THE PP GAME!

Hope you all don't mind me joining in, here is my take on it-

In camera raw

crop
convert to greyscale
addjust
red +5
yellow +73
green +36
aqu +3
blue -100
purple -12
Magn 0
Basic Tab
exp+20
contrast+38
highlights-100
shadow 0
white -93
black +8
clarity +37

medium contrast curve
Grad filter- exposure-0.70

into photoshop

dodge and burn

high pass filter
radius 4px
soft light- opacity 100%



_DSC7817 by canon-kev, on Flickr
 
The more the merrier Kevin- been waiting to see who was first with a mono version:)
 
Been meaning to have a play at this, one way to improve my tardy skills! Hope no one minds :)

Imported into LR5
Lens Profile
Minor tweak on horizon
Crop from Rt
Convert to B&W
Contrast +19
Whites +17
Shadows +7
Highlights -24
Exposure +0.6
Add Grad from top
Exposure -2.29
Contrast -33​
Vignette -33
Grain 26, 75, 61
Export sRGB 75% quality 2048 px on long side.

Click image for a larger view

not_mine-7817-2 by PabloRosso, on Flickr
 
Cheers guys n gals, got the download from Mega.co.

Here's my go, I wanted to do a monochrome but there's already some good B&W edits so ............................
Started with ACR, here's the capture didn't do much..
View attachment 6058 click to enlarge..

In PS I went straight to Shadows and highlights to get more sky detail but ended up with a bright edge on the hills/horizon so had to burn that back.
Made the sea a bit bluer and sharpened by 48% radius 2.2 threshold 2.
Increased saturation on whole image a tadge.
Added pirate regalia for authenticity.


wreck by Farmejim, on Flickr
 
Running a bit later than I thought guys- give me half an hour
 
Ok, that was tough, great work by all and there wasn't lot in it in the end. I'm not good enough to give full verse on feedback but hopefully adds some value.

David- First off the mark bonus points;). Like the sky- added some much needed life. Some good tones in the wreck and trees. Maybe the colour not as rich as I would have liked to see but I can see the effect you were going for and it works well.

Rhodese- Interesting take with the rocks- I quite like that, almost a gateway to the wreck. Good strong colours although not totally convinced on the toes in the sky although the original detail wont help.

Nick- Good colours again. I like how you can see a bit more detail inside the hull. The crop puts a bit more focus on the wreck and tightens it up a bit. Like to have seen a bit more detail in the sky which is all that is probably missing.

Kevin- First mono bonus points;). I quite like the contrast although maybe it suits something a bit edgier- that weathered look from a harsh environment- hard to say. There's a mix of tones in the trees which is good. Maybe the sky needs broken up a bit more- big band of grey going across- not sure on it.

Paul- Beaten to those mono bonus points:p. Like the use of grain- perhaps a moodier sky and even a bit more grain would have added to the atmosphere. Softer contrast than Kevn's but it seems to work well in B&W to do it either way although I do sway one way then the other- no sea pun intended:D

Jim- Totally awesome flag:cool:. Like the graffiti and tucked away Simpson's character. Good call to make the water bluer. Nice tones and improved sky.

Neil- Like the sky- very similar to David's. Good vibrant colours in the wreck and trees.

Ok, very difficult- have them all loaded up and been cycling through them all. Each edit had something going for it so it came down to what edits were the ones were I had to think a bit more on whether I liked something a bit more or a bit less- as I said little margins.

So, while I wanted to get a B&W up in the mix, it came down to Jim and Neil but as much as I liked the flag and how it worked well in these circumstances (less sure on yellow man Jim;)) I am going to give Neil the win- it had the most elements I liked from the other images combined into the one edit.

Really pleased to see all the different takes. I wanted to do a B&W but went with colour although always meant to redo and feel inspired now to revisit:). As always my sky edit could do with work and looking at mine now it's maybe a bit dark.

Anyway, long half hour after typing/ judging:D

Well done all and congrats Neil:clap:


wreck at diabaig by Dr_Ozone, on Flickr
 
Well done for the win Neil :wave:

When are you calling this one?
 
Thanks for the feedback Doc.

Gratulatio Neil, well done. :clap:

Neil I think I’ll pass on this one. It's out of my league, I wouldn’t know where to start, apart from a bit of sharpening with the soft out of focus areas, “I’m out." :(

A request to those who have a go,” Please explain your methods in detail.” Cheers. (y).

Rhodese.
 
looks like no one fancies it, wrong sort of pic? all entries welcome so please try if you can rhodese, and of course you too John
 
LR5:
Lens Profile
remove CA
Slight radial filter around butterfly to dark background, and add negative clarity to add diffusion.

PS CC:
black and white layer.. then blurred it... then used luminosity blend to further add diffusion, and layer masked back from the main subject
Increased saturation with a saturation brush on key parts
Airbrushed the pink OOF blob away
Added a light noise layer to mask airbrushing

Pretty much it. Considering the changes, there was little done to this.

