A Voluntary Exercise in Postprocessing

[michaellinder]

<p>I shot this image in a little cafe in Dahlonega, Georgia. This a quaint, yet sophisticated little village in northeast Georgia. The cafe provided an outstanding dinner meal and the opportunity to photograph folksingers performing on an open-mike basis. Here's the full file.</p><div></div>

[michaellinder]

<p>Here's the resized one.</p><div></div>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>Got rid of most of the color cast through desaturation, cropped to 4x5 and added a vignette - all done in ACR.</p>

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[tom_r]

<p>Aside from the processing exercise and practice which is always beneficial, with this photo I think there are two outputs I'd prefer: 1) embrace the odd lighting setup and colors, or 2) convert fully to black and white. I rarely use b&w, but even my quick practice result was pretty stunning. I'm sure more experienced folk than me could really produce a great photo.</p>

[mendel_leisk]

<p>Yeah, the color seems distracting, b/w conversion a good option. Don't want to trample on your efforts, but I prefer the pre-adjustment colours.</p>

[michaellinder]

<p>Tom and Mendel, can you please post your versions of the image and outline the steps you took in your postprocessing?</p>

[michaellinder]

<p>Dieter, your version reminds me of the use of color film and a "classic" camera.</p>

[michaellinder]

<p>I thank Tom and Mendel for the observations regarding converting to b&w. My efforts in adjusting the colors were frustrating.<br>

Initially, I used the pro contrast filter in Color Efex to adjust the tonal and color contrasts. Then, after the conversion, I used control points in Silver Efex to make further adjustments in tonality, contrast, and structure.</p>

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[Glenn McCreery]

<p>Here is my attempt using mostly hue/saturation and color balance adjustments in Photoshop CS5. My objective was to make their faces look a similar tone and color. The difficulty is that the two performers have different lighting, the man is too yellow-cyan and the woman too red-magenta plus an overall green cast. Using separate hue/saturation adjustment layers for the two performers and then combining the two might have worked better. But, that said, black and white is probably the best approach.</p><div></div>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>B&W had been my first thought when I saw the weird color scheme (which I just simply can't embrace) - but with B&W the image loses all appeal for me. </p>

[lynnthomas]

I'm somewhat conflicted because I like both the B&W and color. Finally settled on B&W.

 

Adjusted with the Histogram, WB Auto, Eric Kim Neopan 1600 v4, lightened it up a bit, backed off the grain<div></div>

[Ray House]

<p>Just what I would do...</p><div></div>

[Glenn McCreery]

<p>Here is a mostly straight conversion of my edited color image to black and white. The only additional adjustment was burning in a few highlights.</p><div></div>

[stephen_ray]

<p>I've kept one of the most impactful aspects of this photo, which is it's color. I balanced most of the "memory" colors; being the skin tones, the two microphones, and her guitar. Quickmasks, gray and white points using Curves to arrive at neutrals, Selective Color to tweak skin tones, and minor painting with color were used. <br>

The other great thing about this photo is his expression. I don't know if the fellow loves the gal but it appears he surely enjoys performing with her. </p>

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[sunil_malkani]

<p>My Take: What I was shooting for: The main color temps are at two ends of the spectrum basically. Wanted to narrow the lighting on each subject in their own colors.<br>

Basic ACR corrections, then used graduated filters roughly one third each vertically to open shadows or reduce exposure, all the relevant sliders were used; so that the two light sources were balanced and narrowed to each subject and complimentary. In cs6 a little clean up with cloning, spot, healing of spots, blemish on the arm below the sleeve, rebuilt the chin as there is a red spot there on the female subject. Noise and sharpening.</p><div></div>

[aplumpton]

<p>The mixed type of lighting is the problem as far as I can see (as Glenn said) and the small images suggest (hard to see accurately due to small size) that there are a number of blown highlights and lack of skin texture. So overall the B&W, notwithstanding the contrast due to said textureless highlights, is perhaps the only way to save this image. One would have to mask and separately treat each performer in PS in order to obtain a good balance in a color image.</p>

<p>Micheal, your café experience reminds me of one last year in the village of Gagetown, New Brunswick, folk singers and all. I know this is not fully on topic, but what did you mean by an "outstanding dinner"? If it truly was, a photo and gastronomic visit one day to that village (?) in North Georgia would be good.</p>

[thebarnman]

<p><img src="http://www.aztmp.com/Photo.net/bversion.jpg" alt="" width="752" height="671" /></p>

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[michaellinder]

<p>Arthur, my main course was shrimp and grits. As you may know, this dish is often served in southeastern USA. As I recall, my appetizer was an incredibly thick, delicious vegetable soup. Another highlight was a porter ale manufactured by a local craft brewery; unfortunately I don't recall its name.</p>