Post Process This!

[fuzzybabybunny]

1. Someone posts an unprocessed picture (please be relatively high res or an original - large JPEG or RAW).
2. We post process it.
3. We post our work here.
4. We tell how we processed it.

My Smugmug can't host RAW images

If you want me to host your JPEGs,

- email me your submissions: rabidsoggymoose@gmail.com
- PM me your submissions

- host it yourself and link here (required if you use RAW)

 

[jpeyton]

Well since nobody is going, here's my submission (both RAW and JPEG versions):

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.jpg

If you want to open/edit the RAW file, use this free utility from Nikon: ViewNX

It lets you make basic adjustments (exposure, WB, D-Lighting, etc.) and export to a variety of formats.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Looks familiar

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Well since nobody is going, here's my submission (both RAW and JPEG versions):

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.jpg

Thank God for your jpeg. I was like , "what the hell is a nef"?
Damn Nionks.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Looks familiar

It's the same bridge, but not the same shot. I took a ton of different angles and never processed this one.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: foghorn67

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Well since nobody is going, here's my submission (both RAW and JPEG versions):

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.jpg

Thank God for your jpeg. I was like , "what the hell is a nef"?
Damn Nionks.

I've always found it funny that Nikon's NEF is like what we do on ATOT

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Well since nobody is going, here's my submission (both RAW and JPEG versions):

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.jpg

My try:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug...._dHm5Z#476031980_4Y6AW

Before/After
http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug...._dHm5Z#476040012_BJo29

1. loaded up the NEF

2. made three copies: copy 1 had highlight recovery cranked, 2 had fill light cranked, 3 had both in between

3. exported as JPEG and processed in Photomatix with (completely unscientifically and just played by eye):

Strength 29, Saturation 51, Very High Light Smoothing, -4 Luminosity, 5% White Point, 0% Black Point, 1 Gamma

4. Saved as TIFF, re-imported into Lightroom

5. Fill Light 20, Blacks 11, Clarity +71, Vibrance +21, Luminance +16 Blue +5 Purple,

6. This is how I got the rosy color:
Split Toning Highlights: Hue 326 Saturation 21, Shadows: Hue 46 Saturation 45

7. Sharpening 48, Luminance NR 100, Vignette Amount -88, Midpoint 33

EDIT: after looking at the before and after I have to go "holy crap!" Those NEF files sure have some latitude!

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Well since nobody is going, here's my submission (both RAW and JPEG versions):

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.jpg

My try

Okay, I am moody today. Hence the tone of this attempt.

-A tad of Noise Ninja. Not much needed. I could have added more through fine tuning, but what the hell, it looks okay.

-Nik Software Graduated Filter. Anybody can do the same in Photoshop, but it's easy this way.

-Changed up the sky portion for a little warmth using the photo filters and masking out the rest.

-New layer. -Overlay blend, gradiant used.

-New Levels layers. Compressed the levels.

-New Curves layer. Added Contrast.

-New Blend layer, sort of coffee color, forgot the blend mode though.

 

[jpeyton]

My version:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491_P.jpg

Opened the NEF in Capture One Pro; did "auto" exposure/WB/levels/HDR/sharpening, created three TIFF copies +/-2EV apart.

Opened the three TIFFs in Photomatix, tried Tone Mapping but I didn't get the results I wanted so I did Exposure Blending instead; adjusted to taste (sorry, I didn't write down the settings), exported a single TIFF.

Opened exposure blended TIFF in LR, bumped the color temperature/tint to give it an orange/yellow tone, auto tone, bumped the contrast, added a vignette, exported a TIFF.

Opened the LR processed TIFF in CS3, ran Noise Ninja, got rid of the power line and plane trails with the healing brush, exported to JPEG.

 

[twistedlogic]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
EDIT: after looking at the before and after I have to go "holy crap!" Those NEF files sure have some latitude!

Thats what I thought.

Very nice fbb, the shadows recovered well.

I've always wondered what the Split Toning was for, just too lazy to look it up, .

 

[Fardringle]

Here's mine

I guess my result is pretty similar to what fuzzybabybunny did, but the trailers aren't as "highlighted" (I can't think of a better description) in mine. I also got rid of the power line in the upper left corner since I hate those but I left the jet streams since I like them.

I did all of mine in Lightroom 2 since it's the only program I have so that is what I do with my own photos.


