markjordan999

<p>Unions can be great when they are organized well and have a specific purpose in mind such as making sure the workers are not treated as wage slaves or discriminated against. If they go beyond that, they have succumbed to the greed that they are fighting against. We are not sure what the case is in this story as it is well known that any written publication bends the story to “sell” the story. Like many of the NYC camera shops, B&H is run by fundamentalist “religious capitalists.” I wont mention the specific denomination. These are some of the greediest people on the planet. But that still does not tell us if they did what the articles said. Many times only a few people complain and the news story is distorted to sound like “a lot” of people said it. However, due to the nature of this lawsuit it seems like it has proceeded to a higher level. So do we continue to buy from B&H or hold off until we actually know that they are a good company. They certainly have good prices which is all most of us consider. How will they prove their innocence? Apparently in the past they were guilty. Why would any company treat workers like this? Cant we be decent humans? Now I am forced, due to the idiotic actions of this company, to look at other places for purchases such as Amazon.</p>

<p>I first cropped the image.<br> I then thought, there is nothing a person can do with this photo but try to create a mood. It is really a photo that most people would simply discard after taking as it is not that interesting to look at, but I tried to create a mood rather than dismissing it.<br> First I corrected the light curve some bringing up the highlights and down the blacks. I applied a NIK Analog efex pro filter called “wet plate nine.” There are a few wet plate filters inside this NIK filter package and most looked just as good. But I had to choose one. Later I increased the saturation to bring out some color so as to make it not a total black and white photo. That is all I did. No matter what just "forgeadaboudit."</p> <p> </p><div></div>

<p >OK. This is a forum for learning about post processing techniques. It is not a forum to offer political or social comments. All the great photographers here just want to present photos and then learn ways to possibly post process them to look better. There are no honest or dishonest photos. Period. Its about artistic technique. If your social comment is about why you chose a certain technique for this particular photo then it is good. There is no other purpose for this forum other than technique. We already have too many forums where photographers attempt to philosophize about photos (which I find boring, just my opinion). This is pure technique in this forum. </p> <p > </p>

<p >Right away I thought this should be a black and white image as it is lacking in any great color. That, and I have always felt that city scenes look somehow more “mentally realistic” in black and white. I admit I am biased toward black and white, but with nearly any industrial, news or social scene, if it has limited color I see it right away in a black and white style, in my mind.</p> <p >I would like to emphasize again that it is important to talk about the steps you took to process your version of the images in this forum. I know many of us process photos and then don’t actually recall all the steps we took, but if it can at least be summarized that would be great. I personally open up a blank Word or Text document and write or edit the steps as I do them. This helps me then recall for this forum what I did! I am not one to have a good memory. I am actually trying to learn from this forum how some of these “astounding” images come about via post processing.</p> <p >Because this image is so small it is hard to get a good post processing experience. Too many pixels are gone. but I tried it anyway.</p> <p >1 - I cropped in such a way as the main subject was at the two-thirds line on a grid. I wanted some of the grungy ceiling in there to get the subway feel. Cropped mostly the right side and some foreground floor. I enjoyed the mysterious dark figure on the far left as this is a part of the NYC subway feel (mystery, danger, dark characters, stress). I could have cropped all the way up to the main figure. I wasn’t sure if I should.</p> <p > </p> <p >2 - NIK Silver Efex Pro 2. This is likely the best black and white post processor on the planet. I chose a preset of “Antique Plate II” and upped the blue filter to 43 percent. This brought out the little person in the background more. I changed the “Grains per pixel” to make a smoother photo. I decreased the brightness also. I set the overall contrast at 22 percent.</p> <p >3 - I placed a control point (which NIK Silver Efex Pro has) on the mystery man on the left and made him darker and more contrasty.</p> <p >4 - I paced a control point on the “E” subway sign and added the color back in. Why did I do this? I wanted something that drew the eye around the photo, back and forth.</p> <p >5 - I increased the structure some, which acts as a sharpening technique.</p><div></div>

<p>Joel Clarke. What did you actually do to the photo, as in what steps did you take using what software? We are here to learn what processes we can all use in post-processing not just to see the final result. Thanks for the outstanding interpretation!</p>

<p>Bill Jordan. Brilliant interpretation.</p>

<p >1-New layer. Used NIK define set on auto.</p> <p >2-New layer. Used Topaz Detail. Adjusted TONE and COLOR sliders to my liking.</p> <p >3-New layer. Used Topaz Adjust with “Low Key II” filter. Made very minor adjustments in the “protect shadows”slider, opening up some of the shadows.</p> <p >4-In PS Elements, adjusted red saturation to plus 5.</p> <p > </p> <p ><a href="/photo/17876024"><img title="paris01.small" src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17876024-sm.jpg" alt="paris01.small" width="137" height="200" border="0" /></a></p> <p > </p> <p > </p>

<p >1-Cropped so barn was at grid point around left upper third of image</p> <p >2-Used NIK Define filter on auto default setting.</p> <p >3-Used Topaz Detail 3 with Stylized Detailed Collection and the "Bold Detail" preset. Adjusted the "boldness" to my liking.</p> <p >4-Created a mask on that layer and masked out everything but the barn and foreground trees. </p> <p >5-Created a new layer and went back into Topaz Adjust. Chose "French Countryside" preset under the Vibrant collection. Adjusted exposure, saturation, protect highlights, contrast, saturation boost and vignetting under “finishing touches.” Created a mask for this layer and masked out the barn and foreground trees this time</p> <p >6-used the Topaz Clean filter and applied the "Curly Smooth" preset, set to strength of “1.”</p> <p >7-Applied a NIK Analog Efex Pro 2 filter of “Classic Camera” but adjusted the saturation, vignetting and only painted the filter into the bottom of the photo (soy part) to keep the sky as smooth as it was before and the barn and trees as I already had them.</p> <p ><img src="/photo/17872439&size=lg" alt="" /></p><div></div>

<p >1-Cropped so barn was at grid point around left upper third of image</p> <p >2-Used NIK Define filter on auto default setting.</p> <p >3-Used Topaz Detail 3 with Stylized Detailed Collection and the "Bold Detail" preset. Adjusted the "boldness" to my liking.</p> <p >4-Created a mask on that layer and masked out everything but the barn and foreground trees. </p> <p >5-Created a new layer and went back into Topaz Adjust. Chose "French Countryside" preset under the Vibrant collection. Adjusted exposure, saturation, protect highlights, contrast, saturation boost and vignetting under “finishing touches.” Created a mask for this layer and masked out the barn and foreground trees this time</p> <p >6-used the Topaz Clean filter and applied the "Curly Smooth" preset, set to strength of “1.”</p> <p >7-Applied a NIK Analog Efex Pro 2 filter of “Classic Camera” but adjusted the saturation, vignetting and only painted the filter into the bottom of the photo (soy part) to keep the sky as smooth as it was before and the barn and trees as I already had them.</p> <p ><img src="/photo/17872439&size=lg" alt="" /></p>