Post Processing Challenge February 23, 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)

 

Cerro Pan d'Azucar near Piriápolis here in Uruguay. The cross on the top is 35m tall. There is a spiral staircase in it and viewing ports in the arms of the cross.

Another excellent image you've provided, Punta!

#1: Initial steps in PSE15 - used content aware spot healing brush to eliminate the dark object in the sky, then cropped from left and top. Used hue/saturation slider to add warmth. Then sharpened with Output Sharpener.

 

 

#2: In PSE15, used correct camera distortion filter to eliminate tree branches near left edge and to modify perspective. Then converted to b&w, as well as adjusting tonality and sharpness, using Silver Efex.

 

 

I'm a bit disappointed with the above image, due to the visible banding in the sky. I should have used NIK's noise reduction program first. Oh well......

Nice image, Punta. Used LR to crop. Added Tonal Contrast in NIK

#3: I decided to attempt a "dreamscape" approach. First, in PSE15, I again got rid of the left side branches and to modify the perspective in PSE. Then, I used a filter in Color Efex for the first time - Photo Stylizer, to modify the color toning. Then, back in PSE, I adjusted tonal levels and made a slight adjustment to the color tones, and then added sharpness.

 

 

I'm a bit disappointed with the above image, due to the visible banding in the sky. I should have used NIK's noise reduction program first. Oh well......

I think that comes from the jpeg compression particularly if applied a couple of times. The first time was when I posted the image.

I think that comes from the jpeg compression particularly if applied a couple of times. The first time was when I posted the image.

 

My mind must have been out to lunch when I prepared the b&w. I knew to use NIK's Define2 program to eliminate noise when preparing the first color version. Why I didn't repeat that step, I'll never know.

If I'm not mistaken, that's a deliberate go at placing the point-of-interest in the Golden Rule if 3rds,

 

1/3 way across

1/3 way down

 

Humm, when on my 'proper' machine, I must have a bash with it.

 

I'll be back...;)

 

I cropped and then applied NIK ColorEfex tonal contrast, then Topaz Simplify adjustments, then added a duplicate layer, converted it to black and white with luminosity blending with about 60% opacity.

Thanks for the photo. I removed a couple of antenna towers in PS, applied a mild simplify effect using Topaz, dehazed a bit and straightened horizon in DXO Photolab 2, used a tad of a watercolor effect and "burned"/darkened parts of the mountain, replaced the sky using Landscape Pro (to add a little interest to the top right of the photo) and added a frame in Smart Photo Editor.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by tom_r

Ouch! The over-saturation in my version is hurting my eyes a little. :(

Here's a Buzsim version from Topaz Studio.

Thanks for the challenge Punta. All adjustments in LR 5.7.1. Cropped to pano shape and converted to B&W. Removed transmitter from peak, applied lots of contrast and clarity. Used colour sliders to control contrast and used some localised burning. Set White and Black points and saved.

An attempt to accentuate the detail of Pan d'Azucar and the shadows of the clouds on the landscape, all done in LR. I used gradients and the new-to-me range masks associated with them (colour, luminosity). There was a bit of spot removal (the towers, all 3 of them) and local adjustment for the trees. I am still having a tough time figuring out what to do with the foreground.

On looking at the photo, I got curious about whether I could transplant the tree and make it look believable, so I took the image into Photoshop, duplicated the layer, moved it, masked it, and brushed in the tree in the new location. I then did a bit of cloning around the edges to make it fit in with the new background. The next problem was to create a new landscape to cover over the original tree. I cloned in pieces from elsewhere in the image to try to come up with something that looked plausible. Next, I went back into Lightroom to adjust colors and contrast: (1) gradient to reduce exposure in the sky and make the clouds stand out a bit more by—oddly—reducing the contrast (Go figure. My guess is that reduced contrast spread out the highlights over a wider range, and since sky and clouds were very light, that separated them); (2) gradient to warm up the foreground and increase clarity; (3) I played with overall vibrance, clarity, saturation, shadows, highlights and dehaze, ending up with minor tweaks to each. Then I stood back and looked at the result, and realized to my chagrin that I’d transplanted the tree but not the shadow, so I popped it back into Photoshop to move the shadow (this time just cloning it). Then I went back into Lightroom to clone out the more obvious repeated elements in my constructed landscape (though it still doesn’t stand up well to close examination). I find it a bit frightening to realize how much fun it is to mess with reality.

Punta thanks for supplying the image again it is very nice. All work in GIMP. I started out to do a dark split tone but I did not like the results. So I used the split tone layers over the original image and liked this desaturated look. The water board guy from a few weeks ago got in to the image some how.

Super job, Leslie!

 

Mike, does this mean that waterboard guy has now become a meme?

 

Masterful PS work, @Leslie Reid! This PP compositon has better 'balance'.

A first 'conservative' PP from me, I first tried to work out what (for me) the most interesting 'subject' of the photo was and decided on the mountain with the cross. So I cropped out the non-essentials, tried to get less emphasis (saturation, contrast) in the foreground and more emphasis on the background (mountain + cross). I increased the size and definition of the cross to make it more prominent. I had a lot of problems selecting different layers of trees to adjust saturation/contrast. I didn't want to spend too much time on this so this is a rough version of what I had in mind. I also added a bit more blue to the sky and lake.

Cropped, used the dehaze tool in Camera Raw, adjusted lighting and details in Color Efex