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RAW conversion and pp techniques

Maggie O

Maggie O

Active member
Maggie, are you intentionally pulling the shadows up until they are grainy? It's an interesting idea, I think, to make a part of the photo more grainy than the rest. I've tried it in the attached photo - the poster says "I've never been to New York". (It's near the main building of the old hamburg port, which can be seen on the lhs.)
Click to expand...
Yeah, more or less. I had this idea that the buildings looked like they were sitting in-between two paintings, like a model with a matte painting on a movie set, only in both background and foreground. So, I pushed those areas towards a more distinctly artificial look. Not really sure it worked, but it was worth the time to mess around.
 
Cindy Flood

Cindy Flood

Super Moderator
I know I'm late getting my take in, but I had to go on a 400 mile trip. I started this early this morning and finished it when I got back.
BTW, when you lift up underexposed areas like the area near the water in the center, you get more digital noise. Therefore, I added noise to even it out.
My take:
 
TRSmith

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
Sorry to be late with this, but just had to test CS3 on the new box. Playing with other people's stuff is kind of fun. No little devils on your shoulder to boss you around.
 
Cindy Flood

Cindy Flood

Super Moderator
TRSmith,
I am facinated with the sharpness of your version. Did you use noise reduction software before you sharpened. I found I couldn't sharpen too much without introducing artifacts. Excellent work!
 
TRSmith

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
Hey thanks! I have been rebuilding my applications on a new MAC and don't have all the plugins installed (like PK sharpener and Noise Ninja) so I reverted to just the tools in PS.

For sharpening I did the usual contrast bump with a 50/20/0 unsharp mask, and then later a Smart Sharpen that wasn't all that aggressive. About the only other thing I can think of is that I opened the file in ACR as a 16 bit in ProPhoto. Anything more than that I think is just a sense of sharpness via some tonal adjustments.
 
Will

Will

New member
TRSmith said:
Hey thanks! I have been rebuilding my applications on a new MAC and don't have all the plugins installed (like PK sharpener and Noise Ninja) so I reverted to just the tools in PS.

For sharpening I did the usual contrast bump with a 50/20/0 unsharp mask, and then later a Smart Sharpen that wasn't all that aggressive. About the only other thing I can think of is that I opened the file in ACR as a 16 bit in ProPhoto. Anything more than that I think is just a sense of sharpness via some tonal adjustments.
Click to expand...
Two more useful setting suggestions for us to play around with there TRSmith, thanks for sharing them. Really nicely done conversion btw.
 
Maggie O

Maggie O

Active member
I'm obviously deranged; it's almost 3:30AM here...and just to show how deranged, here's a slightly desaturated color version (though TR pretty much nailed it, IMO):
 
ShiroKuro

ShiroKuro

New member
Thanks Sizifo.....To be honest I am really not sure what I am doing :)..
I am very new to processing Raw files ... I use LightRoom which I do most of my adjustments there ... I move sliders around until I see something I like .I try to keep it simple ...If there is an image I really like and want to work on I bring it into Photoshop...... I have to agree with a comment Mitch made earlier on in this thread... Dodging and Burning is one of the key factors for making a Black and White image look so expressive .. this is where I spend the most time on an image .. I like to use layer masks and adjustment layers .....I am hardly ever satisfied with my results ,but in time ..... This is usually what I do
After I do my raw adjustments I bring the photo into PS CS3
Duplicate Layer - change Blend mode to Screen- Option Click add Layer Mask icon- Choose a soft brush paint with white ..... change opacity and brush size to suit what I am doing .... When finished - Flatten Layer and repeat the above steps but this time chose the Blend mode Multiply - option click add Layer mask icon - paint with white ... Flatten image.

After that I do a curves adjustment layer .. Flatten image .. then sharpen using the unsharp mask.....After you unsharp mask to your preferred settings -(120, 1.0 ,3) --take it one more step ....... go to edit menu - Fade Unsharp Mask - change mode from Normal to Luminosity - O.K

You do this immediately after you "Unsharp Mask" .... I do this last step for color images .....


In Lightroom my favorite tools are the Recovery,Clarity,Vibrance ,and Blacks
And for some reason I always get carried away with the Lens Vignetting tool ..I like to use this to darken the edges of the photograph..

For noise removal I use NoiseWare Professional or Noise Ninja I don't even Bother with this in LightRoom..... so interesting see all the different ways people do things .I have really learned alot from all of you here at DPI , This is great site with an awesome community .... Thanks
Charley
 
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helenhill

helenhill

Senior Member
Maggie O said:
I'm obviously deranged; it's almost 3:30AM here...and just to show how deranged, here's a slightly desaturated color version (though TR pretty much nailed it, IMO):
Click to expand...
Deranged is a Good Thing Magpie !!
Its Wonderful
I second the vote with Cindy:D
 
S

sizifo

New member
I like Maggie's last one a lot as well.

Here is a second attempt from me. I can't get the sky to look as dramatic in Aperture as I'd like. Although it may be a good thing not to exaggerate too much. Getting this amount of contrast in the sky involves seriously messing up the underlying colors, as you can see in the attached version with the B&W conversion turned off.
 
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Cindy Flood

Cindy Flood

Super Moderator
I did one more. I didn't add noise this time and I processed from Lightroom instead of C1 (with JFI colored filter profile). I really wanted to highlight the stairs and the boat, but the noise is heavy there if you pull up the shadow, so this was the best compromise for me.
 
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