Can you help me with this image?

Ulysses said:

Since it's a sunset picture, I agree with Cindy that this one
deserves its color.

dave vichich said:

I thought that I'd take a crack at it also.
I saw a nice b&w picture trying to get out.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Actually I think Dave has a point. The version he posted does give a very different feel - like a foggy misty day, and it looks good. I like it too. But it isn't what will bring back the memories for me since it was a glorious warm (for far northern coastal CA anyway. lol) day! Thanks, Cindy

Member said:

--

Ulysses

Click to expand...

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must be wrong...

Thanks for your concern Jane/Curve/Mike. Sarah is not too happy with her lack of participation either - altho she still lurks. lol. I think it inappropriate for me to elaborate or comment further. Cindy

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must be wrong...

I liked his version. And I find that lately I experiment a lot more with B&W, and even getting results that I like.

I suppose it comes down to how you want to convey the story and the environment of this shot. For example: Was it a foggy misty day? Do you want it to be for the purpose of this shot? Would you rather portray the glorious sunset and the revelry of the birds and waves with that fiery backdrop?

It's all a matter of what story you want to tell.

1ofUs! said:

Actually I think Dave has a point. The version he posted does give
a very different feel - like a foggy misty day, and it looks good.
I like it too. But it isn't what will bring back the memories for
me since it was a glorious warm (for far northern coastal CA
anyway. lol) day! Thanks, Cindy

Click to expand...

--

Ulysses

1ofUs! said:

Also, I've never had anything printed after neat image - it does
look like it softened it quite a bit, not sure how much enlarging
this would handle.

Click to expand...

Excellent job Cindy! I agree that the sky's gone a bit soft as a result of noise reduction, to the point of looking slightly dreamy and surreal. If you still have a version that's not been "Neatened" (well, not twice anyway) it might be worth taking the top half and making a composite with the noise-reduced rock which shows NeatImage at its absolute best. I really would have regarded the foreground as a lost cause but the texture sans noise looks very plausible. Quite remarkable, really. I've never found the time to spend on learning to use NeatImage properly, more than likely because it bugs me that it's not a PS plug-in. I've always thought the defaults too aggressive and/or sweeping (hence, perhaps, the sky result) though I gather one can learn to be pretty selective with it, and there's always the composite solution which would be pretty straightforward with this image.

The noise in the sky didn't strike me as too bad anyway, and printing generally masks that order of noise almost completely.

And FWIW the blown sky didn't bother me either!

Mike

Just to keep the process simpler in my own experiments, I found that once I'd done the contrast masking (this is an excellent candidate image for this technique with the wide range of dark areas and highlights), I didn't really need to do any levels work. The levels were what would either lose cloud detail or would conversely make the birds and rocks too dark. I liked preserving the detail that I could in the original. That's what a 10D is all about.

I'm glad that you were able to use the links and method as a jumping point for your final image.

1ofUs! said:

I started with the method Uly linked.

Click to expand...

--

Ulysses

I do not know if this is better for your liking or not. I mainly just decreased the excessive white in the center of the sky by using the multiply brush in Adobe PS Elements. I increased saturation to give the sky a little more snap but without altering the original color too much. Then I sharpened the image to enhance the splash from the water on the rocks. I also darkened the near black areas to make it a true sillouette.

1ofUs! said:

I loved this in the lcd but was dissappointed once I got it home.
Here is an unedited version.



It just lacks pop and being at ISO 800 has some noise. I want the
colors more vibrant but I would love to keep the detail in the
water spray. If the seagulls and rock are silhouetted that's ok.
I've messed with it but can't seem to make it work. Can anybody
teach me how to improve/salvage this image? I use PS elements. I
also have neat image but have never been very good with it. Thanks
in advance! Cindy
full res original image can be found here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/19903620/original

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

--
PCI

Cindy, I think that we might have thought that was the part that bothered you the most. It's hard to tell. What's funny to me is how many got in on this and I don't think it had all that much to do with which one you'd choose. It was an opportunity to participate in a really fun project.

This stuff will make you nuts if you let it, or it can give you the tools to do whatever you want to do. It's so cool that we have the opportunity to do this kind of thing on our home computers.

Thanks for the good time!

