Post-Processing

one click or not great photo... sometimes less is more and somtimes more is better... I have three post processing styles, the one step or only use one filter, second muti layer full processing 5 to 15 layers and third is somewhere inbetween about 2 or 4 layers.

cuak wrote:
> Roland, you are not getting it, are you?

Yeah - I am getting it - and I essentially agree with you. Using one plugin and move a slider is not what you are supposed to do if the contest is about post processing - IMHO.

I am not so sure about the "artist" part though. But some skilled labor I think is required.

--
/Roland

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X3F tools : http://www.proxel.se/x3f.html

Roland Karlsson wrote:
>
> cuak wrote:
> > most people, even photographers, can't tell the difference between an artist and a plugin.
>
> And you can? You can see that the firebird is not made by an artist?
>
> BTW - did the rules tell that the post processing had to be made by an artist?

you are asking a tricky question, let me put it clear: I can do tell the firebird was made by a plugin, and that tells me nothing about the person using it, because the results would be the same, regarding the plugin operator was an artist or not (it's a preset that has been used)

Roland, you are not getting it, are you?

I'm not saying anything about rules, or anything about the winner submitting the image. All I'm talking about is the voter's trend: A plugin beats an artist.

--
http://zxc.com.ar/img/firma.jpg

cuak wrote:
> most people, even photographers, can't tell the difference between an artist and a plugin.

And you can? You can see that the firebird is not made by an artist?

BTW - did the rules tell that the post processing had to be made by an artist?

--
/Roland

support http://www.openraw.org/

X3F tools : http://www.proxel.se/x3f.html

Roland Karlsson wrote:
>
> cuak wrote:
> > I don't think there's anything wrong with the submission or the retouching, what really surprises me is the voters trend to elect a plugin as the best retouching from a contest.
>
> Did they know?

I don't think they did, and that's exatcly my point!

most people, even photographers, can't tell the difference between an artist and a plugin.

--
http://zxc.com.ar/img/firma.jpg

cuak wrote:
> I don't think there's anything wrong with the submission or the retouching, what really surprises me is the voters trend to elect a plugin as the best retouching from a contest.

Did they know?

--
/Roland

support http://www.openraw.org/

X3F tools : http://www.proxel.se/x3f.html

> I totally agree with 'harycover'..
> 'James Kay' followed the rules of the challenge and nothing is wrong with his work.. voters who decided this result..

What can we expect from an average public, when a more specialized one (dpreview voters) can't tell the difference between a plugin and an artist?

you don't need lots of retouching skills to produce this image: use fractalius plugin with preset "100 glow" then adjust the scale slider.

Don't get me wrong, I use fractalius myself, and I love some of the results, but that's far away from considering a fractalius produced image the winner of a post-processing contest.

the original photograph is superb, in fact I like it even better than the post-produced one, my guess is that most people got attracted by the "artistic" look of the image, never saw a fractalius image before, and voted it a "5"

I don't think there's anything wrong with the submission or the retouching, what really surprises me is the voters trend to elect a plugin as the best retouching from a contest.

I totally agree with 'harycover'..
'James Kay' followed the rules of the challenge and nothing is wrong with his work.. voters who decided this result..

Calm down guys, there is nothing wrong about submitting a "one-click" image

1 : it's _not_ a one click effect, even with fractalius you need to fiddle a little bit with the handles to get the desired effect

2 : It's voters who elected it, he has just submitted it to the /_public_/ opinion, maybe if voting was aimed at experts the result would have been different, but this is not the subject of these challenges

Cheers

This winning entry uses a one click plug in - fractalius.

Is this not a bluff ?

--
/Roland

support http://www.openraw.org/

X3F tools : http://www.proxel.se/x3f.html

Great photo, no matter the technique. (I actually prefer the original as I think it's a great shot).

Congrats James, whatever the technique used, the result is very nice!
--
~ Martin
http://www.martinpolanic.com

Fractalius (http://www.redfieldplugins.com/filterFractalius.htm). one click photoshop plug-in

Congratulations on winning, but this is a one-click effect using Fractalius (http://www.redfieldplugins.com/filterFractalius.htm).