Need your advice on PP results

[supra]

Hi,
I started PP this picture in Elements and I would to seek your opinions as to whether I am heading in the right direction. I changed the WB, EV and sharpen it a little. Thanks.


Original

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After PP

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[Damo77]

Hi Supra, did you shoot raw? If so, it would be nice to see if you can recover that sky a little.

I'm not on a calibrated monitor atm, so I'm not sure if I'm seeing your colours accurately, but it seems to me like you should "green up" the trees a little more.

 

[Seneca]

Nice image...just needs some punch...hope you don't mind I tried a little pp on it myself.

Ok so I did a little on your image too...

MY PP

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UNTOUCHED IMAGE

View attachment 241670

 

[MiriamJ]

Hi,

Just flipping back and forth from your before pic to your after, I thought the white bal on the before was closer to accurate. I seem to detect a slight red or magenta shift in the 2nd picture.

I'd probably run a shadow/highlights filter to lighten up the dark areas a little.

One neat thing to try is a haze-reducing unsharp mask, (under filter->sharpen->unsharp mask). Use 20, 60, 0, with preview on, and adjust the 20 figure until it looks right.

To sharpen, I like to use an unsharp mask of 200, 1, 0, and then adjust the 200 to taste.

 

[supra]

Thanks guys/gals. That're some amazing PP you can do to bring the picture to live!

I will need to book up on how to use Elements and give it another shot later.

 

[Wileec]

Tools determine options - Purpose determines goal

If you shoot RAW, then this can open up more editing options, especially when the capture is good in the camera.

How an image is handled in post all depends on what story you want to tell with the picture. While, in general, we might aim for certain levels of sharpness, color balance, etc. It all depends on what the image is to accomplish as to what direction to go with the tuning. Sometimes, we capture and want "unbalanced" color, so neutral isn't always desired.

 

[Debbie H]

Well here is my go at it, really not happy with sky quite yet. Really like the photo!!

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[supra]

It is very interesting how each of you renders the scene and conveys different moods at the end of the PP. I guess Wileec was right on his money.


MiriamJ,
Thanks for the tip on the unsharp mask. I try it out of my other pictures and it helps out alot.

d200user,
I am glad you like the picture. I hope in the future, I can do more justice to the scene. I am learning.... :Little:

By the way, I do shoot in RAW only.

 

[Wileec]

Loss USM and let Smart Sharpening . . .

. . . become your best friend for sharpening. It is years ahead of USM. In essence providing access to some pretty advanced stuff that used to be the domain of solitary people on high mountain tops. It's worth the investment to get a handle on this CS2 addition that continued into CS3 for good reason.

Also, getting a real handle on RAW will save you time in pp. ACR in CS3 is so much more capable than in CS2, etc. I do almost no pp beyond the initial render for most images other than a final crop and output sharpening, if needed as a result of the crop or resampling.

Using ACR to perform capture sharpening, etc. is the way to make the most of a good capture. But, a picture is worth a thousand words:

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Cascade Lake, Yellowstone National Park, August 2008
Nikon D300, Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, Gitzo GT0530 with RRS BH-55 (until I can afford to get the smaller ballhead for the smaller tripod for hiking)

 

[RayGuselli]

Lovely shot

just a little play

Ray

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