Darkroom Challenge Digital Darkroom Derby #69 (Results posted.)

[gecko]

Start Date Sep 26, 2022
End Date Sep 29, 2022

This is Digital Darkroom Derby #69, a digital image editing/processing challenge.
Please read the rules here. Short version: Host provides the challenge image and selects the winner, who then becomes the next host.

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A common buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) on lantana flowers.
JPG file: _6288195.JPG
RAW file: _6288195.ORF

The derby will close at 6 PM EDT (22:00 h GMT/UTC) on Thursday, September 29, 2022.

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

Nice challenge image!

I won't be participating in the challenges for several weeks due to other priorties and lack of time. Have fun without me!

 

[BosseBe]

DxO PL5.
Entry #1:

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[BosseBe]

And a selective color from the above, all done in DxO PL5.
Entry #2:

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Beautiful picture, BTW.

 

[griffljg]

Ran this through DxO PureRAW to take care of the noise, before importing the DNG file into Capture One Pro. Added a bit of contrast and then a slight crop to make the picture appear a bit more "balanced".

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[Peano]

Not competing, just practicing. Yellow blossoms in the sunlight are a challenge. They can eat your lunch and leave the check for you to pay. My aim in editing this (ACR, PS CS6) was to tame the yellow and make the image mainly about the butterfly (by toning down the busy surroundings and selectively brightening/sharpening the butterfly).

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[RobD]

#1. Topaz DeNoise and sharpen then ACR & Photoshop

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[Stiga]

#1 PL5 > PS/ACR rejig canvas, change colour of yellow flower in ACR, darken and blurr background in PS, darken LH side with gradient filter, resize and sharpen with Topaz AI

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[Hendrik]

All exposure adjustments, global and local, made in Adobe Camera Raw. Topaz DeNoise AI invoked from Photoshop.

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[Herbert Hound]

Entry #1. A "Portra" profile and then a bit of colour grading and exposure tweaks...

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[Herbert Hound]

Entry #2. I went for the "less-is-more" approach on this one... a crop and some contrast tweaks with masking.

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[Taneli]

Some LR adjustments, auto-selected the butterfly and enhanced it a little, while preserving the background as it was.

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[Stiga]

#2 An experiment; remove yellow flower completely, blur and darken background (All in PS/ACR

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[gecko]

Thank you all for your beautiful entries. The Challenge will close in about 6 hours, in case you would like to submit an entry.

 

[gecko]

Challenge is now closed. I'll post the results tomorrow. It is going to be a real challenge as the standard of all submissions is so high.

 

[ektar]

This one was pretty tough. Nice work, all.

 

[gecko]

It was very hard to judge this. Every entry was excellent in its own way, some rather innovative. So I know my choices now would be different from what I might choose later in the day or tomorrow, but since I have to choose, here are my current choices:
Winner: @Hendrik
1st runner up: @RobD
2nd runners up: @griffljg and @Herbert Hound.

Again, many thanks to all the entrants for your superb work.

 

[Hendrik]

Wow! Thanks, @gecko. You're right, many fine submissions - could have gone any way. Back with a challenge in a bit.

 

[Hendrik]

DDD #70 is live