 
Last edited:
In Lightroom
Temp 5350
Exposure +0.12
Highlights -93, Shadows +100, Whites +43, Blacks -19
Clarity +10, Vibrance +5
Saturation: Red -40, Orange -20
Crop

In CS2
Unsharp Mask: Amount 7%, Radius 30 pixels, Threshold 0
Curves: 0,0; 65,62; 190,191; 255,255
Resize to 1100 pixels high
Smart Sharpen: Amount 75%, Radius 0.3 pixels
Convert to Profile: RGB
Convert Mode: 8-bit
Save as JPEG, Quality 10.

(For 1100 pixel high version click on image then right click and select "Original")


NOT MY IMAGE - Flying giraffe - Butterfly IMG_3478-Edit-3 PSS3.75 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
Some moron has killed bb by digging up cable:mad:.wont b fixed till Monday and b evening by time I can edit so I'm out, though I will have a go anyway for myself as looks like a good change. good luck all:)
 
Also, bloody nightmare doing this on phone! Fine for odd txt etc but forum stuff..mmm. maybe should get app but then I like my phone clean and never needed in the past:rolleyes:
 
Good crop Nick.
 
Thanks Neil. And thanks David and Jim for your kind comments.

Almost all the images I have RAW versions of are invertebrates and flowers. I don't think now is the time for more invertebrates, and I have a hunch that flowers might get a similar reception. So I'm afraid you're going to have to work with a JPEG this time round. Sorry about that, but handling a JPEG is a PP challenge in its own right, so I don't feel too bad about it. :)

So, from a 6 megapixel S3is bridge camera almost five years ago:


IMG_0045 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr


Original:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gardenersassistant/12732150465/sizes/o/

I'll call it Wednesday teatime.
 
Last edited:
Well done Nick.
Neil I’m sorry I had a creative juice drought. I just didn’t get it.

Nick this to me this is all about that sky, and what a sky it is.

Open in ACR, auto, open in PS.
Copy layer.
Apply a black and white gradient map, adjustment layer; change the blend mode to soft light.
Open a new layer and fill with 50% grey then change the blend mode to overlay.
With a soft round brush set to 10% opacity and 20% flow paint into the layer, black to burn and white to dodge bringing out form and tone in the clouds.
Flatten.
Crop.
Select all and use stroke to add the border after selecting the white from within the picture.
SAVE,
Save for web.


CLICKFURABIGUN.

Rhodese.

PS I left them pesky gulls in. Added the word map .
 
Last edited:
no problem rhodese, it wasnt an easy pic to edit
here i loaded as a raw in ps
increased clarity vibe and saturation, then adjusted the rest to get the desired effect
reduced noise and increased expo a bit and crop
slight pop in topaz
done


not mine by flying giraffe, on Flickr
 
Thought id pop in while my staff are mopping up anti freeze... LOL

Tricky one... Went for dramatic sky silhouette.
All done in LR5
Cropped to suit
  • Tweaked white balance a tad cooler
  • Exposure dropped to create silhouette
  • Adjust black and white points
  • Added a grad in the sky with clarity and contrast
  • Added another grad to tweak exposure
  • changed hue and saturation of orange and yellow
  • Sharpened
  • Noise reduction
  • Export to JPG

12732150465_74ed9c7d82_o-4-jpg.6678
 
Here's mine..........
Using the JPEG I opened in PS and used Shadows/Highlights to get some extra detail in the sky, here's the screen shot..........
View attachment 6679

Then I converted to b&w using Silver Efex.

Did a little bit of cloning on the pole and wires in bottom left of shot and that was it!


Cloud by Farmejim, on Flickr
 
Rah... the cloning makes it for me. Hard pressed to think why I didn't do the same! Doh.
 
OK, wanted a stab at this but with the pressure off just went for it- also hadn't quite noticed timing so only had few mins for both:

In ACR took all Hue and Saturation away and then brought back colour on butterfly and part of flower to taste. Not really been into selective colouring but interesting to try


Edit77 by Dr_Ozone, on Flickr

In PS, added 50% grey layer and tried soe dodgin and burning of clouds but without any real idea of what I was doing or why:D

Added virbancy adjustment layer and adjusted to reinforce colour
Added contrast adjustment layer and increased


Edit76 by Dr_Ozone, on Flickr
 
mmm, that second edit looked a lot more colourful on the other monitor- bah:(
 
Rhodese

Rhodese, your version is rather too dark for my taste, with textures being lost. That is fair enough though, to produce a dramatic high contrast - darkness for the lightness to stand out against. However, the brightest parts are not as bright as they could be (there is a gap at the top of the histogram), and that gives the image a bit of a “damped down” feel to me – I would prefer a bit more “vigour” in the clouds like the other versions have.

The darkness makes me think back to your very dark “moon over the church” edit a while ago, and makes me wonder if I'm seeing the same as you. I wonder, are you using a calibrated monitor?

This is the only version in which the barrel distortion isn't apparent, but I think that may be because on the left the horizon, the inward leaning post and the wire rising up to the left have all disappeared in the gloom.

