Just in case

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg

Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg

The

item which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.




--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2014-10-15 02:15:13 +0000, Savageduck said:

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg

Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg

The

item which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Oops! an "s"/"d" typo, "removed" rather than "removes".

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2014-10-15 03:51:21 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

On Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:15:13 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg

Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg

The

item which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.

I would answer your question...if I could. There were 22 layers
involved. I started out just playing around practicing with some of
the tools.

Here's the original with just the basic adjustments I'd make to any
photograph but uncropped.

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos...cd8XmbV-XL.jpg

I decided to remove that traffic pylon in the center, and that went
well so I then removed that traffic pylon on the right. Both removals
meant filling in the spaces, so I did that. The milk can on the right
is the milk can on the left with some changes in Hue/Saturation to
make it a different color. Then I had to piece in some of the silver
can above the new milk can.

OK!
I did much the same with the traffic cones using a combination of
content aware fill & clone stamp.
I didn't touch the milk can on the left.

Next was removing that green sign on the post, but that cut a section
out of the tire on the wall, so that had to be fixed. I did that by
copying the tire, flipping it horizontally, and fitting it in.

I worked on the vertical post using the clone stamp in "Vanishing
Point". I did a similar tire flip trick to deal with that issue.

The Sinclair sign was brightened up by making it a selection and just
adjusting brightness to just the selection using Curves.

That got included in some of my global adjustments.

With all that done, the back wall was too dark and I couldn't really
bring that out globally without blowing out the stuff in front of it,
so I used Nik's HDR Efex Pro 2 plug-in set to 07 - Bright. That
brought the purple out and lightened up the whole thing.

I skipped NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and went to NIK Color Efex Pro 4 and
stacked "Detail Extractor" and "Tonal Contrast".

Then I made a tweak with Viveza and finished by returning to NIK Color
Efex Pro 4 and used "Pro Contrast", "Dynamic Contrast" pre-set.

That gave me this rendition:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/FileChute/TC-Y-01.jpg

Then I added a little something from NIK Analog Efex Pro 2 to come up
with a second rendition:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/FileChute/TC-Y-02.jpg

If I felt like one more run at it, I'd tone down the green of the
grass. The actual grass is patchy over sand so I had to fill it in
with some cloning.

The one thing that I'd like but won't do is to make that No Parking
sign legible. It's painted over with white paint or something. I
could find a similar sign on the web, but I will only add things in an
image that are from one of my own photos.

That could be done at some time. Just for giggles I dug up something
from my archives and made it fit bt conversion to smart objet, and then
used "Perspective Warp" to make it fit. I made that change before I got
rid of the green sign.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/FileChute/TC-Y-002.jpg

This is one of those projects that "just grew" as I worked on it. I
started out practicing tool technique and got to like the image.

That is what happens to me. I find myself returning to images I thought
I was finished with years ago, and apply newly learned stuff to them.
it is all a continuing education.

The funny thing is that I'm using CC 2014, but never used any PS tool
that wasn't available in PS 5 or so.

That doesn't matter. Just use whatever you are comfortable with until
you have climbed a little higher on the learning curve.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2014-10-15 04:18:55 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

On Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:15:13 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg

Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg

The

item which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.

This image, like the pull-back, required a lot of work using Layer
Masks to change aspects of what's shown, but I really don't do as many
adjustments in processing as it seems you do. I adjust the RAW image
as best I can, add a little clarity and vibrance, and then use Levels
to bring in my end points and that's it.

This is the original of the close shot:
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos...dxRpNn8-XL.jpg

I took out that brown wooden box at the top right, but this left me
without a complete "d". So, I took the "p", turned it upside-down,
and grabbed some of that dark area at the top and used that to fill
gap. Also had to fill in some boards under that. All done by
copy/pasting from one place and putting it under a layer mask.

I forget what I did to remove the blue stain.

Last step was running Nik's HDR Efex Pro 2 using "Dramatic".

