Post processing images - The final step to getting that awesome click

G

Gen.Libeb

Padawan
Here's what I did apart from the basic things in RAW (exposure, contrast, whites, black... )

- Split Toning in ACR - to get slight purple shadows Then opened in PS
- Stretched it to be wide.
- Made sky darker in PS using layer mask (well that didn't get as dark as I wanted)
- Added a few Gradient Map layers
- Purple - Orange (most opacity)
- orange - black
- Black - white (least opacity)
- White layer (10% opacity)
- Black Borders & Text (I had to look at several colors for the text before deciding on this one).
 
OP
izzikio_rage

izzikio_rage

Technomancer
My attempt at sujoy's smoke pic ... wasn't all that hard since he had mentioned out all the steps. Awesome fun though ...will try to shoot smoke on my own too now :)

*i.imgur.com/fN0e3TC.jpg


also posting a raw file. again my problem is the noisy raw files that my cam gives at high ISO. Can any of you give it a shot with topaz denoise and other stuff

*www.dropbox.com/s/nu9yazndx7e4p79/DSC02953.ARW

My edit of this

*i.imgur.com/gGplZhq.jpg
 
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sujoyp

sujoyp

Grand Master
amlan nice attempt ...oops it seems I have told my secret steps for smoke :D

remember when shooting...use black background, try not to put any light on the background....put light on the smoke from sidewise...and lastly use f8 or smaller :)
 
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
What I had in my mind was turning this photograph into black and white as it's already too dark. Getting details from this would definitely introduce lots of noise. And those noise would add some touch to black and white. To get some idea, I did a sample in photomatx - Single photo HDR and chose B&W-Natural Preset. This is the result.

*i102.photobucket.com/albums/m108/tkphotos1/CRW_3919-Photomatix_zps23286163.jpg

With that reference I did this one.

*i102.photobucket.com/albums/m108/tkphotos1/CRW_3919_zpsc649a974.jpg

I didn't even think of bringing up lot of light in the picture and definitely didn't think of color version. But after seeing Prashant's and Gen's thought of giving it a try in colour. And this is the result.

*i102.photobucket.com/albums/m108/tkphotos1/CRW_3919_zpsdb1c18f8.jpg

Among the three, I like Photomatix version. Lot's of details, contrast (and it made me to think of medico's work ;) - not the recent ones), sharper and needed less work :D

- - - Updated - - -

PP Workflow for the above edits.​

Photomatix version - Pretty much everything automatic. It's a single photo HDR, increased WB little more and clicked OK. After photomatix done it's work I chose B/W - Natural preset and saved. And used spot removal and patch tool to remove garbage in PS.

My black and white version
Started in LR, applied lens correction... I will better post the snap - that will show how much I pushed things to get what I get. This way you can correct me if I am over doing anything. You may ask why I applied everything (esp. vibrance, colour etc...) if I am gonna change it into b/w. There was a video where the blogger suggested to get everything correct in colour before turning it into b/w. So the reason I did... :) I should have avoided two of the things,
1. Selective color tone (which I started trying in PP for the last few weeks).
2. Reducing noise
Finally, in PS removed those garbage using spot removal and patch tool.

*i102.photobucket.com/albums/m108/tkphotos1/edit_zpse33d98ce.png

Colour version - Started in LR, applied lens correction and the following adjustments before moving to PS

*i102.photobucket.com/albums/m108/tkphotos1/edit2_zps78a9e0c3.png

Using spot removal and patch tool, removed those garbage.
To add some punch, clarity, contrast I duplicated the layer and changed the blending mode to overlay and reduced opacity to my taste, in this case it's 25%. Still it was little noisy, so again applied noise reduction.

My system is too slow to process heavy files like this RAW. So I usually downsample and edit in PS.

Any opinion/suggestion/advice are welcome with regards to my PP.
 
OP
izzikio_rage

izzikio_rage

Technomancer
nac those are some pretty cool edits. I like the black and white version too (first one) seems very contrasty and feels like a good night image. The second one is more like an old sepeia image, which in my opinion does not suit the subject. The last one is pretty good, and the biggest advantage of retaining colour is how amazing the sky looks when you push the saturation a bit.

just one question on your edit, when making a black and white why did you not reduce saturation to zero in lightroom. That would have directly made it BW and then you could have pushed the contrast to give it that punch.
 
G

Gen.Libeb

Padawan
[MENTION=125321]nac[/MENTION] - Of the 3 , I like the colour one the most. The 1st one has just too much noise.

[MENTION=8593]izzikio_rage[/MENTION]- The smoke one is cool but to be honest I'm sorry but I don't really like the other night pic.

I tried but can't really get much out of it.

*i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t627/GenLibeb/Rage_zps03c5dd35.jpg
 
OP
izzikio_rage

izzikio_rage

Technomancer
@gen: I know, I had tried really hard with this image but couldn't really get much out of it. I've seen people use similar settings getting really nice images. just wanted to know if there was a way to make it better during post processing. Thanks for giving it a shot
 
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
Amlan, Only after seeing Gen's post, I knew that you have posted a RAW photograph. I didn't notice that.

- - - Updated - - -

If it's noisy, make it black and white ;)

*i102.photobucket.com/albums/m108/tkphotos1/DSC02953_zpsa7fe0a64.jpg
 
marvelousprashant

marvelousprashant

Cyborg Agent
thanks amlan

1. main edit
*i.imgur.com/B44xzX9l.jpg

2. Graduated filter for sky
*i.imgur.com/sajXKVEl.jpg

3. Graduated filter for ground
*i.imgur.com/ktSUFBhl.jpg
 
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
sujoyp said:
Here goes my tadoba series 1
Click to expand...
I am asking everyone, not Sujoy alone :)
The image quality of the first two and the last one seems much better than the others (esp 3rd and 4th). Is it because of lighting or PP?

Note: You can navigate to the quoted post by clicking the arrow.
 
sujoyp

sujoyp

Grand Master
nac its very clear...first two and last one are taken in sunrise and sunset time...when sunlight is not harsh ...others are taken in daylight when sun is bright ...light effect is important
 
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
So the reason people suggesting "golden hour" to take photographs... :)

Just wanted to try this shot - "Central Road" from your Tadoba Series I

*i102.photobucket.com/albums/m108/tkphotos1/Sujoylandscape_zps72e37575.jpg
 
OP
izzikio_rage

izzikio_rage

Technomancer
Prashant: very nice use of the gradient filter, I was also trying to keep the sky dark, but that would make the shacks too dark, though of dodging it, gave up because it would involve loads of work. This seems like a great way to do it. Making it black and white is the other way to go, however we end up losing all the pretty colors.
[MENTION=125321]nac[/MENTION]: The pictures shot during the golden hour are more interesting due to the softer warmer light, also the lower height of the sun means that you'll have longer shadows and more interplay of light and shade. Add to this the fact that (as you see in the first few pics) there will be some beautiful colors in the sky and you have some really amazing pics
 
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