9 replies to this topic

[Merco_61]

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

This image is from our fall road trip to Lincoln County, Nevada. Gravity fed ore buckets head down the hill toward the mine, and the view is from the north end of Pioche's Boot Hill Cemetery--I was trying to show a bit of Pioche's history all in one shot. I never could come up with an edit for this image that I really liked--it's a bit on the bland side, so I'm hoping you all can do something to make it a bit more interesting since I didn't manage it in camera. 

 

Dropbox file:

Dropbox - NCF-20161106-Pioche-DSC_0115.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.

 

 

[Jerry_]

Nicole, you succeeded to show a bit of Pioche's history.

Here is my take, doing only some minor editing as I like the capture as it is.

Importing the capture in DxO11 and applying a smart lighting with 72 points.

Next doing a rendering with the DxO filmpack for emulating a Rolei Retro 100 Tonal, resulting in



Thanks for sharing the capture and showing us parts of Pioche.

[Bart]

A great historical subject against beautiful scenery, Nicole.

 

 

I used DxO Optics for this exercise.

I ended up choosing a 16:9 crop again and these settings:

 

 

Resulting in this.

 

 

 

For my b&w, I sticked to the DxO product line and used FilmPack where I used their emulation of Foma Fomapan 200 Creative, complemented with these settings:

 

 

 

The result had developed some spots in the top left corner. I tried to remove these in LR.

 

 

 

In order to follow the historical nature of the scene, I tried out a portion of FilmPack I rarely use: Frames, Texture and Light leaks.

Starting from a  the "designer presets", 'Old Postcard', I switched back to colour and changed the toning to a split toning.

I ended with these settings:

 

 

The result:

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing a piece of American history, Nicole. I enjoyed the virtual visit 

 

[deano]

Thanks Nicole, love the early American history photo.

I edited in LR5 for the color version and in Topaz for the b/w.  I added the auto lens correction, cropped the building on the far left out, added a bit of dehaze, added just a bit of vignette , -16, some shadow and white balance.  In Topaz I added an antique filter, hopefully giving it that "old west" look.

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[Malice]

Sorry folks, just to let you know, unfortunately I will not be able to make my submission in time this week. Very busy week and weekend. I hope to get around to it at a later date.

[Merco_61]

This is how the raw file looked SOOC with the standard settings

 

 

Basic edits in Capture NX-D.

ADL changed to Normal from Off.

Picture control changed to [LS] Landscape from [SD) Standard.

 

 

Over to PS CC for further editing.

Duplicate to a new layer.

Clone out the dust and oil spots.

Color Efex Pro to this recipe:

 

 

This is how I would have shot a scene like this in the analog days.

 

Thank you, Nicole for letting us play with this interesting capture.

 

PS.

Nicole, why do you shoot with sRGB set? Doesn’t that make it difficult to use the histogram when chimping as the color gamut of the preview is so much smaller than what you have available in the raw file when processing.

[nbanjogal]

I am so sorry I've taken so long to respond to all your great work on this image! Thanks for the kind words--I was a bit disappointed in this image because it felt a bit bland to to me, but I really like what you all have done. Sorry about all the sensor spots you had to deal with! For future exercises, I shall have to make sure I'm using images from the D810 instead of the D600.

 

Jerry, I really enjoyed your elegant edit--I especially like how the lighter tones in the mountains really allow the ore bucket to stand out. It seemed to blend into the mountains too much in the original capture, which always bothered me. Bart, the crop is a great idea. Now that I've seen it, I can see that there was just too much foreground in the original. I like the texture and detail that you brought out in the monochrome edit, and the grain really fits the image well. As does the "Old Postcard" preset! (And I need to learn more about split toning...) Dean, yes, that building on the left is awful--I wish I had cloned it out or cropped or something because I really like your images without that distraction. And I think the antique filter works really well on this subject--I like that old west feel it creates! Peter, that last analog emulation is fantastic--it's really rich, and I like the vivid colors and detail. Was it the polarization setting that made such a lovely difference in the sky? 

 

Anyway, I tried a monochrome conversion in Lightroom and wasn't super happy with the results, no matter how much tweaking I did:

 

 

Then I decided to try to some new software--does anyone here use MacPhun? I acquired their Luminar software and have been dabbling in it. It's fairly intuitive, and I've only just scratched the surface on what it can do. I tried a monochrome preset and liked it better. Their clone stamp is a little awkward, so I quickly gave up on getting rid of the sensor spots.

 

 

And a color preset with a few tweaks:

 

 

It has a fun feature--a little bar that you can slide across to get a before and after:

 

 

And you might want to put your sunglasses on to view this bright thing. I hadn't tried a Topaz filter for awhile, so I shifted the color scheme in Topaz ReStyle (Atomic Tangerine, heh heh)  and then added a Topaz Impression filter (Swirly Lines). I lost the ore buckets, but I liked the tree, mountains, and foreground so figured what the heck, might as well.

 

 

Anyway, thanks for your  interesting and enlightening interpretations! Fantastic work from everyone!

 

PS: Peter, this is embarrassing to admit, but I didn't realize I could alter that in camera.

 

 

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[Merco_61]

Nicole, it is a combination of the polarizer and the response curve of the Provia F emulation. Provia was made to emphasize the sky, Velvia emphasizes the foliage. They are both highly saturated slide films. I have shot quite a bit with Provia 100F either according to the meter when I wanted the rich colours or rated at ISO 80 to get natural colours from it. Kodak had an equivalent film called Ektachrome E100VS that had the same characteristics as ProviaF.

 

It is well worth getting a good polarizer and experimenting with it for daytime landscapes like this as the filter emulations get close, but not quite the same result. The post work tends to cost a bit of dynamic range, unlike using an optical filter. I like the B+W Käsemann polarizers, but there can be some sticker shock before one gets used to the thought of a filter costing more than a good used lens.

[nbanjogal]

It would be worth experimenting with. I had a polarizer for the kit lenses on my old D60, but rarely used it--I think the problem was that I didn't know how to use it well. 

[TBonz]

Nicole - I have to say that I've had success with the occasional use of a polarizing filter although I rarely use one with landscapes.  However, unless I have a total senior moment, if I was shooting landscapes in the western part of the US, I would make sure to use it regularly.  To me those blue skies and vistas just ask me to use it.  So please do so for me !