I don't believe that HDR Efex Pro is necessarily the best choice for
dealing with this image. That said, there is no harm in trying. I
prefer to look to some of the other NIK options especially when it
comes to single exposure images where DR issues are not too drastic.

These days most of my RAW processing is done in LR. Of course those
adjustments are mirrored in ACR, and using that engine it is quite easy
to set black & white points, get some detail out of the deep shadows,
and sharpen, all before opening in PS.

Generally, I don't go for as much vibrance in an image as you do.

I use whatever pleases my eye, at that given moment. If you are
referring to "Vibrance" as used in LR or ACR, then it is best to
remember that the Adobe "Vibrance" adjustment is not a global
saturation adjustment. It will usually no effect skin tones, and only
add a slight degree of "pop" in areas where the saturation is
comparatively subdued.

These two seemed to call for it, though. Mostly it was an exercise in
improving my skills in using layer masks.

Since you are exploring the NIK plug-ins, I suggest looking at Color
Efex Pro 4 & Viveza 2. Just remember, you can use them to tone things
down if needed, and most importantly, the effect can be applied
selectively using the brush.

In "documentary" stuff, I don't do this sort of thing, so it's fun to
do it when I'm working with other types of images.

Yup! With PS + LR I can lose myself in noodling about for hours.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2014-10-15 06:48:35 +0000, Savageduck said:

On 2014-10-15 04:18:55 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

On Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:15:13 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg

Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg

The

item which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.

This image, like the pull-back, required a lot of work using Layer
Masks to change aspects of what's shown, but I really don't do as many
adjustments in processing as it seems you do. I adjust the RAW image
as best I can, add a little clarity and vibrance, and then use Levels
to bring in my end points and that's it.

This is the original of the close shot:
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos...dxRpNn8-XL.jpg

I took out that brown wooden box at the top right, but this left me
without a complete "d". So, I took the "p", turned it upside-down,
and grabbed some of that dark area at the top and used that to fill
gap. Also had to fill in some boards under that. All done by
copy/pasting from one place and putting it under a layer mask.

I forget what I did to remove the blue stain.

Last step was running Nik's HDR Efex Pro 2 using "Dramatic".

I don't believe that HDR Efex Pro is necessarily the best choice for
dealing with this image. That said, there is no harm in trying. I
prefer to look to some of the other NIK options especially when it
comes to single exposure images where DR issues are not too drastic.

These days most of my RAW processing is done in LR. Of course those
adjustments are mirrored in ACR, and using that engine it is quite easy
to set black & white points, get some detail out of the deep shadows,
and sharpen, all before opening in PS.

I forgot to add my rendition of that shot,
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/FileChute/TC-003.jpg

Generally, I don't go for as much vibrance in an image as you do.

I use whatever pleases my eye, at that given moment. If you are
referring to "Vibrance" as used in LR or ACR, then it is best to
remember that the Adobe "Vibrance" adjustment is not a global
saturation adjustment. It will usually no effect skin tones, and only
add a slight degree of "pop" in areas where the saturation is
comparatively subdued.

These two seemed to call for it, though. Mostly it was an exercise in
improving my skills in using layer masks.

Since you are exploring the NIK plug-ins, I suggest looking at Color
Efex Pro 4 & Viveza 2. Just remember, you can use them to tone things
down if needed, and most importantly, the effect can be applied
selectively using the brush.

In "documentary" stuff, I don't do this sort of thing, so it's fun to
do it when I'm working with other types of images.

Yup! With PS + LR I can lose myself in noodling about for hours.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 15/10/2014 04:51, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:15:13 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg

Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg

The

item which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.

I would answer your question...if I could. There were 22 layers
involved. I started out just playing around practicing with some of
the tools.

Here's the original with just the basic adjustments I'd make to any
photograph but uncropped.

