8 replies to this topic

[Merco_61]

First a message from this week's file submitter, Merco_61.

This is a photo from the Kate Bush fan event I shot in July. This is the starting pose for the dance.

 

Dropbox file:

Dropbox - PES_2016-07-16_15-28-48_28mm_.NEF - Simplify your life

 

And then the rules:

The exercise is weekly, a new thread with a new raw (preferably) or jpg fine file for each week.

The exercise officially runs until midnight between sunday and monday pst (UTC-8). Even after the official deadline, the exercise is still open for new interpretations.

This is a round-robin exercise, the order of submitting the week’s raw file is based on an alphabetical list of applicants’ user names. If the next submitter on the list is unable to post at his/her turn he/she may ask the thread master to be moved down the list no later than friday morning. Late applications will be added at the bottom of the list.

We will revise this when every applicant has had a go, and perhaps change this model.

 

The submitter for the week must make the file along with any specific text for the post available to the thread master during the weekend preceding the challenge week. The thread master will then copy the file to a Dropbox location for the challenge and make the starting post for the week.

 

The exercise is open to all members, not only the file submitters.

 

Images provided, as well as the images resulting from the exercise remain the sole property of the photographer who took them. Those participating in the editing exercise may not use or display the photo outside the exercise thread.

 

It is allowed to make derivative interpretations on other participants’ work (a collaborative approach). If you base your take on someone else’s work, you must indicate what you started from.

 

The owner of the photo comments on the work done, highlighting what he liked best (both the interpretation itself and the technique used to get there) after the original week is over.

 

As this exercise is a tool for learning and inspiration, multiple entries are not only ok, but encouraged if a participant gets a new idea for how to present or interpret the photo, including artistic interpretations.

 

Participants must share how they have achieved their take on the photo.

 

 

Participants are explicitly not limited as to what software is used for the exercise.

 

 

[Thumper]

I missed this one, but I am submitting anyway.

 

Here is the file as taken:

 

I loaded it into Lightroom to do my initial edits.

 

I increased the blue channel to bring out a little more in the sky as well as some of the other colors.

 

I reduced the red channel as boosting the blue channel started moving the reds to being blown out, but I wanted to retain the other blue channel effects.

 

I nudged the exposure down a bit to bring out the color and contrast in the clouds.  (The sky was really nice in that shot, but it was hidden).

 

I nudged up the contrast just a bit to bring out some more of the details in the red fabrics.

 

I turned the highlights down and reduced the shadows to kind of even out some of the details, especially in the people.

 

I turned down the whites to reduce some of the brighter areas peeking through the clouds.  I also increased the blacks to compensate for removing so much of the shadows and restore a bit of the details (again, in the red fabrics and also the faces of the people).

 

Then I cropped it.  I chose this particular crop to remove the gents standing awkwardly and conspicuously in the back of the shot.  They just didn't belong. I also went with this crop as it was an even group that didn't have me cutting through the middle of anyone, leaving an awkward image.  The grass was really interesting with the flowers, and I wanted to include some of that while still capturing a bit of that sky.  It put the people in the middle of the shot, which I normally try to avoid, but it turned out okay, at least in my opinion.

 

Here is my result:

[Merco_61]

Psst, Shane!

This is the current week.

[Thumper]

LOL!!   I am such a moron.   Well, then at least I got it done before the deadline.   

 

 

I can't stop laughing.  I'm not sure what exactly I thought that I read, but it sure wasn't this week.  

[Malice]

In my option (again), not a simple exposure to work with, partly because I had trouble coming up with an idea of what I wanted to do here. I started listening to Kate Bush and watched the Wuthering Heights video over and over again. Maybe that helped a little. It sure didn't hurt. :-)

 

Somewhat similar to Thumper's approach, I also decided to focus more on the people in the image and less on the surrounding landscape.

 

My processing steps in LR4:

* Use the cloning/stamping tool to remove one person at the line, where I wanted to crop the image. Parts of her were overlapping with the person behind her, so I brushed over those parts to try to make this less obvious (which didn't work out too well, if you look closely).

* Crop with a 16x9 aspect ratio

* Apply a gradient filter from top to bottom (settings: Exposure -1.50 / Contrast +25 / Highlights -100 / Clarity +50) to bring out the structures in the clouds

* Overall exposure: -1.50

* Highlights: -25

* Shadows: +25

* White levels: +10

* Black levels: -10

 

From there I moved to the Nik Collection and applied the following filters:

 

Color Efex Pro 4:

Reflector Efex: Method "Gold" / Light intensity 50% / Light fall off 50% / Position 50% / Source direction 219°

Detail extractor: 25% / Contrast 6% / Saturation 6%

 

RAW Presharpener:

Adaptive sharpening: 25% at normal ISO

 

Convert to JPG using Apple's Preview. No downsizing necessary due to the heavy crop applied in LR.

