Post Processing Challenge March 10, 2019

"Another weekly challenge.

If, anyone else would like to post next week please give it a go, upload a High resolution jpeg. Just indicate your intentions by Thursday or early Friday.

Remember there are no rules you can do what you wish in your interpretation, please can you give information of the steps taken and software used to add interest.

It is not meant as a competition just a bit of fun." (Gerald Cafferty)

St. Mary's River, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Canada.

Yet another wonderful photo, @PuntaColorada! Once again my personal thanks to you for continuing to host this weekly PP challenge and for providing such varied and interesting photos to experiment with! There's something about the subject and composition of this photo that resonates with me on many levels. In my teens, I used to fish too (though I never, ever bagged a fish like this one ;)). The guy looks to be on his own (though that might not be) so it looks to be a real 'personal interest'. The compositition with the river, rocks and bridge in the background (and not forgetting the fish!) is wonderful!

My first immediate "vision' for this photo was of lower-light and a 'looming dark bridge' so my first PP version went from there.

- cropped to 4x5

- created B&W version using Nik Silver Efex Pro

- added in a High Pass Filter layer in Photoshop to enhance some sharpness/details

- added some color (magenta highlights, blue shadows) in PS

- tweaked the contrast and brightness of the Background (sky and bridge) and foreground (everything else) using PS curves

Yet another wonderful photo, @PuntaColorada! Once again my personal thanks to you for continuing to host this weekly PP challenge and for providing such varied and interesting photos to experiment with! There's something about the subject and composition of this photo that resonates with me on many levels. In my teens, I used to fish too (though I never, ever bagged a fish like this one ;)). The guy looks to be on his own (though that might not be) so it looks to be a real 'personal interest'. The compositition with the river, rocks and bridge in the background (and not forgetting the fish!) is wonderful!

 

My first immediate "vision' for this photo was of lower-light and a 'looming dark bridge' so my first PP version went from there.

- cropped to 4x5

- created B&W version using Nik Silver Efex Pro

- added in a High Pass Filter layer in Photoshop to enhance some sharpness/details

- added some color (magenta highlights, blue shadows) in PS

- tweaked the contrast and brightness of the Background (sky and bridge) and foreground (everything else) using PS curves

 

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I'm really impressed with the noir treatment, Mike.

Yet another wonderful photo, @PuntaColorada! Once again my personal thanks to you for continuing to host this weekly PP challenge and for providing such varied and interesting photos to experiment with! There's something about the subject and composition of this photo that resonates with me on many levels. In my teens, I used to fish too (though I never, ever bagged a fish like this one ;)). The guy looks to be on his own (though that might not be) so it looks to be a real 'personal interest'. The compositition with the river, rocks and bridge in the background (and not forgetting the fish!) is wonderful!

 

My first immediate "vision' for this photo was of lower-light and a 'looming dark bridge' so my first PP version went from there.

- cropped to 4x5

- created B&W version using Nik Silver Efex Pro

- added in a High Pass Filter layer in Photoshop to enhance some sharpness/details

- added some color (magenta highlights, blue shadows) in PS

- tweaked the contrast and brightness of the Background (sky and bridge) and foreground (everything else) using PS curves

 

[ATTACH=full]1286281[/ATTACH]

Thank you very much for your kind words, Mike. I had a chance to talk to this young fellow and show him the shot. He's really into fishing. The fish you see is the one he kept that day of several that he caught.

Nice image to work with. Cropped, then selected fisherman using Topaz Remask5 and used as new layer. Adjusted background layer using Topaz Simplify with painting settings. Adjusted colors and sharpened fisherman layer, then flattened image.

A fun one—I did two versions. I had three goals here on the first version: I wanted to isolate the center of interest, to change the context into someplace less developed (though I did like the original context—see next version), and to practice using fill and cloning in Photoshop. I first took the image into PS, enlarged the canvas using context-aware fill, cropped, and straightened. I then spent most of my time editing the fill, removing obvious repeats, modifying the dark reflection, and ensuring that the areas that were supposed to be out of focus remained that way (context aware fill seemed to want everything to be in focus). I did a lot of experimenting with the clone tool: modifying angles with the clone source panel and using low opacity to overpaint washes of a darker color over parts of the water to tone it and modify the color (mostly at the top of the frame). Finally, I took the image back into Lightroom to use adjustment brushes: I reduced sharpness and clarity in the upper right, increased exposure on the boy’s face, and reduced exposure on the rock behind his face. Finally, I added a slight vignette—something I’ve previously done only a handful of times.

