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Can't sleep so I'm praticing my PP, please let me know what you think of this before and after shot. Thanks!

Before


After

Definite improvements Craig but maybe a bit bright in the rocks?

Good subject

back to basics...... very over done...... colors are washed out and now lack a lot of detail........

I like the original!

Tend to agree with couple of posts up on the overdone part.
Lighting in the original is where the problems began.

The original has a moodiness and sense of mystery that the PP'd version lacks.

Sometimes it's tough to get it right.

The retouched version is slightly too bright for my liking, but I can see what you were trying to do... The first version is more moody, but lacks colour...

I couldn't resist having a crack at it Craig - what do you think???



For the record:
Saturation +45
Hue -15
Contrast +15
Shadow +5%
Highlights +20%

Maybe I overdid it a little on the saturation, but you can play with that...

Better....... but you need to add a touch of cyan and green.......as your reds are a bit over done

Agree with the above.
The lighting on those rocks didn't come from the lighting in the rest of the pic. Still overdone and clearly been digitally fixed.
Can you tell I still shoot analog???

Hi Craig
I'm not sure if everyone is trying to PP them far too much, but as mentioned previously, they are looking quite obviusly photoshopped.

Had a 30 second play and perhaps just doing a basic levels, curves and slight saturation bump will keep the photo looking "realistic" whilst improving the look of the scene.

Perhaps give it a go and see what you think. Unless this was taken in the outback of NT, they are some fairly outrageous red tones that have been introduced into the rocks. I'd refrain from using the HUE tool too much, on this (but that's my personal opinion)

If you do re-PP, I'd be interested to see the outcome...

Thanks for all the feedback, when I woke up this morning the PP'ed version appealed to me a lot less, I had another go (didn't touch hue).

Only modified contrast, shadow and highlights... so the colour should be a lot closer to the real thing.

You're getting their Craig and the original image stands on its own merits in ways. Sometimes the more you fiddle you can end up convincing yourself that something else is better. It's good to walk away, get a cuppa and do something different with your eyes and come back after 10-15 mins to have another look at before and after shots. As aussie mentioned the best results are those that give the photo that 'pop' with the viewer having to guess whether their was any PPing done.
cheers
marco

Hi Craig.... I hope you don't mind but i gave it a quick 5 minute process to try and bring some details out without blowing highlights and making it feel washed out. Holla if you want me to remove the post



Processing: PSCS2

1. convert to lab
2. adjust levels
3. adjust contrast
4. adjust curves colour, a & b
5. slight sharping (smart sharpen)
6. slight adjustment to hues
7. slight dodge and burn

All done on the original jpg image you posted, hence some of the artifacts.

cheers

Thanks Mark and certainly no need to remove the shot, anyone's welcome to play with my shots, especially when I can learn a thing or two...

I think you've done well to bring out the detail but keep or add to the mystery of the orginal shot.

I'll ask my Newbie question for the week, what is the different of converting to LAB ? Is it just another colour space, I've seen it mentioned a fair bit, but have no real understanding of why some do it and others don't... - Thanks!

Craig.. I'll let Sir Big Pix answer the LAB question.... personally I find LAB to give me more pop when processing and enhance detail.

cheers

These 2 images have been done using Lab Color with basic A and B channel correction....... The first image is correct on my profiled monitor but when uploaded to smugmug the shot has lost a lot of saturation and contrast and what you would call flattened out. To correct this I increased the saturation for the second image and got a little closer to what I wanted to post, but still with a lack of colour and contrast but lot closer........ I will be looking into this as the beer post made today the image there is also flat and lacks color when compared to the original..........

There's so many ways to skin this cat. Here is how I decided to skin it. The original is a lovely shot, I wish it were mine...