided to try Topaz Photo as a pre-processor......
As this image had to be severely cropped, it was first passed through Topaz Photo AI for noise reduction, cropping, upscaling and sharpening purposes, before importing the resulting DNG file into Capture One Pro for further editing / processing.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[kae1]

Congratulations Ken (@kae1). Over to you now.

Thanks for the win, Larry

The next challenge is up and running here.