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Fun With Sony Cameras

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gurtch

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Thank you Barry. Very kind of you to share the technique. The image is lovely.
Dave in NJ
Barry: I gave it a try. RAW image shown first. A7RII 16-35mm Zeiss. I then over saturated the image. Then I made a duplicate layer. On the duplicate layer I used Silver Efex Pro and made a B&W image, then adjusted the opacity. Added some geese just for fun. Burned, dodged, and burned the edges. Thanks a million. My attempt is not any where near small jpg_DSC0490_DxO.jpgsmall jpg trial 2 sat color &BW_DSC0490_DxO.jpgas nice as yours, but I can see it takes practice, and at age 78 and retired...heck I am having fun!!
Dave
 

Barry Haines

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Barry: I gave it a try. RAW image shown first. A7RII 16-35mm Zeiss. I then over saturated the image. Then I made a duplicate layer. On the duplicate layer I used Silver Efex Pro and made a B&W image, then adjusted the opacity. Added some geese just for fun. Burned, dodged, and burned the edges. Thanks a million. My attempt is not any where near as nice as yours, but I can see it takes practice, and at age 78 and retired...heck I am having fun!!
Dave
That’s excellent Dave, I would be very happy to have produced that myself, adding the geese was a nice touch that works IMO :)
It’s all about having fun and sharing here on this thread of Guys, I have learnt a lot from others here who have also kindly shared with me....I was honoured that you should even want to give it a try...Thank you!

As you posted I was just preparing a rough sequence that I kind of follow for my BLENCOMO treatment, it might be of help to some people who like playing around PP...Please scroll on for those not interested and I apologise if it comes over as a bit of a lecture for those that are ;)


I have put the original DNG image in my Dropbox for anybody that might want to give it a try for themselves.
(21mm Loxia “handheld at 0.4 sec thanks to good old IBIS” :D )
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ouotsg9zozbpcp2/AAC9Vanp4hZZAR1gAzx-EEMsa?dl=0
As you can see the Original “As shot” is a dull lifeless image :(


Original “As Shot”




Step 1. I use CS Photoshop and run it through Adobe ACR and ended up with this...Which frankly is still not much better either, it’s opened up the shadows somewhat, It’s an image that I would normally just give up on at this stage...It needs a bit of life injected into it, so I blend it with a punchy B&W image :)




Step 2. I now make a copy image of Step 1 and run it through Nik Silver Efex Pro 2...I normally choose preset 15 or one of my own > I add a 4% vignette > lighten and darken areas with the selection tool > reduce “fine structure” to a minimum to lower noise levels and alter the individual tone “structure” sliders to taste > now I balance the soft contrast slider to get the tonal balance of the whole image how I want it to look > (optional you can now add some colour toning to the image at this stage but I didn’t in this instance) > OK...I ended up with a B&W image looking like this...




Step 3. Select all (marching ants) on the B&W Step 2 image and copy and paste that on top of the Colour Step 1 image > Fade the top layer opacity to 85% to allow some of the colour to pass through > (Optional you can now burn, dodge or even erase selected areas on the B&W top layer should you so wish but I didn’t in this instance) > Layer, flatten the image. I ended up with a pale/weak colour image looking like this...




Step 4. Finishing touches to this image > Add 100% Vibrance to inject some colour back in the image > Auto Contrast then edit fade back slightly to protect the highlights, whilst looking at the histogram at the same time > Some slight 1% dodging of midtones + some burning 1% to the top part of the sky > A slight S shaped curve adjustment to add some extra contrast boost > some slight noise reduction is also necessary at this stage after cooking the image...I now ended up with an image now looking like this...



Step 5. Final steps I like to add a frame via Lightroom Mogrify 2 with title etc and now lastly downsize the image before uploading to Flickr
I personally prefer to use Web Sharpener http://andreasresch.at/2013/04/07/web-sharpener-better-sharpening-for-the-web/ as it steps down using Lab color mode which you can adjust finely in layers.




I hope this maybe of help to some of you...Who knows it might even rescue one of your old flat looking images that you couldn’t be bothered with in the past...Cheers Barry
 

frozenbb

Member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Thanks for the detailed tutorial, Barry. After seeing this, I'm starting to realize just how lazy I have become in my post-processing duties.

Other than during import/export, do you use LR for processing at all? I find the LR adjustment brushes useful for quick but selective edits. Admittedly, Photoshop is invaluable when you need it.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

I hope this maybe of help to some of you...Who knows it might even rescue one of your old flat looking images that you couldn’t be bothered with in the past...Cheers Barry
Barry, I appreciate you sharing your PP procedures. Thanks.

Don't mistake me asking this..

Quite of few of what you show here (enlargements), have parts that have literally fallen/broken apart.
How do these print?

TIA!
 

Barry Haines

Active member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Thanks for the detailed tutorial, Barry. After seeing this, I'm starting to realize just how lazy I have become in my post-processing duties.

Other than during import/export, do you use LR for processing at all? I find the LR adjustment brushes useful for quick but selective edits. Admittedly, Photoshop is invaluable when you need it.
You are most welcome Tom, looking at your images they are beautifully processed less (processing) is more :thumbup: ...I tend to over do it at times ;)

I particularly liked "Rise" at the top of the page...Excellent.

I flip backwards and forwards between the two of them (LR and CS) depending upon the image but I do spend a lot more time in CS Photoshop out of the two.

Barry, I appreciate you sharing your PP procedures. Thanks.
Don't mistake me asking this..
Quite of few of what you show here (enlargements), have parts that have literally fallen/broken apart.
How do these print?
TIA!
Good morning Vivek, many thanks I like to share with those who kindly show an interest :)
BTW. I would never mistake you!

Re: "Have parts that have literally fallen/broken apart"
Delightfully expressed may I just add, thanks again :LOL:

If I printed these BLENCOMO web "Enlargements" (sRGB 8 bit jpeg) as they stand I suspect they would probably not look that great on close scrutinisation, if I did they would probably be best viewed as largish prints standing back at a suitable viewing distance, just as I guess most people would view a "Andy Warhol - Marilyn Monro, screen print" :) We have some posterization among other things going on here because of the files have been pushed processed up to and well beyond their normal 8 bit sRGB jpeg limitations.
In short I wouldn't ever waste my paper and ink printing these as they stand not even for test prints...If I was going to print the RAW files I would PP them altogether differently as finished 16 bit ProPhoto Tiffs.
Cheers Barry
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Thanks, Barry. :)

FWIW, I have seen the Warhol Monroe print. Up close or at a distance they are about the same quality, in terms of the Zeiss micro contrast. :ROTFL: fabulous!

Distractions aside, keep your contributions coming. Keeps this place alive. :)
 

frozenbb

Member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Here's one from this morning with almost no processing. I wish I had waited another second for the plane to cross the horizon...


Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

 
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Goodness, Christina, the looks fine and I'll have to try my Sonar-C on A7R2. It did't do well in the corners on A7, but it looks fine here at a wide aperture.

Kirk
 

jim251

Member
Re: Fun With Sony _____

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A try at amping up a flat-color, low-contrast image. Maybe a bit overcooked, but then I like burnt toast... LOL...


RX100m2
 

benroy

Subscriber Member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all...I have enjoyed the fine work shared in this forum all year. It's been wonderful.

Roy Benson
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Re: Fun with the Sony A7 Series Cameras( all of them)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all...I have enjoyed the fine work shared in this forum all year. It's been wonderful.

Roy Benson

Thanks Roy. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.
 
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