Would anyone be interested in some kind of post processing contest? Doesn't have to be a contest really, but I think it would be interesting to share one raw file and see all the different variations of the file in pp that people post. Thoughts?

 

We talked about this several years ago and never made it happen. I think it would be great and we could all learn from it if we tell how we got our results!

 

lets do it!

 

If it becomes a contest rather then just posting results, would anything be game? HDR, B&W, simple Sharpening, really anything? Either way should make for a really interesting thread. We always see the after pics, and while some of us may understand how the image has been improved on, others that are newer to photography may not. It would be cool for them to see what can be done after the fact. I like the idea

 

I think this is a great idea. Although I'm more experienced in PP portraits than cars or landscapes, I'd like to give this a try.

 

I think it's a great idea.

I personally think we should leave it pretty wide open, just to see what people come up with...

 

Yeap, great idea.

One person puts up a RAW/NEF image, then we run with winner putting up one for next contest!!

 

I like the idea too, great way to learn from each other.

 

Soooooo....anybody got the RAW? LoL

 

 

It's tough for a photog to post a RAW pic but wouldn't mind doing it once I get home. That's if nobody has posted one already. Guessing the pic will be an attachment due to it's file size? Anyone know the size limit for attachments?

 

just make a sendspace or megaupload acct or whatever, upload there, and give us the link. filesize will not be a problem.

 

I think this would be very interesting to see how differently people interpret post on the same photo. Q1911, since you brought this up, why don't you put up the first photo?

 

+1 great idea..this should be fun

 

 

Raw file

This is actually the picture that made me think about this. I could never get this photo to where I liked it. I am interested to see how this turns out. It's not a great photo, and if anyone wants to post another one instead, that's fine.

 

btw I personally don't see any reason why this needs to be a 'contest'. I mean, I don't think we are out to see who is the "best" at post-processing - rather, I think we just want to see each of our own versions of the same shot and appreciate each one for what it is.

we should agree on a standard image size, though. I would suggest something like 900px.

 

 

right on!

 

Am I missing something...rapidshare has no free trial?


Dropbox? :P

 

I'll take a stab at it.

Used Photoshop CS5 with Topaz plugin "Adjust". Played with exposure, contrast, saturation, sharpening and noise reduction. Cropped then re-sized to 1024 on longest side.

[IMG]<a href="http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/Ken_from_MD/kens%20random%20pics/?action=view&amp;current=hotel_1024.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/Ken_from_MD/kens%20random%20pics/hotel_1024.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[/IMG]

 

I managed to get the file without creating an account. Just had to click on the "Free Download" button a couple of times, there is a delay for some reason.

 

Ahhh, thank you. So much clutter and such tired eyes.

 

Q1911 - you should probably post up the original for comparison sake.

 

Here's mine.

Adobe Camera Raw:
Corrected some minor lens distortion/tilt
Cropped slightly to account for distortion correction and to move buildings slightly off center to balance large boat anchoring image on the lower right
Minor highlight recovery and noise reduction
Warmed it up slightly to make it feel like a sunny day

PS:
Copy background layer
Curve #1 brighten mid-tones & increase blacks - mask out sky & most of water
Curve #2 linear
Curve #3 pull down midtones and increase blacks - mask everything but sky & some water
Multiply background layer and mask out buildings & boats/ smooth gradient to sky & water until happy
Hue/Saturation - blue channel - increase saturation/decrease lightness.

Looking at it, I maybe should have adjusted the hue a tad, too, but that's my quick & dirty.


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/moxiephotos/6004186180/" title="Q1011-20110802.jpg by MoxiePhotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6121/6004186180_236a7860ec_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Q1011-20110802.jpg"></a>

 

Shoot, wish I had seen sooner. Will have to wait until AM, to mess with.




Thank Gawd it's a NEF file. Don't want a those stinking RAW files...

 

fanboy.

 

My computer almost locked me out thinking someone stole it and uploaded a Nikon image.

Here's my rendering of it. Done in both Aperture and CS3.

-blue hue boost
-red hue boost
-brightness boost
-shadow boost
-highlights boost
-sharpening boost
-subtle vignette

BEFORE


AFTER

 

Cool idea!

 

obligatory

 

Interesting idea....but if I were do my usual pp...I ain't spilling my secret :-D

That said...I just have my iPad for the two weeks. Left the computers at home for ease of travel.

 

- bumped saturation and vibrance to 90 in LR to give more color separation
- tweaked one of the Silver Efex presets
- cleaned up sky to get rid of artifacting produced from the b/w conversion
- NR to get rid of noise from b/w conversion

(beautiful shot to begin with, btw.)

zSNpk.jpg

 

Camera RAW:

WB to daylight
Clarity to +72
Vibrance to +43

PS
Crop so building is in center of left 3rd
Color balance layer....Cool midtones and shadows. Cyan -8, Blue +13. Warm hightlghts...Red +11, yellow -12
Hue/Saturation Layer....saturation to +30
Magic wand the blue part of the sky and set vibrance to +40

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sho_nuff1997/6004554206/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sho_nuff1997/6004554206/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/sho_nuff1997/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sho_nuff1997/6004552276/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sho_nuff1997/6004552276/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/sho_nuff1997/, on Flickr

 

 

true professionals don't keep any "secrets".

just saying.

 

They sell them as actions instead!

 

or, they get paid to teach others.

or, they share their knowledge on online communities with all the WONDERFUL people they inhabit them with.

 

BEFORE



Exposure
Fill Light
Contrast
Clarity
Vibrance
HSL sliders

AFTER

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/reverseimage/6006400796/http://www.flickr.com/photos/reverseimage/6006400796/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/reverseimage/, on Flickr

 

I made numerous masking layers to either lighten, brighten, strengthen structure or smooth out structure. No darken was made, it was too dark. Though whites on the ships were blown out. Had to bring that down without loosing the structure with them.

I wanted to crop out the building on the right, but that put the hotel in the middle of the image killing the rule of thirds.