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos...cd8XmbV-XL.jpg


In a way, I prefer the original. The edit has certainly brought out some
of the colours, and the inner porch on the rhs. That /is/ to the good IMO.

But overall, I find the sharpening too severe - it suggests 'edited
digital photo' in an obvious way. I notice that a lot of photos people
post on this group are similar.

And while the compositions are excellent, I'm always drawn to edges
parallel to top and sides. Can't help myself! I think a marvellous trick
some photographers achieve is to take the eye away from what I think of
as 'framing anomalies'. Doubt they do it on purpose, or with me on mind :-)

Thanks for posting - enjoyed them. The con-rod/piston - what is that
from?! I was going to joke 'a US compact car' but rethunk :-)

--
Cheers, Rob

On 15/10/2014 07:55, Savageduck wrote:
On 2014-10-15 06:48:35 +0000, Savageduck
said:

On 2014-10-15 04:18:55 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

On Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:15:13 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper
said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg


Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg


The

item which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.

This image, like the pull-back, required a lot of work using Layer
Masks to change aspects of what's shown, but I really don't do as many
adjustments in processing as it seems you do. I adjust the RAW image
as best I can, add a little clarity and vibrance, and then use Levels
to bring in my end points and that's it.

This is the original of the close shot:
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos...dxRpNn8-XL.jpg

I took out that brown wooden box at the top right, but this left me
without a complete "d". So, I took the "p", turned it upside-down,
and grabbed some of that dark area at the top and used that to fill
gap. Also had to fill in some boards under that. All done by
copy/pasting from one place and putting it under a layer mask.

I forget what I did to remove the blue stain.

Last step was running Nik's HDR Efex Pro 2 using "Dramatic".

I don't believe that HDR Efex Pro is necessarily the best choice for
dealing with this image. That said, there is no harm in trying. I
prefer to look to some of the other NIK options especially when it
comes to single exposure images where DR issues are not too drastic.

These days most of my RAW processing is done in LR. Of course those
adjustments are mirrored in ACR, and using that engine it is quite
easy to set black & white points, get some detail out of the deep
shadows, and sharpen, all before opening in PS.

I forgot to add my rendition of that shot,
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/FileChute/TC-003.jpg


Technically, a tour de force.

But (and related to my earlier post), what are you trying to achieve?
Not, I'd guess, 'realism'.

I consider edits of that kind a form of art in their own right. I
suppose there's a philosophical underbelly to all of this that I'm not
even going to attempt!


--
Cheers, Rob

On 2014-10-15 07:06:49 +0000, RJH said:

On 15/10/2014 07:55, Savageduck wrote:
On 2014-10-15 06:48:35 +0000, Savageduck
said:

On 2014-10-15 04:18:55 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

On Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:15:13 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper
said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg


Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg


The

item

which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.

This image, like the pull-back, required a lot of work using Layer
Masks to change aspects of what's shown, but I really don't do as many
adjustments in processing as it seems you do. I adjust the RAW image
as best I can, add a little clarity and vibrance, and then use Levels
to bring in my end points and that's it.

This is the original of the close shot:
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos...dxRpNn8-XL.jpg

I took out that brown wooden box at the top right, but this left me
without a complete "d". So, I took the "p", turned it upside-down,
and grabbed some of that dark area at the top and used that to fill
gap. Also had to fill in some boards under that. All done by
copy/pasting from one place and putting it under a layer mask.

I forget what I did to remove the blue stain.

Last step was running Nik's HDR Efex Pro 2 using "Dramatic".

I don't believe that HDR Efex Pro is necessarily the best choice for
dealing with this image. That said, there is no harm in trying. I
prefer to look to some of the other NIK options especially when it
comes to single exposure images where DR issues are not too drastic.

These days most of my RAW processing is done in LR. Of course those
adjustments are mirrored in ACR, and using that engine it is quite
easy to set black & white points, get some detail out of the deep
shadows, and sharpen, all before opening in PS.

