Darkroom Challenge Digital Darkroom Derby #002 (Closed - Results announced)

[kae1]

This is the second DDD, a digital image editing/processing challenge. The rules are here. Please read them.

The basic idea is the challenge host provides a source image and participants process it to taste and post one or two entries. The host selects the winner and that winner becomes the host for the next challenge. As Christmas is imminent this challenge will end at 8am (UTC) on Friday, December 24, 2021 to give me time to select a winner. Best of luck!

RAW and JPEG Images here DDD002

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[RichardC]

Entry 1

Opened image in DXO, added low intensities of smart lighting and clearview, ran through Deep Prime on export to Photoshop. In Camera RAW I boosted shadows and vibrance. Warmed the image up. In camera calibration, I boosted blue and red saturation to add some punch to the boats and foliage. Heavy crop to 16:9. Cloned out some rope. Added a colour look up layer, Kodak 5218 @ 35%, normal blend mode. Vignette and border. My borders are generated through a plug-in, Greg Benz's web sharp pro. It's a lot faster than doing it yourself.

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[WhidbeyLVR]

Nice challenge image! I’d love to join, but I have a 2500 mile round-trip road trip through Omicron Gulch to Sunshine Shores and back again. Starting today.

So merry, merry and happy, happy and I shall see you on the other side!

 

[Zeus1]

@RichardC Damn it, man, You're too fast. Had exactly the same end result as Yours. You compelled me to do a "BosseBe". Afterwards nik SilverEfexPro.

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[mike3996]

I was going for the same crop also. As a matter of principle I'll be not cropping.

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[Hendrik]

A lovely scene full of yummy colors.
Initial exposure tweaks in Adobe Camera Raw. I took the liberty of introducing some atmosphere both to expand the scale a bit as well as to focus attention more securely on the watercraft. That took the form of a long linear gradient set to minus temperature, dehaze, clarity and, for developing the cloud structure, highlights.
Then, into Photoshop for some pixel wrangling.

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[Hendrik]

I used the color version as a base. A curves layer to alter the contrast, a Black & White adjustment layer and a layer set to Overlay to more precisely brush in tones. A different aspect ratio crop, as well.

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[BosseBe]

I am totally shameless and will show my entries even if others have beaten me to something!
I did not look at the earlier entries before I did my take.
Entry #1

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DxO PL5 all the way, used my standard preset and lifted the red and orange channels in HSL.

 

[BosseBe]

And it being me, a B&W of course from the above.
Entry #2:

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[RichardC]

Entry 2

Felt it needed 'cheering up'. From scratch, opened in Adobe Camera Raw. Applied 'French Comedy' profile, adjusted colour temperature, added texture, reduced highlights, added vibrance. Lightened the midtones in the colour grading panel. Shifted reds/greens/blues in camera calibration panel. Darkened the sky. Cropped and removed a boat, rope and tracks on the beach. Flattened the image, opened in ON1 effects and used their glow filter and added some halo (diffusion). Back in Photoshop dodged the centre and burnt in the foliage and beach. Added a border.

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[mike3996]

Entry 2.

I think the human element has been sadly dismissed in the previous submissions.

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[betamax]

Capture One for varous HSL changes, and dehaze, then Snapheal CK to lop off the couple's heads in the lower corner.

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[kae1]

Still most of the day to go to get your entries in.

 

[olli]

I've gone for a much tigher crop with just a few additional minor tweaks in the basics panel to drop highlights and blacks and boost shadows. I lso added a little clarity to the hills in the bakcground. All done in Lightroom.

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[kae1]

Challenge closed. Results soon.

 

[kae1]

This was my first real outing with my Olympus 9-18 (FF18-36) and TBH I’m not so sure whether I need it as most pictures I took with it ended up at 18mm.

I’ve taken to doing short bursts of landscapes in tourist areas as you don’t know who/what is going to burst into view. I was interested to see whether anybody was going to leave the “intruders” in and to crop or not to crop was the other question and I agree that some sort of crop is required to reduce the “blandness” of the foreshore.

I love post processing competitions as we’ve all get such a wide range of interpretation of the original image. As my screen shot shows you’ve all had different views on what to do with the original image and I like them all.

I could make a strong argument for choosing any one of them as the winner as in my opinion it is so close.

But, my runner up is @RichardC #2 submission - I like the crop and the nice “otherworldly” feel which makes the image different

Winner is @mike3996 #1 B&W submission - I like the “atmospheric” take (including “intruders”) and some nice contrast on the foreshore to make it more interesting.

Congratulations @mike3996 and over to you.

 

[kae1]

New. Challenge live Challenge! - Digital Darkroom Derby #003 (open)