Post-Processing Challenge 2 May 2020

I haven't yet seen a PP thread for this week so I thought I'd take the initiative. My apologies to anyone else who was just on the point of posting! I took this photo in Schiedam (NL) and I think it has some PP potential.

 

There are no rules as to how you apply your post processing to this image; but, please let us know what you have done so we can all learn. If you would like to post a candidate image next week, please ensure it is of sufficiently high resolution for manipulation by the participants (3000px on the long side, 300dpi for example).

 

Most of all, let's have fun while we are learning or demonstrating how we use our post-processing software, imaginations and interpretations.

 

Have fun!

 

Mike

 

Nice image, Mike. I adjusted exposure in LR. Then, added Tonal Contrast in NIK

Converted to b/w in Silver Efex Pro2

This was a fun one. Thanks for posting. Right now I'm experimenting a lot more with split toning.

 

Edited in LightRoom:

• straightened the photo
  
• brought up color temp +8
  
• highlights +14, shadows -100, whites +35, blacks - 41
  
• clarity +14
  
• overall saturation +5
  
• pulled up saturation in color channels, orange +15, yellow +3, green +21, aqua +6, blue +25, purple +5
  
• split tone highlights, green, saturation 13, balance -55, shadows in red, saturation at 10
  
• sharpen and NR both at 50
  

I used PS CS6.

1. I brightened the darkest areas using the shadows/highlights tool.

2. Adjusted levels

3. Used clone stamp to remove the post from the lower right hand corner

4. Rotated canvas 1 degree clockwise to straighten

5. Cropped a little bit

 

Moonrise over Schiedam. Joined the left half of the image with it's horizontal mirror image. Pasted a photo of the moon, then pasted it's vertical mirror image, with reduced opacity, to represent the moon's reflection from the water. Employed NIK ColorEfex "Glamour Glow" and "Indian Summer".

 

This was a very nice image to play with.

Mike, this is such a beautiful image that I am very reluctant to do anything to it (yet) other than some very slight straightening.

When I was pixel peeping, I noticed the two dots in the sky. The bright one is most likely Venus. The very small one may be Mars.

They line up.

So, I guess one could say that the planets aligned for you when you took this magnificent photo. Congratulations. I really like this photo as-is (or as-was without the labels and arrows).

I thought the stark white background of PNet took away from the subtle colours so I put the photo on a darker background. Before I did that, I straightened the photo a bit, used a curves adjustment layer with mask to darken the water and a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer with mask to enhance the yellows in the tree. That's it and is much more than this image needed.

Beautiful photo, Mike!

Once again, I’m using it mostly as an opportunity to figure out how to do some things in Photoshop.

 

I started in Lightroom with a few basic edits: straightened by putting the light reflections directly under the lights; slightly increased white clipping, texture, shadows, and exposure.

 

Then the fun stuff in Photoshop:

1. I wanted to give the foreground a bit more prominence, so I enlarged the canvas, selected the bottom half, and stretched it downwards to the point that the distortion began to be noticeable, then backed it off slightly. I then selected the bottom quarter (below the top of the canal walls), and did the same. Finally, I selected the bottom eighth (at the base of the canal walls), and stretched that part--each segment thus got progressively more stretch.
   
2. Then I parked the truck.
   
3. Finally, I selected the green building with the marquee tool and used image—>adjustments—>replace color to turn it into a beige building, and I did the same with its reflection.
   

Back in Lightroom, I used an adjustment brush to tone down a certain bright orange color.

Thanks for the upload. Here is a moody version from a different crop. Sorry for no write up, but the process was too tortuous/torturous to relive it again. Haha :rolleyes:

Edited May 3, 2020 by tom_r

Thanks for all the great PP versions! I'm glad everyone enjoyed working on the photo. FWIW, at the time, my edits in Lightroom were pretty basic: just tweak the low exposure exposure and contrast. I reset my adjustments and posted the original photo. So here's how I spent most of my lazy Sunday afternoon (in 'intelligent lockdown')

- brightened up the photo (introducing high ISO noise, especially in the clouds/sky) - it was a hand-held very low light shot

- next, I tried to remove the 'clutter' of parked cars. The Photoshop 'context aware fill' really made a mess of the black car in the right foreground. I ended up copying, editing, cloning and patching bits of buildings, sidewalk, railings, etc. to make a rough job of filling the gap. Maybe I should have tried a context-aware move instead and deleted the car there.

- Photoshop did a much better job of 'context aware filling' for the parked white van and car further along. I tried to turn the result into an extended cafe terrace and a stack of of boxes

- Although blue and yellow contrast nicely, I tried to reduce the yellow saturation on the 'lights'

- applied a bit of sharpening, and contrast in the sky

- reduced the ISO noise generally and then again in the clouds/sky through a masked masked gaussian blur (keeping away from the 'color edges')

- cropped

- I was just on the point of posting when I thought 'what's a canal without a boat?' so I added one in from a photo I took the same day at a different location in Schiedam. I took the 'boat photo' late afternoon and the 'scene; late evening. So I tried to blend in the boat by reducing brightness and saturation while boosting yellows (lighting) and blues (later at night)

- TBH I would never consider spending so time and effort on PP other than for PP challenges! It's a great way to learn

Mike

Thanks, @PuntaColorada! You're right - I had noticed two 'planets' at the time I looked at the photo in PP but I gave no more thought to them. The situation was that I'd visited an art museum with some friends in Schiedam. After the museum closed, we took a walk through the (photogenic) town. Around 8 pm, we - hungry and thirsty- chanced upon a French Fries outlet that was cheap and cheerful and had a terrace. After our Fries +, and drinks, we walked back back to the lot where we'd parked our car. Crossing a bridge over one of many canals, I suddenly noticed the 'looming clouds' far out to sea. By that time (close to 10 pm.) it was dark and I pulled my camera out of my rucksack hoping to get a shot of the 'looming clouds'. Handheld, I needed all the ISO I could get. So the exposure is dark and - when brightened - has high ISO-noise. FWIW, my initial adjustments in Lightroom - given my 'neutral camera settings' were very basic: bump up the exposure a bit and apply my usual (minimal) adjustments to 'presence' and 'vivacity'.

 

The thing I love about this forum is that each version opens my eyes to what's possible. It expands my PP 'thinking box'. It inspires me to try other things than the 'same old, same old'.

 

Mike

 

 

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Mike, this is such a beautiful image that I am very reluctant to do anything to it (yet) other than some very slight straightening.

When I was pixel peeping, I noticed the two dots in the sky. The bright one is most likely Venus. The very small one may be Mars.

They line up.

So, I guess one could say that the planets aligned for you when you took this magnificent photo. Congratulations. I really like this photo as-is (or as-was without the labels and arrows).

Outstanding image with a great deal of potential for having fun!

 

Initially, my intuition told me to change the crop to portrait, using PSE15; the rest of the steps I took also involved the same software. Next I also eliminated the object in the bottom right using the spot healing brush. From there I used the Impressionist brush predominantly on the sky and on the sides, followed by using the sponge filter in the Artistic menu to create the illusion of texture.

 

Very nice photo. In my edit, I I tried focusing attention on the river by converting to B&W in LR, cropping in, and lightened the river to emphasize it in the photo .

 

1. Then I parked the truck.
   

 

That's awesome! Your clever work now makes me suspicious of any photo I see!

My modifications were simple. I applied the one button "Enhance" feature in Adobe Photoshop Express, followed by the "Vibrant" filter tone selection.

 

I think I actually like the Camera Raw Filter, but I often process an image with several variations that I like (there are no rules and boundaries).