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Before & After Post Processing Examples, Please.

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PStoffel

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As I start to learn more about digital photography, and find myself gawking at some of the amazing images posted here and on Flikr, I am trying to guess/understand how much post processing (PP) went into the final shot. And even more importantly, I am trying to learn what can be accomplished through PP.

If you have any favortie shots that can post as a Before PP and After PP so that we can see what is possible (and what is not) I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your time!

Best regards,

Peter
 
Here are some sites and threads that I have bookmarked that will show you some.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=28235147

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1006&thread=29789802&page=1

Video showing the dragan effect/ very nice
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/735941/dragan_effect_photoshop_tutorial/

textures
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=29615440

a great and free tutorial site
http://freeonlineclasses.net/photoshop-tutorials/photoshop-tutorials.html

a Rarinda workflow....another very cool workflow
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=24972177

another good workflow for most photos
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1031&message=18079744

the best portrait workflow video I've found
http://www.nobsphotosuccess.com/tutorial/introtutwmv/introtutwmv.html

how to do HDRs
http://www.nobsphotosuccess.com/tutorial/introtutwmv/introtutwmv.html

Hope that helps you out on what you can do in the digital darkroom.
 
Thanks you! I appreciate the links and have taken a look at all of them. Part of the problem is that often there isn't a good "before" picture.

As I think about it more, I guess that my goal is be better able to look at a photo and think to myself, "hey, with that as a starting point and a little work in photoshop I can make it look better/like I want!"

So I am hoping that folks will just post Start and Finish photos for this thread...

Thanks again for all of those great links. They are really useful!

Cheers,

Peter
 
PStoffel said:
Part of the problem is that often there isn't a good "before" picture.

So I am hoping that folks will just post Start and Finish photos for
this thread...
Click to expand...
Well, here's one of a damaged (film) photograph which I scanned and repaired:



And in this one there's not only lens flare but also a merger (something coming out of the horse's head) that ruined the photo:



In both images cloning was the primary tool that was used to repair the damage.
 
Not sure if this is what you have in mind, but here is one example of some post processing I did with a photo. Original ( in color) cropped, converted to b&w and some elementary Windows software added to produce post-processed b&w photo. I like to crop, finding photos within photos.

bruce

original....



post-processed....

 
First off, I don't consider myself very good at photoshop, so take it for what it is.

I usually only do a subtle processing...WB, crop, levels, sharpen etc...

Being color blind...WB and color are the hardest part of processing for me.

Unedited shots are RAW converted to JPEG in DPP at default settings and re-sized in PSE5.













I do like B&W









and a few landscapes...(probably a little overdone but these were experiments)









Don
 
Don,

Thank you for posting those photos. The examples that you provided were exactly what I have been looking for: good photographs that have been made a little better by picking the low hanging fruit with photoshop.

I have been very impressed with some of the high-end/hardcore post production work, but your examples seem much more immediately achievable to me. The photograph of the cute toddler where you dropped out the background and converted it to B&W, leaving a very dramatic face shot is one that want to try with some of the shots of my 20-month-old son.

Thanks again for the inspiration!

Peter
 
Thanks for the kind words...

Photoshop is an art...one that I have barely scratched the surface of.

I shoot Raw with all of my settings at the lowest possible and then adjust in PSE, so the difference between the Raw file and the final output often looks like a big change.

Good luck with your effort...and don't forget to post some results for comments...a great way to learn.

DOn
 
Here's one anyway :) FWIW, since I'm less than a beginner at post, this was done in PSE7:

After:



Before:

 
PStoffel said:
Wow. That was eye-opening. I am going to share that with my neice
when she gets a little older...
Click to expand...
If you want a site that will open your eyes on how much editing can be done on the human body, and why women/girls shouldn't believe the fashion magazines, and why men/boys will never meet anyone in real life who matches the women in girly magazines (the link is G rated):
http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/bikini/index.html

Pay special attention to the third image down with the waist, arm, and belly button.
 
Thanks for the pictures! That is a great example what I am hoping to learn from this thread: I would not have seen the 'before' shot and thought to myself that I could pull the 'after' shot out of it.

If you (or anyone else!) has any more photos to share I would love to see them. I don't know if anyone else is enjoying this thread, but I am getting a lot out of it.

Best regards,

Peter
 
PStoffel said:
As I start to learn more about digital photography, and find myself
gawking at some of the amazing images posted here and on Flikr, I am
trying to guess/understand how much post processing (PP) went into
the final shot. And even more importantly, I am trying to learn what
can be accomplished through PP.

If you have any favortie shots that can post as a Before PP and After
PP so that we can see what is possible (and what is not) I would
greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your time!

Best regards,

Peter
Click to expand...
Hi Peter,

digital photography is a 2 part venture. 1.) the capture and 2.) the PP. pls don't assume that your going to get great images straight out of the camera. didn't happen with film and it won't happen with a CCD/CMOS/LBAT imager.

my advice from experience is to understand the basic principles of operating your camera system. and I mean BASIC. then put a great deal of time effort into understanding the emotional context and composition of your imagry, then a great deal more time understanding the post process area .. post can only enhance a great image, it can't make one from nothing... in 10-15 years you'll be producing amazing stuff :)
 
dmat said:
I usually only do a subtle processing...WB, crop, levels, sharpen etc...

Being color blind...WB and color are the hardest part of processing
for me.

Unedited shots are RAW converted to JPEG in DPP at default settings
and re-sized in PSE5.



Click to expand...
Hi Don,

great pic. I pulled the unedited image down and messed with it a bit.... some curves in LAB and levels and saturation in RGB, then a crop. normally I use a bit of unsharp mask however this time I chose not too..

editing compressed images don't usually produce a great result :)

LMK when ya when want me to pull the image off my server. I usually clean the server off every few months...-bmb

 
Before and after:

 
Wow, in only 10 to 15 years!?! :-)

Now I can't decide if I should give up now or get started right away! :-)

Seriously though, I appreciate the rest of your advice and I am coming to agree with you about where to devote my energies.

Thanks,

Peter
 
Sorry I do not know which one of the pix is before or after, though I suppose it is what pleases the eye

Myself I find the first pic the most pleasing, and natural, please confirm FIRST is the post processing ?

Jack McH
--
Chillu chi nun si fa l'affari sua, ccù la linterna va circannù guai:
He who doesn't mind his own business
uses his lantern to look for trouble.
 
The first one is the original. The second is post processed. Sometimes you use post processing to make the photo look natural, sometimes to make it express how you felt at the time, sometimes to enhance how the scene expresses itself. Usually there is no comparison to an "original" so the picture is complete in itself and stands on its own. Here's another example. Straight out of the camera on the left. Post processed on the right. The left image is pretty much what the scene looked like. The right image is how the scene felt to me. I also removed the birds as I thought they were distracting or looked like artifacts.

 
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