Nancy

------

1ofUs! said:

the blown area in the sky doesn't seem to bother me as much as it
does some of you. I'm ok with it because that's what it really
looked like - the shot was taken into the sun after all. But I
can understand why it bothers people and it is good to learn how to
fix something like that. Thanks! Cindy

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

Cindy

I am new to Photoshop, I have PS elements and tried to enhance your photo. I went into enhance, then adjusted levels, then I fooled around with the RGB channels. Again, I am a bigginers with this sort of thing but I thought it was fun, I hope that you like it.
Eddie

http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?UV=150534129438_68282488903&collid=71693488903&photoid=61693488903

1ofUs! said:

I loved this in the lcd but was dissappointed once I got it home.
Here is an unedited version.



It just lacks pop and being at ISO 800 has some noise. I want the
colors more vibrant but I would love to keep the detail in the
water spray. If the seagulls and rock are silhouetted that's ok.
I've messed with it but can't seem to make it work. Can anybody
teach me how to improve/salvage this image? I use PS elements. I
also have neat image but have never been very good with it. Thanks
in advance! Cindy
full res original image can be found here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/19903620/original

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

Thanks Eddie - this is fun. Your link doesn't work so I couldn't see the photo Cindy

Eddie said:

I am new to Photoshop, I have PS elements and tried to enhance your
photo. I went into enhance, then adjusted levels, then I fooled
around with the RGB channels. Again, I am a bigginers with this
sort of thing but I thought it was fun, I hope that you like it.
Eddie

http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?UV=150534129438_68282488903&collid=71693488903&photoid=61693488903

1ofUs! said:

I loved this in the lcd but was dissappointed once I got it home.
Here is an unedited version.



It just lacks pop and being at ISO 800 has some noise. I want the
colors more vibrant but I would love to keep the detail in the
water spray. If the seagulls and rock are silhouetted that's ok.
I've messed with it but can't seem to make it work. Can anybody
teach me how to improve/salvage this image? I use PS elements. I
also have neat image but have never been very good with it. Thanks
in advance! Cindy
full res original image can be found here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/19903620/original

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must be wrong...

Greg Biggs said:

I do not know if this is better for your liking or not. I mainly
just decreased the excessive white in the center of the sky by
using the multiply brush in Adobe PS Elements. I increased
saturation to give the sky a little more snap but without altering
the original color too much. Then I sharpened the image to enhance
the splash from the water on the rocks. I also darkened the near
black areas to make it a true sillouette.

Click to expand...

Thanks Greg - I've never used the multiply brush - will have to check that out. Cindy

Greg Biggs63409 said:

--

Click to expand...

CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must be wrong...

Ulysses said:

Just to keep the process simpler in my own experiments, I found
that once I'd done the contrast masking (this is an excellent
candidate image for this technique with the wide range of dark
areas and highlights), I didn't really need to do any levels work.
The levels were what would either lose cloud detail or would
conversely make the birds and rocks too dark. I liked preserving
the detail that I could in the original. That's what a 10D is all
about.

Click to expand...

Yes, I need to try again to see if I can keep it cleaner so it doesn't go through the wash twice! thanks Uly. Cindy

Member said:

1ofUs! said:

I started with the method Uly linked.

Click to expand...

--

Ulysses

Click to expand...

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must be wrong...

Mike Fitzgerald said:

1ofUs! said:

Also, I've never had anything printed after neat image - it does
look like it softened it quite a bit, not sure how much enlarging
this would handle.

Click to expand...

Excellent job Cindy! I agree that the sky's gone a bit soft as a
result of noise reduction, to the point of looking slightly dreamy
and surreal. If you still have a version that's not been "Neatened"
(well, not twice anyway) it might be worth taking the top half and
making a composite with the noise-reduced rock which shows
NeatImage at its absolute best. I really would have regarded the
foreground as a lost cause but the texture sans noise looks very
plausible. Quite remarkable, really. I've never found the time to
spend on learning to use NeatImage properly, more than likely
because it bugs me that it's not a PS plug-in. I've always thought
the defaults too aggressive and/or sweeping (hence, perhaps, the
sky result) though I gather one can learn to be pretty selective
with it, and there's always the composite solution which would be
pretty straightforward with this image.

Click to expand...

Mike, I think neat image does have a version that is a plug in - more expensive of course. It is a program that isn't too intuitive to me. Luckily I downloaded noise profiles specific to the 10d at each ISO. So I think that helped. Cindy
--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must be wrong...

venkat said:

Here is my try.
I increased the color and reduced the brightness of the sun to
reduce the distraction.

