I would love to see some pros before and after

[kye_brown1]

<p>When i am going thru the many forums on this site (which I love) I often see photogs that have done before and after pics using a forums current pic. I always wonder "how did they do that to make it look so much better". So I am asking some of you to post before (overexposed, underexposed, oof, sdof, unsharp, non-vibrant) and show us the after and how you did it. Thanks and look forward to the post so we all can learn a think or 2. ciao</p>

[chris_autio]

<p>BEFORE: disintegrating photo from 40's <br>

AFTER: rephotographed using polarizers on lights and lens, which really improved the values. Then an hour work using mostly healing and clone tools in photoshop. I knew I did my work when the gentleman who came to get the finished work cried. Apparently it was one of only a few photos of his father. </p><div></div>

[chris_autio]

<p>after</p>

[peter_popp1]

<p>If you like learning this way, Scott Kelby has a great (IMO) book called the 7-Point System, where he walks you through the processing of about 20 pictures from beginning to end, and you get to see the effect of his changes at every step, and then compare the beginning and ending images. I found that the book really helped me, and I often refer back to it. Money well spent for me.</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Kye, don't know if you're referring to recent captures or old restoration photos. I do both, but the entire list of photoshop procedures for restorations would be way to lengthy to post in this thread. And besides that I couldn't remember what I did to save my life cuz it's been so long since I did one.</p>

<p>However, I do currently shoot my own Raw captures which come out rather dull sometimes compared to what I remember of the scene. I'm not one of those photographers that shoots highly stylized, eye popping razor sharp fashion pics. I shoot available light outdoor landscapes, local scenics and flowers.</p>

<p>Below is the before Raw shot as it came straight out of my Pentax K100D exposing for the LCD histogram and the result of what I did afterward. All edits done in ACR 4.6 and have all the ACR settings embedded in the EXIF data which you can download and place in any app that displays EXIF data such as Bridge. If you don't have this app you can upload the image to flicker and, once you click on the image there which will take you to its image page, click on "More Properties" and it will list all the settings.</p><div></div>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>And here's another:</p><div></div>

[patricklavoie]

<p>Surprinsingly, a lot of time here peopel seem to think that you need to fix only the bad / under / over / not sharp / blurry etc images..and that magicaly the *good* images dont need anything.</p>

<p>Well is a secret; EVERY IMAGES i have seen in my life NEED to some extend, work. From Ansel Adam to Annie Leibovizt..to mine and yours ; )</p>

<p>Many image you will see online just have a quick saturation and sharpness boost, because the photog have take time to carefully adjust all is parameter and develop the image correctly with is raw software to bring the image to life. Some photog dont ahve sufficient knowledge on how to shoot and relay on photoshop to *fix* the problem shot and create piece of art...</p>

<p>I can show you zillion image before and after, and you will see that most of the time the difference is huge, btu the tools are the same..and without the knowledge on how to use those tools, even if you can see what can be done, you wont go far. What are the tool i ear you ask? level, curve, LAYER MASK, smart sharpen and hue saturation is ALL YOU NEED to get amazing result on a color shot. Add the bw tool in the lot to get amazing bw image.</p>

<p>Of course, a before color image turn as a bw with dramatic post processing looking effect can turn a regular shot into a spectacular one.</p>

<p>heres some example of my own shot (i dotn mean to say that my shot are amazing, but for me and my use..they are ; )</p><div></div>

[patricklavoie]

<p>another one</p><div></div>

[patricklavoie]

<p>and a last AFTER one</p><div></div>

[patricklavoie]

<p>and now ladys and gentlemens..the BEFORE one ! ; )</p>

<p>*i certainly add more pop (saturation to the blue) during the raw conversion</p><div></div>

[patricklavoie]

<p>the other one</p><div></div>

[patricklavoie]

<p>and the last one</p><div></div>

[rob_martin7]

<p>Cool stuff! :)</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Can't believe there isn't more contributers to this thread going by the many photographers here. </p>

<p>Oh well, I guess I'll post one more. </p>

<p>The shot below is from shooting with a 25 year old Vivitar zoom lens and a Quantaray 2x TC. Since I was loosing light I had to shoot at ISO 800, manual focus and exposure, hand held. Since my Pentax K100D doesn't know anything about this lens combo it produces a very green color cast shooting AWB.</p><div></div>