thompsonkirk
Member
Thx for both compliments and suggestions! In return, I admired your tonal achievements in the 'Driveway' shot you just posted.
I think I've done what you wanted to see in the print – more local contrast and also more emphasis on shadow detail (light application of Silver Effex Structure to midtones and shadows, but not highlights; and a bit of the Local Contrast Enhancement described on Luminous Landscape years ago). I didn't crop it, though.
And thx also for noticing the curvature and drawing that line! I've been playing with this and decided to leave it in this one to raise just the question you asked – is it distortion, or a building bending with age?
I've been converting A7rII and RX1rII files from uncompressed ARWs into DNGs, which supposedly offer smaller files with lossless compression – and also the advantage of dismissing any automatic lens corrections. Then it's easy to toggle Enable/Disable in LR or later in PS. With the Sony lenses that offer the boldest distortion, for example 28 f2 or 35 f2, I like to look at files both ways to see whether or not I appreciate the barrels & pincushions. This one was a hard call, so I made a work print of each. As you quickly detected, I initially thought the uncorrected version was more interesting, though perhaps that's too much. If it's too noticeable, I can go back to the straightened version or else aim right in between.
Thx again; I appreciate your taking such a close look,
Kirk
PS, another point of agreement: to my eyes over-sharpening is the most prevalent and least enjoyable of digital processing sins. I find that if I leave it all out – usually even the default capture sharpening in LR/ACR – then the results look more 'photographic' to me, or more like grainless film.
I think I've done what you wanted to see in the print – more local contrast and also more emphasis on shadow detail (light application of Silver Effex Structure to midtones and shadows, but not highlights; and a bit of the Local Contrast Enhancement described on Luminous Landscape years ago). I didn't crop it, though.
And thx also for noticing the curvature and drawing that line! I've been playing with this and decided to leave it in this one to raise just the question you asked – is it distortion, or a building bending with age?
I've been converting A7rII and RX1rII files from uncompressed ARWs into DNGs, which supposedly offer smaller files with lossless compression – and also the advantage of dismissing any automatic lens corrections. Then it's easy to toggle Enable/Disable in LR or later in PS. With the Sony lenses that offer the boldest distortion, for example 28 f2 or 35 f2, I like to look at files both ways to see whether or not I appreciate the barrels & pincushions. This one was a hard call, so I made a work print of each. As you quickly detected, I initially thought the uncorrected version was more interesting, though perhaps that's too much. If it's too noticeable, I can go back to the straightened version or else aim right in between.
Thx again; I appreciate your taking such a close look,
Kirk
PS, another point of agreement: to my eyes over-sharpening is the most prevalent and least enjoyable of digital processing sins. I find that if I leave it all out – usually even the default capture sharpening in LR/ACR – then the results look more 'photographic' to me, or more like grainless film.
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