Click to expand...

Thank did silhouette it nicely - and the crop does seem better. thanks, Cindy

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must be wrong...

man_o_music said:

Hmmmm....well I don't have PS, just a fairly basic program. But
thought I'd take a shot. My idea was to tone down the background
(sky) so the birds can be lightened and come out more, along with
the splash of water. Cropped a bit of the rock out to focus on the
birds as well. Then warmed down the sky a bit. A better program
could have done a better job and this was a quicky. Taking into a
bright sunset you're bound to get sillouettes in the foreground. So
it seemed like you either have to make the most of the sunset ad
accept that, or try and tone it down and go for the foreground. As
that's what it sounded like you wanted I gave it a try. Some noise
reduction would have ben nice to finish it off but I don't know
how to do that...

Click to expand...

The softer gentler approach. It is nice and soothing. Thanks! Cindy
--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must be wrong...

I don't know why you couldn't open the file so I uploaded ot to Pbase this time, hope it works.
Eddie

1ofUs! said:

Eddie said:

I am new to Photoshop, I have PS elements and tried to enhance your
photo. I went into enhance, then adjusted levels, then I fooled
around with the RGB channels. Again, I am a bigginers with this
sort of thing but I thought it was fun, I hope that you like it.
Eddie

http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?UV=150534129438_68282488903&collid=71693488903&photoid=61693488903

1ofUs! said:

I loved this in the lcd but was dissappointed once I got it home.
Here is an unedited version.



It just lacks pop and being at ISO 800 has some noise. I want the
colors more vibrant but I would love to keep the detail in the
water spray. If the seagulls and rock are silhouetted that's ok.
I've messed with it but can't seem to make it work. Can anybody
teach me how to improve/salvage this image? I use PS elements. I
also have neat image but have never been very good with it. Thanks
in advance! Cindy
full res original image can be found here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/19903620/original

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

Cindy

I'm having to much fun with this. I was unhappy with the too bright whiet cload area so I cloned some of the other cload area with a low opacity over the bright whit cload area. I think it is better now, let me know what you think.
Eddie

1ofUs! said:

Eddie said:

I am new to Photoshop, I have PS elements and tried to enhance your
photo. I went into enhance, then adjusted levels, then I fooled
around with the RGB channels. Again, I am a bigginers with this
sort of thing but I thought it was fun, I hope that you like it.
Eddie

http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?UV=150534129438_68282488903&collid=71693488903&photoid=61693488903

1ofUs! said:

I loved this in the lcd but was dissappointed once I got it home.
Here is an unedited version.



It just lacks pop and being at ISO 800 has some noise. I want the
colors more vibrant but I would love to keep the detail in the
water spray. If the seagulls and rock are silhouetted that's ok.
I've messed with it but can't seem to make it work. Can anybody
teach me how to improve/salvage this image? I use PS elements. I
also have neat image but have never been very good with it. Thanks
in advance! Cindy
full res original image can be found here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/19903620/original

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

Cindy,

You are probably getting sick of me by now, but every time I look at the image(I retouched) I see something else that needs to be done. I used the dodge tool to lighten the rocks and the water splashing up on those rocks(just a little). I promise you that this is the last of my input on your photo, although I am sure that I will continue to work on it and learn in the process. Thank you for posting this, it has made me do a little experimenting, and a little learningat the same time.
Eddie

1ofUs! said:

Eddie said:

I am new to Photoshop, I have PS elements and tried to enhance your
photo. I went into enhance, then adjusted levels, then I fooled
around with the RGB channels. Again, I am a bigginers with this
sort of thing but I thought it was fun, I hope that you like it.
Eddie

http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?UV=150534129438_68282488903&collid=71693488903&photoid=61693488903

1ofUs! said:

I loved this in the lcd but was dissappointed once I got it home.
Here is an unedited version.



It just lacks pop and being at ISO 800 has some noise. I want the
colors more vibrant but I would love to keep the detail in the
water spray. If the seagulls and rock are silhouetted that's ok.
I've messed with it but can't seem to make it work. Can anybody
teach me how to improve/salvage this image? I use PS elements. I
also have neat image but have never been very good with it. Thanks
in advance! Cindy
full res original image can be found here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/19903620/original

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
CindyD or SarahD
If one of us is laughing, and the other one isn't, one of us must
be wrong...

Click to expand...