I forgot to add my rendition of that shot,
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/FileChute/TC-003.jpg


Technically, a tour de force.

Thanks for that.

But (and related to my earlier post), what are you trying to achieve?
Not, I'd guess, 'realism'.

Certainly not, and I doubt that Tony was looking for a realistic
documentary photograph either. With the tools we have today for the
digital darkroom we have a freedom of expression which truly expands
into the photograph as an artistic expression.
....and certainly even for photographers such as Ansel Adams, his prints
were expressions of his art. Just a look at a photograph such as
"Clearing Winter Storm" will tell you that this is not a true
representation of the Yosemite Valley.

I consider edits of that kind a form of art in their own right.

There are two forms of artistry there, the art of capturing the image
with a camera to the best of the photographer's ability and skill. Then
there is the artistry of post processing where the final product, or a
version of the final product an be produced.

I suppose there's a philosophical underbelly to all of this that I'm
not even going to attempt!

The point is, there is more to photography than producing perfect
documentary images, and there is a place for both.

For example here is the same image capture processed in two very
different ways, to get two very different results, one documentary &
one artistic expression.
https://db.tt/v2nVoRrh
https://db.tt/GGcRXNdc


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 07:59:39 +0100, RJH wrote:

The con-rod/piston - what is that
from?! I was going to joke 'a US compact car' but rethunk :-)

My first reaction was Detroit Diesel, but the piston and rod is too
big. The Detroit Diesel was in fact designed by Kettering. Kettering
also designed the similar but larger series of engines used by ALCO in
their locomotives. Some ALCO engines used that style of arched bearing
cap on their connecting rods, so I would say the assembly comes from
an older ALCO locomotive.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On 10/15/2014 11:14 AM, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 07:59:39 +0100, RJH wrote:

On 15/10/2014 04:51, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:15:13 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-15 01:56:25 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

Just in case anyone here is still interested in photographs, here's a
couple that I took last year but never got around to doing anything
with in post. Looking for something else, I came across this one:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...2-04-91-XL.jpg

Nice find!

With it was a closer view of something in the same scene, seen on the
right of the above:

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Curren...-04-29D-XL.jpg

The

item which caught my interest was the big piston & connecting rod. A
close up of that with the block in front of it removes , would I
believe have made for an good solo item shot.

Some things in the original view of the same photos have been moved,
deleted, and changed in Photoshop, but if you don't see the
alterations then they never happened.

I don't particularly care about any article moves or removals from the
original, but I would like to know how you attacked the various PP
adjustments, effects used etc. & what if any plug-ins used.

I would answer your question...if I could. There were 22 layers
involved. I started out just playing around practicing with some of
the tools.

Here's the original with just the basic adjustments I'd make to any
photograph but uncropped.

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos...cd8XmbV-XL.jpg


In a way, I prefer the original. The edit has certainly brought out some
of the colours, and the inner porch on the rhs. That /is/ to the good IMO.

But overall, I find the sharpening too severe - it suggests 'edited
digital photo' in an obvious way. I notice that a lot of photos people
post on this group are similar.

And while the compositions are excellent, I'm always drawn to edges
parallel to top and sides. Can't help myself! I think a marvellous trick
some photographers achieve is to take the eye away from what I think of
as 'framing anomalies'. Doubt they do it on purpose, or with me on mind :-)

Thanks for posting - enjoyed them. The con-rod/piston - what is that
from?! I was going to joke 'a US compact car' but rethunk :-)

It's just a terminology point, but I did not sharpen my image...well,
I didn't use any of the sharpening tools or techniques.

The sharpened look is a result of the Nik plug-in's effect.

I generally do not process images to be overly-vibrant. The Duck's
version is too vibrant to my eye.

However, images sometimes call for different techniques in post. This
one, with all that clutter on the porch, just called out to me to be
treated a bit differently.

\\
So many times if you just let the image tell you what to do, you will
have a great result.



--
PeterN