For the second version, I wanted to play up the original context by making the boy smaller and the bridge more massive, also while playing with Photoshop’s fill and cloning. In PS I enlarged the canvas vertically using context-aware fill to add more bridge. I eventually concurred with PS’s decision to add a second bridge deck, but I did overrule PS on certain aspects of bridge engineering (such as my insistence on the need for continuity of structural members). I selected the foreground, banished it to a new layer, then shrank it, and then cloned to hide the edges where it joined with the original foreground. Back in Lightroom, I used an adjustment brush to lighten the rock behind the boy’s face, then slightly lightened the upper part of his face. I also lightened the fish’s back and warmed it slightly so it would stand out against the knapsack. I did a few minor global adjustments with lights, darks, and vibrance, then went to the HSL panel and upped the saturation in reds and yellows and reduced it in the other colors, and I increased luminance in reds—these to make the shirt stand out a bit more. Finally, I added a gradient to reduce exposure on the bridge, and an adjustment brush to increase exposure slightly on the boy.

Silvery and moody attempt

It's the first encounter of the Jedi twin brothers (separated at birth) who apparently share a love of fishing but not an affinity for the same side of the Force.

(Thanks to Michael for the doppelganger idea.)

It's the first encounter of the Jedi twin brothers (separated at birth) who apparently share a love of fishing but not an affinity for the same side of the Force.

(Thanks to Michael for the doppelganger idea.)

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LOL!

2nd version w/o bridge to focus on the boy:

- cropped and sharpened with HPF

- desatured rocks, saturated and brightened boy

- changed water color from brownish to bluish (color balance)

- added more contrast in the water

The Uruguayan Navy sensed that something 'fishy' was happening in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, and went to investigate.

Very creative! Love it!

The Uruguayan Navy sensed that something 'fishy' was happening in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, and went to investigate.

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Corrected Copyright:

Photo.net Processing Challenge 03-10-2019 by David Stephens

Site wouldn't allow me to Edit my post.

Punta thanks for supplying the image again this week. All work in GIMP. Converted to black and white then used the curves tool to add contrast. I then added a gray layer set to subtraction and set the opacity to 50%. I then added a layer mask and used the blend tool to add the halo.

This is probably the last one from me. My very first PP attempt at this photo was to try to move the boy further to the right of the rocks to increase 'separation. I very quickly gave up because I wasn't getting anywhere. I went back and had another go today. The PS 'context aware move' tool didn't help much so I ended up manually copying, pasting, cloning and patching. It doesn't stand up to any scrutiny but it felt good to do a rough version of what I had in mind. To make it a bit different from my previous versions, I placed the boy in deeper water (by chopping his legs off :)). I also changed the 'color scheme' from magenta to blue/brown/orange.

Thank you for participating in the Post Processing Challenge threads that I have initiated over the past few weeks.

Unfortunately, this is the last for me.

One member (David Stephens aka dcstep) has taken upon himself to place derivatives of my images on his Flickr account. If you click on the versions he has posted, you can clearly see the link.

This clearly violates the Terms of Use for photo.net and I have reported it. I tried several messages between us to resolve this issue.

If photo.net resolves this matter, I may be return. Until then, it was fun.

Understandable, @PuntaColorada. Posting derivates of your photos on Flickr without your permission contravenes the Flickr community guidelines too.

I hope that the issue gets resolved.

Mike

Thank you for participating in the Post Processing Challenge threads that I have initiated over the past few weeks.

 

Unfortunately, this is the last for me.

 

One member (David Stephens aka dcstep) has taken upon himself to place derivatives of my images on his Flickr account. If you click on the versions he has posted, you can clearly see the link.

 

This clearly violates the Terms of Use for photo.net and I have reported it. I tried several messages between us to resolve this issue.

 

If photo.net resolves this matter, I may be return. Until then, it was fun.

I have modified dcstep's (David Stephens) post so that his modification is now hosted by photo.net, not drawn in from Flickr.

Thank you Shun.