Skokomish River

beautiful.

Hello again David. I gave this some tweaks in PS. I hope you don't mind. Being mainly a film user, I tried to make it look more like what I'm used to--not that it's such a good thing, but it might give you some ideas. The adjustments I made bring out the areas in the frame that made the deepest impression on me.

David, I really like what you did here. I wish our other posters could see this. What I like is the increased clarity and brilliance. I also see more blue. What exactly did you do? And again thanks for your time with this...

 

Cheers

Well, one thing I noticed is that you did a great job of preserving all the shadow detail. This is very important, because it gave me a lot of freedom. The contrast in the mids and shadows (note: not the highlights) throughout the photo was flat, but a simple S curve would have killed it by destroying all your shadow detail. This is a common problem after scanning and digital capture.

 

Here's what I did:

 

1. Curves layer, increased shadow brightness of all dark areas including lake using a feathered selection. Everything but the bright clouds and sky was selected. Essentially, I raied the values of the dark areas, thus flattening the contrast even more.

 

2. Made several selections of all dark areas including lake. Applied USM at 50-20-0. This adds local contrast, which darkens the blacks and brightens whatever highlights are there. Sometimes I applied USM several times. For example the foreground bottom left required several USM applications to give it the contrast needed, without destroying the shadow areas.

 

3. Made a feathered selection of the bright areas and darkened the highlights using curves. Then applied USM at 50-20-0 to this area. Again, repeated USM until I could see the distant tree detail "pop". I zoomed all the way in to see the effects and really tried to bring out the tree detail above the cloud layer in the upper left.

 

4. I made a feathered selection of the lake and increased blue in the highlights only. I made a feathered selection of the sky and inceased blue in the highlights only. Again, USM to increase local contrast and darken the blacks.

 

5. I made a slightly feathered selection of the pointed land on the middle right. Then increased the mids using a curve. Then applied USM at 50-20-0 to this area. I wanted it to stand out because it's a stunning compositional feature.

 

This was a lot of thoughtful work, but only took me a few minutes. What I like now is the pointed land on the right balances the cloud layer on the left. There is more detail in the slightly darker sky, and of course more contrast in the mids and shadows without losing any shadow detail.

 

 

 

 

 

I guess the most important idea here is to flatten contrast before adding it back with USM.

David, I'm very impressed. PS is not my strong suit, I freely admit. I really appreciate what you have shown me here, David. I am going to try and recreate this. Thank you so much for your detailed explanation. I repeat, I am very sorry the other posters will not see what you have done.

 

Cheers...

I don't know, I think I like the darker version better. I think I am partial to the dark foreground. I feel I can fall into the image with the light in the back. It pulls me into the imeage. I get a sence of moodiness in the darker image.

 

I think it is incredible what David was able to do and the detail he was able to pull out, but I am more attached to the original. Then again that is just me.

 

Don

David Roosien's version has more "pop," and I myself generally really like the effect of local contrast enhancement on landscapes and architecture. It definitely yields a more film-like image. I will have to try your selective approach to LCE. But in the edited version, the warmth of the late afternoon sun on the distant hillside and clouds seems to have been lost. This was a strength of David Robinson's original version. Also, part of the reflection is now too bright, I think.

The shadow detail is of course a matter of personal taste, interesting variants for discussion here. But I would stick to the original version. Leigh said it nicely, it conveys a sense of being there perfectly.

I agree with Carsten's comment. If you have a consistent vision that includes flattened contrast in the darker tones, then by all means stick with it.

nice photograph..

Very intersting shot.

I love the V-shape and his fine mirror in the lake.

Wonderful details and great art. Congrats, David, very well made!

Kalaga, Wim and Mari. Thank you for your comments.