Starting Over - a kind of PAD for January

Dog on the dock

This image dates from 6th April 2010. Here is the original produced at that time

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Here is a newly processed version with the aim of bringing out more of the shadow detail contained in the original file, note the activity within the boat shed which is more obvious in this version. There has also been a straightening of the horizon.

1000180_DxO.jpg


GF1 with an adapted Voigtlander lens, either a 21mm f/4 Color-Skopar or 25mm f/4 Snapshot-Skopar

Barrie
 
Not an old one

In fact its from yesterday, just before I went to dinner with a friend, right over there on the right of the shot...

However, I was playing with the HDR Pro 2 part of the Nik software suite (please note, this was playtime, I don't really like HDR much unless its not overcooked)

So...the original SOOC
View attachment 8715

And the HDR version, a tad overcooked.
View attachment 8714

I can see where HDR is useful at times, now, and may well use the plugin from time to time.
 
In fact its from yesterday, just before I went to dinner with a friend, right over there on the right of the shot...

However, I was playing with the HDR Pro 2 part of the Nik software suite (please note, this was playtime, I don't really like HDR much unless its not overcooked)

And the HDR version, a tad overcooked.


I can see where HDR is useful at times, now, and may well use the plugin from time to time.

If you don't like the grain in the sky you could add control points into the sky around the tower and lessen the effects on it and that should bring the grain down. I know that is my main issue with HDR efex is in the sky and stuff it really adds a ton of grain.
 
The 93

This is the original image from 18th September 2010

1010871_v2.jpg
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I notice that I've processed the image taken immediately before the above one, but no matter, there's very little difference in the two images. The second image is not so tightly cropped. Apart from the image being processed as previously outlined in post #12 this has been an exercise in removing distracting elements or those which include information that dates the photograph to the present day, given that the subject, a Bristol K6 bus, dates from 1945. The items removed include a car (out of shot by the time of taking the top image), road signs, posts, television aerial and overhead wires.

1010870_DxO.jpg


Panasonic G1 with 15mm Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar


Barrie
 
I have many shots over the last dozen years that just got dumped on a hard drive or CD. A number of them were travel photos. I'm using this thread to go back and "develop" them for the first time. It's like a treasure hunt with 6MP files. That old *ist DS served me well, despite the fact that I feel like I need to apologize when the XF1 goes into 6 MP mode. What really struck me was how many more people pictures I had when in other countries, especially children.
Mostly I find I need to really adjust shadows and highlights to compensate for very limited DR in very bright places. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any. These are all jpegs.
field2-L.jpg
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It's past my bedtime and I'm late for Merchant's treat and he's lying on my desk where my keyboard should be, purring, until I give it to him. *sigh.*
Before - cropped from a larger photo - a cowboy in a toga from the Albert memorial in Hyde Park, 2009.
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Albert memorial, Cowboy I by rubyj29, on Flickr

I tried some "artsy" filters on him in in Topaz Adjust and then found something that brought out the detail in the carving so well I thought I could remember it long enough to save the file. My bad. In Photoshop elements, I added a Brightness and Contrast adjustment layer, a Levels Adjustment layer, selected the cowboy and did a saturation adjustment to make him more grey, flattened the layers and inverted the selection and used Brightness again to fine tune the sky, and finally cloned out distracting details in the background. He may be overcooked, but for now I like the crispness.
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Albert Memorial, Cowboy II by rubyj29, on Flickr
 
I have many shots over the last dozen years that just got dumped on a hard drive or CD. A number of them were travel photos. I'm using this thread to go back and "develop" them for the first time. It's like a treasure hunt with 6MP files. That old *ist DS served me well, despite the fact that I feel like I need to apologize when the XF1 goes into 6 MP mode. What really struck me was how many more people pictures I had when in other countries, especially children.
Mostly I find I need to really adjust shadows and highlights to compensate for very limited DR in very bright places. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any. These are all jpegs.

Adjusting shadows and highlights is an excellent fix for limited DR, this one looks supersharp... did you use clarity? sharpening?
 
Original taken with a mirror lens

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/donscreation/11848876955/]
11848876955_1ffae98e2f_b.jpg

1 by 2Deye, on Flickr[/URL]

Adjusted in cs6 to brighten and sharpen the image plus some saturation. Thought the bird would pop out a bit with a color change in the background. Used the selection tool in cs6 and then the color balance function to change the background. cropped the image a bit

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/donscreation/11848876425/]
11848876425_2456a099a3_b.jpg

2 by 2Deye, on Flickr[/URL]
 
Surf's up at Mattiscombe

This original dates from 17th November 2010. The time was 16:45 hours, about 35 minutes before sunset, the view basically looking west so the sun is just out of shot upper left.

P1000634_1.jpg
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I was never happy that this image actually conveyed what the scene was like, with all that white surf, clean air associated with the south west peninsula and an air flow off the Atlantic Ocean, the scene has a vibrancy and brilliance not done justice by this result. I still have that raw editor and have used it again but was still not able to manipulate the image to my satisfaction.

However I feel that the image below more accurately reflects the scene as I recall it. This time the image has been processed using a different raw editor, namely DxO Optics Pro 9 and, despite again using Photoshop CS2 as detailed in post #12 to finish the image off, the main gains have been made in the raw editor with adjustments to exposure, smart lighting, vibrancy and in selective tone, highlights and shadows.

P1000634_DxO.jpg


Panasonic GF1 with 15mm Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar


Barrie
 
I sharpened it a bit. I'm actually used PS Elements on that one so Clarity is not an option. I suspect that one major difference now is that I'm more knowledgeable about PS than I was then.

Experience making a difference is a good point! I only started shooting RAW in December, and so far I've used PS Elements, although I bought some Topaz plugins when they went on sale month-by-month last year. But I'm grateful that when I edit my jpegs, I've always saved the edits as copies on the theory that I'll learn as I go along, and one day I'll be able to go back and do a better job.
 
La prima verde

This shot dates from 24th April 2010

I've been a bit busy processing new shots so something simple and basic today, a slightly different emphasis mainly to shadows and highlights to try and bring out that fresh spring colour and the removal of a distracting branch, that's all folks.

1000186.jpg
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1000186_DxO.jpg


GF1 with 15mm Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar


Barrie
 
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