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Greetings all.
I'd be interested in hearing your views on these. The first image is a terribly washed out shot I took of a seaplane flying past my brother's balcony at the Gold Coast. I don't know what I was thinking but I really botched the settings. Needless to say, it gave me an opportunity to try and resurrect something via Photoshop (second image). Please let me know if you think I've done the right thing or any alternative treatments you think may yield a more effective result.

Thanks.

(Click on the thumbnails for larger images)
Original:


Photoshopped:

Hi Manta - you've made a pretty ordinary photo look not bad

This certainly demonstrates the possibilities available to us with basic PP.

Can I ask - was this shot in RAW or JPG?

Original shot in RAW, Sheepie.

70-300G, 1/1000 @ f5.6, 300mm, ISO200, Daylight WB

I haven't done any playing around with this in NCE nor was I really trying to come up with a keeper - just mucking about with PSCS to see what would happen.

Simon - the power of RAW and PS - if shot in jpeg you would have probably thrown this away - a very nice resurrection

the PP version is a definite improvement. The plane looks great but I think the sky and water are a little too blue (possibly slightly oversaturated) ?? The sky seems to bleed into the ocean....for want of a better description. It almost looks like you used a blue filter for the background.

Perhaps also more brightness in the background. The original looks more natural, but has a strong "haze" to it. Perhaps somewhere halfway might give it a more natural look ?!?

Thanks Chris. Appreciate your comments. I just did some adjustments in NCE on the original RAW and it took about 60 seconds to acheive what had taken me about 20 minutes in PS - but I still liked the burned undersides of the clouds so I would have had to use PS anyway.

Thanks for you comments too Dave.

Whilst I didn't deliberately touch the saturation, it no doubt would have increased as a result of curve adjustments. I'll have to be aware of that next time and try to hold back a little so I don't push an unwanted effect like this.

Ain't RAW the best ?!?!?

Sometimes half the fun is trying to revive a spoiled shot....though it's always nice when you upload your NEFs and you pop up that photo for the first time and know you nailed it !

I guess if it was too easy, we'd get bored of photography and take up trolling forums on the net spouting how Brand A is better than Brand B (whoops, did I really type that ?!?)

Add a little yellow and magenta and red to fix the blue then some contrast with levels.....

hope this helps

big pix

Edit: works better if you reduce your saturation to give a more natural look if you shot this in the last copple of days on the coast

Looks like i'm the only one but I prefer the first image (apart from the skew horizon which has been fixed in the second pic!!).

I find the second looks like it's been 'shopped OTT..the white balance is leaning heavily towards the cool end of the spectrum and looks very unnatural. I don't actually see any probs with the first pic.

My two bobs!

Liam =]

Thanks everyone for the responses.

What a difference the cold light of day makes to how you perceive your work! I must have been so tired last night I didn't know my magenta from my patella.

It was only with a good night's sleep under my belt that I was able to see just how blue the second image was. I've had a crack at correcting it and I think the result is a much more natural looking image. Please let me know what you think. This is based heavily on Big Pix's advice - Thx.

Original:


First Photoshopped Image:


Final Photshopped Image:

The last is an excellent example of just what can be done in PP rescue... The first shot didn't seem that bad, but this one shows just what you can do... Good PP'ing...

Thanks Andrew for taking the time to view the photos and, you're right, PS is a great program. It's truly the hacker's best friend!

Cheers,