 

Which led to this result:

 

 

 

In a (somewhat vain) attempt to create an image with the color key look, I played around a little more...

 

After the adjustments in LR4 listed above, I created a virtual copy of the image and added the following steps:

* Color saturation: Red +100, all other sliders at -100

* Color luminescence: Red +100

* Overall saturation: -30

 

Moving on the the Nik Collection:

 

Color Efex Pro 4:

Tonal contrast: Highlights 25% / Midtowns 50% / Shadows 25% / Saturation 20% / Contrast type standard

Detail extractor: 25% / Contrast 6% / Saturation 6%

Reflector Efex: Method "Silver" / Light intensity 50% / Light fall off 50% / Position 50% / Source direction 219°

Colorize: Method "2" / Color: using the pipette to pick up the color of the dress of the person in the foreground of the image / Strength 15%

 

Leading to this version:

 

 

The second one didn't really turn out the way I wanted to, but I thought I might as well share it, while I'm at it.

 

Thanks to Peter for sharing an interesting exposure to work with and a nice weekend for you all.

[Bart]

An interesting scene, Peter!

I really liked the early work of Kate Bush. Kind of other worldly.

 

A challenging exposure indeed.

I picked Capture One and went for a 16:9 crop. I thought this would emphasise the group while keeping enough of the countryside in the image.

I tried to recover as much as I could from the sky with the lighting, high dynamic range, levels and curve tool.

 

 

Result:

 

 

I did a quick pass on the original NEF in DxO Optics as well to see if I could do better on the highlight recovery but in this case, I didn't notice anything better.

 

Took the C1 output into DxO FilmPack (by way of LR -> PS smart object) and choose the emulation of Fuji Velvia 50

Some tweaks added in that program

 

 

Back in LR, I decided to try my luck with removing some 'unwanted' people.

 

Result:

 

 

 

Next I started with the C1 output again into Silver Efex.

I wasn't happy with the result when I reviewed this afternoon so, I switched to DxO FilmPack.

Picked the emulation of Foma Fomapan 100R, a brown filter tweaks on contrast, curve and added toning.

 

 

Did the removals in LR as well.

Result:

 

 

 

I found that both results from FilmPack have a period look that I found fitting for the scene.

But perhaps that's just wishful thinking on my part

 

Thanks Peter, for lending us this intriguing and challenging image .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deano]

Unfortunately for me I didn't' take enough time to really study this weeks photo.  Been busy with non-photography stuff.

All I seem to remember is I wanted to include the hills along with the performers.  Experimented with color a bit in the cropped photos, giving the sky a red hue.

All edits done in LR 5.  I just downloaded DXO Optics Pro and will experiment with same photo next week in that program.

Attached Thumbnails

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[Jerry_]

Interesting capture Peter, thanks for sharing.

I first imported the capture into DxO11 with some basic default tweaks.
As I was inspired by Malice's selective color approach, considering the complementary colors, I went a slightly different way, by reducing the color selectively



For removing the two men (one can be seen in the selection above) I exported the version to SnaphealCK

Next I wanted to give more focus on the group and therefor used FocusCK, which offers a tiltshift



For the final take I used the DxO Filmpack and applied an Agfa Precisa 100 emulation

[Merco_61]

Shane, I liked your pastel sky, the color you got in the grass and white clover and your care in not blowing the reds.

 

Malice, you really nailed the greens we have here in July. Your desaturation experiment didn’t quite work, but the idea is a good one.

 

Bart, in your interpretation, I really liked how you kept the viking burial mounds in the background but cropped the foreground and the sky. I liked the tonality in your monochrome even if I don’t quite get the choice of a brown filter. I would have gone for a yellow-green filter to get the reds darker, lighten the greens and accentuate the blues in the sky, but that’s me.

 

Dean, your take seems a bit rushed, like you said. The Idea of the reddish sky is interesting, but it needs some more work.

 

Jerry, your pop-art rendering is a bit surprising, but it works. A tilt-effect is always nice to concentrate the focus.

 

 

Here is my own take on the file:

 

Basic edits in Capture NX-D

Crop to 16:9

Changed Picture Control to [LS]Landscape

Lowered exposure 1 EV

ADL set to Normal

Saturation +10

 

Over to PS CC

Duplicated layer

Cloned out bystanders

Duplicated layer

Exposure -3

Turned the latest layer into an adjustment layer and drew a gradient upwards from the horizon to emulate a graduated ND filter.

Flattened visible layers.

Duplicate layer

Tilt effect filter

 

Thank you all for taking part in this exercise.