My settings (by section) are:
Basic
Exposure -0.38
Recovery 45
Fill Light 40
Blacks 1
Brightness +54
Contrast +20

Presence
Clarity +19
Vibrance +36
Saturation +26

Tone Curve
Highlights -75
Lights +19
Darks 0
Shadows +36

Noise Reduction
Luminance 40 (to clean up the recovered shadows)



edit: I ran out of space on bbzzdd so I switched the link to Picasa.

 

[996GT2]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Well since nobody is going, here's my submission (both RAW and JPEG versions):

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0491.jpg

My try:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug...._dHm5Z#476031980_4Y6AW

Before/After
http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug...._dHm5Z#476040012_BJo29

1. loaded up the NEF

2. made three copies: copy 1 had highlight recovery cranked, 2 had fill light cranked, 3 had both in between

3. exported as JPEG and processed in Photomatix with (completely unscientifically and just played by eye):

Strength 29, Saturation 51, Very High Light Smoothing, -4 Luminosity, 5% White Point, 0% Black Point, 1 Gamma

4. Saved as TIFF, re-imported into Lightroom

5. Fill Light 20, Blacks 11, Clarity +71, Vibrance +21, Luminance +16 Blue +5 Purple,

6. This is how I got the rosy color:
Split Toning Highlights: Hue 326 Saturation 21, Shadows: Hue 46 Saturation 45

7. Sharpening 48, Luminance NR 100, Vignette Amount -88, Midpoint 33

EDIT: after looking at the before and after I have to go "holy crap!" Those NEF files sure have some latitude!

Wow FBB those are nice!

You've just inspired me to go and try the same thing with the 14 bit RAW files from my 40D heh.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: twistedlogic

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
EDIT: after looking at the before and after I have to go "holy crap!" Those NEF files sure have some latitude!

Thats what I thought.

Very nice fbb, the shadows recovered well.

I've always wondered what the Split Toning was for, just too lazy to look it up, .

I'm now real curious to see what my APS-C D300 sensor would look like if it had shot the same scene and had undergone the same adjustments. I dunno if it would look nearly as good as coming from this FF D700 sensor...

Yup, split toning is pretty neat. It's basically black and white, only black and white are replaced by two other colors. The classic split tone is a cooling of the highlights and a warming of the shadows. Instead of the whites for the highlights it's something else like blue and instead of blacks for the shadows it's something warm like orange.

I did something like a cooler purple with a warmer... uhh... yellow-brown... like barf.

 

[aphex]

Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated, I had a heck of a time trying to get this one to look right... It was taken out our hotel room in Lucerne, CH

http://homepage.mac.com/josh.h/pics/lakelucerne.NEF

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: aphex
Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated, I had a heck of a time trying to get this one to look right... It was taken out our hotel room in Lucerne, CH

http://homepage.mac.com/josh.h/pics/lakelucerne.NEF

This is what I would do with that one. I took out the jet stream and the dust spot next to it. I normally like jet streams in sky photos but that one was so small it looked more like a smudge than a jet so I decided to remove it.

I also cropped off a bit of the bottom where the water is very dark. This has the dual benefit of removing the (distractingly) dark water and moving the horizon out of the center of the shot and closer to a "two-thirds" framing position. You could go further and crop all of the dark water out like this to make the shot even brighter and give it a wide panoramic aspect (it actually happens to be a 16:9 ratio although that wasn't intentional).


Lightroom settings:
Basic
Exposure +1.52
Recovery 8
Fill Light 10
Blacks 20
Brightness +46
Contrast +34

Presence
Clarity +21
Vibrance +14


Detail
Sharpening Amount 30

 

[twistedlogic]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
The classic split tone is a cooling of the shadows and a warming of the shadows.

Do you mean cooling of the highlights and warming of the shadows?

Turns out I've used it before, with presets, but not on my own.

Wow, I didn't even look at the EXIF and realize its a D700 file, that explains the low amount of noise when pushing the exposure.

I really love this idea of "Post Process This!", not so much the actual editing (though its fun too), but how each person came to the results they achieve. Too many times have I seen a shot thats been PP but wonder how they did it and wondered what the original shot was like.

When I get home I'll try and dig one up for everyone to play with too.

Edit:Shot a couple days ago on a walk around the neighborhood, first attempt at sunstar.

Just ignore the flying snake,

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: aphex
Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated, I had a heck of a time trying to get this one to look right... It was taken out our hotel room in Lucerne, CH

http://homepage.mac.com/josh.h/pics/lakelucerne.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/lakelucerne.jpg

I kept the exposure darker to highlight the cloud detail; auto exposure/levels and a linear tone curve; added a small vignette to balance the dark areas near the center bottom/top of the frame; 16:9 crop.