Neil

I like the way the light works in your version Neil. The foreground is very dark indeed, mainly black, which is fine, with the dark areas of cloud differentiated from the foreground by being grey rather than black, the clouds have a good range of brightnesses and textures, and there is a hint of blue in the top right quadrant. The very bright area at the base of the dark clouds is very nicely handled, with some texture in it. I think it would have been really good if the other two blown out looking areas above and to the right of that had been handled in a similar way.

It's a pity that the wires and poles stand out so clearly, accentuating the look of barrel distortion (to my eye). And a pity that the right hand pole has a halo around it.

Stewart

That's an interesting crop Stewart, although having gone that far I would have wanted to go in a little more on both sides, just enough to crop out the distracting (to my eye) bright patches which are truncated at the edge of the image, and I might have brought down the top just a bit more than the sides.

The crop has lost the bright rising line going up towards the left hand corner, which concentrates the eye on the somewhat spherical cloud with the bright lining. The lighter areas are made nicely “crumply” looking by the light, but the darker area in the centre has gone just a bit too dark for my taste and has very little by way of local contrasts or shapes. Similarly for several darker clouds on the right and another above the left hand pole.

And there's the wires and poles (one with a halo) and the impression of barrel distortion.

Jim

When I first looked at your version Jim I thought it rather too crudely contrasty, and rather noisy too in the two main plain areas at the top. The more I look at it though the less extreme it seems and the more I like it. But I still am rather conscious of the noise.

I like the fact you got rid of the pole and wire on the right. I chose to get rid of the other one too, but I can see the logic of leaving the second one in place – is it just my imagination, or does it have a bird sitting on top of it with a God ray shining down on it?

And so....

Hang on, a late entry from Dr Ozone.

Oh, that's nice. Very natural looking (yes, yes, I know, pity about the poles etc but even so) – clouds nicely luminescent, the three very bright areas bright without being blown into ugliness, pleasing (to my eye) colours. I absolutely have to rush off now to help get the tea, so ….

Winner, Dr Ozone. Well done (lucky we have our tea late or you would have missed the boat). Over to you. Runner up Neil.

Here is my version.


Sky for PP game-Edit by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
Wow, ok- thanks Nick- note to self to do the disorganised time constrained entry more often:p

Need to go and find an image:)
 
No RAW?
 
Couldn't find one but was keen to see how people would get on with sky as was straight into sun unfortunately and snow often tricky as well. Only a DNG but TIFF seemed more useable format for all. Can have another look if no use.
 
Thanks for the f/b and critique Nick, I think that you have the best edit there.
Well done Dr. O. :clap: another desert scene is it? :)
 
Farmerjim said:
Thanks for the f/b and critique Nick, I think that you have the best edit there.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim. FWIW I preferred Dr O's version. I think he (like everyone else in fact) handled the three very bright areas much better than I did and I preferred his colours too. :) I've been so busy lately with other things - lots of new kit to get to grips with (and do returns for :() and a lot of other commitments - that I didn't really pay much attention to that edit. I think I'll take a rest from the PP game for a while until things settle down.
 
Enjoy new kit Nick whatever it is- shiny new stuff is always good:).

Can't find a CR2 file on this one people so tiff will need to do unfortunately.
 
Weeay am ya all, bin I the arry one avin a goo? :(

Congratulations Doc, well done. :clap:
Thanks for the feedback Nick.
Nick my entry was/is supposed to be dark. I sometimes try to interpretate an image, as I would like it to be, perhaps not as it was. I kind of repaint it in my mind.
The picture that you gave us to edit was I thought a daytime silhouette. I interpreted it as a dusk/dawn event.
My monitor is an old Dell 2408wfp, I have had it since they where first marketed. I have not calibrated it so you are probably right as to how my images come over. Having said that whenever I am confronted with a test card I do see a full range of black and white, does that tell me my light to dark setting is ok?
Further, when I compare prints from online printers with my screen image they seem pretty dam close.
Nick thanks again for the crit and as my old maths teacher wrote at the bottom of all my reports” Must try harder.”

On to the Doc’s challenge,
Open in ACR, Auto, Open in PS.
Copy layer.
Select sky; refine edge, feather 120 pixels, copy and past into new layer.
Use the spot removal tool to get rid of the extreme highlights.
Make a selection of the lighter parts of the sky and feather by 100 pixels, in levels slide the left hand slider in towards the histogram until the outer edges of the selection match.
Deselect, reselect the remaining lighter part of the sky, feather the same as before and repeat the levels procedure, repeat this twice more until the sky looks reasonable.
SAVE.
Select the white snow foreground, feather as before with the sky selection, copy and paste into new layer then tweak levels.
Flatten.
New layer, fill with 50% gray, set blend to overlay and using black to burn and white to dodge paint the mountain.
Apply the border with the stroke command.
SAVE.
Save for web.


CLICK4BIG.

Rhodese.
 
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