EDIT: Here's one more version (I like this one better): panorama crop.

 

[jpeyton]

Here's a new one that should also lend itself well to exposure blending:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0140.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/DSC_0140.jpg

If you want to open/edit the RAW file, use this free utility from Nikon: ViewNX

It lets you make basic adjustments (exposure, WB, D-Lighting, etc.) and export to a variety of formats.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: aphex
Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated, I had a heck of a time trying to get this one to look right... It was taken out our hotel room in Lucerne, CH

http://homepage.mac.com/josh.h/pics/lakelucerne.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/lakelucerne.jpg

I kept the exposure darker to highlight the cloud detail; auto exposure/levels and a linear tone curve; added a small vignette to balance the dark areas near the center bottom/top of the frame; 16:9 crop.

EDIT: Here's one more version (I like this one better): panorama crop.

I like the colors and highlights but I'm seeing a lot of speckling in the sky and clouds. It almost looks like the photo is printed on canvas. That's not necessarily a bad thing if it was intentional, but it might be JPG compression artifacts if it wasn't done on purpose...

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: Fardringle

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: aphex
Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated, I had a heck of a time trying to get this one to look right... It was taken out our hotel room in Lucerne, CH

http://homepage.mac.com/josh.h/pics/lakelucerne.NEF

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/18957/lakelucerne.jpg

I kept the exposure darker to highlight the cloud detail; auto exposure/levels and a linear tone curve; added a small vignette to balance the dark areas near the center bottom/top of the frame; 16:9 crop.

EDIT: Here's one more version (I like this one better): panorama crop.

I like the colors and highlights but I'm seeing a lot of speckling in the sky and clouds. It almost looks like the photo is printed on canvas. That's not necessarily a bad thing if it was intentional, but it might be JPG compression artifacts if it wasn't done on purpose...

This looks a little better.

Hmmm, I'll have to go back and see what caused those artifacts.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Here's a pano from me:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug..../476317566_vq2hz-O.jpg

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Here's a pano from me:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug..../476317566_vq2hz-O.jpg

Text

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Here's a pano from me:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug..../476317566_vq2hz-O.jpg

LOL, I love how the same cars are repeated over and over.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: twistedlogic

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
The classic split tone is a cooling of the shadows and a warming of the shadows.

Do you mean cooling of the highlights and warming of the shadows?

Turns out I've used it before, with presets, but not on my own.

Wow, I didn't even look at the EXIF and realize its a D700 file, that explains the low amount of noise when pushing the exposure.

I really love this idea of "Post Process This!", not so much the actual editing (though its fun too), but how each person came to the results they achieve. Too many times have I seen a shot thats been PP but wonder how they did it and wondered what the original shot was like.

When I get home I'll try and dig one up for everyone to play with too.

Edit:Shot a couple days ago on a walk around the neighborhood, first attempt at sunstar.

Just ignore the flying snake,

The "snake" and the other dust spots are no problem. Those reflection highlights on the track and in front of the tree are tougher, particularly since I don't have Photoshop and I can't just clone them out in Lightshop. I could crop off the bottom but that removes a big portion of the railroad tracks (which add interest to the photo) so I don't want to do that. I did attempt to clean up the green and the worst of the glare on the tracks. I think it's better than the original but it still doesn't look quite right.

The biggest problem (for me) is that Lightshop locks up completely whenever I try to adjust the color temperature of the picture. I've never had that happen before, but I guess Lightshop really wants me to leave the temperature alone.

Anyway, here is what I was able to come up with: click me

It has a lot of noise from the areas that were almost completely black in the original image but removing any more kills the detail in the gravel and the tree branches so I had to decide on a middle setting.


Lightroom settings:
Basic
Exposure +29
Recovery 98
Fill Light 75
Blacks 5
Brightness 64
Contrast 37

Color Saturation
Green -40 (There isn't any green anywhere else in the photo so this was the easiest way I could think of to tone down the glare on the tracks. A better option would be to do this in one layer and just mask in the glare area but I'm too lazy.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Here's a pano from me:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug..../476317566_vq2hz-O.jpg

whee

Not a lot of processing on this one other than some levels and removal of 36 big dust spots (I counted).


Lightroom settings:
Basic
Temp +6
Tint -3
Exposure +.19
Recovery 6
Fill Light 5
Blacks 6
Contrast +75
Clarity +40
Vibrance +43
Saturation +12