Problem with xt-3 or maybe with me?

[pifilos]

Here's my take with Lightroom. I can't help you with specific details as you're a Capture One user, but the basic idea is the same, even if the tools are different. I backed off on the exposure a bit and touched up some nearly blown highlights on the hat and sleeve with the adjustment brush and added a big fat tone curve to open up the shadows and mid tones and tame the contrast without pushing the highlights back up too much. I tried for more of a high key sun-blasted vintage look more in line with your target samples with a custom profile based on the Classic Negative look, but not as extreme and without the pinkish midtones. The field was a bit greenish so I brushed a bit of magenta tint to bring it back towards neutral and brought down the sharpness as well to minimize the noise and keep the bokeh smooth in the background. I also warmed up the shadows and midtones a tad with some split toning too. It's OK if you hate it, but it's pretty much what I would have done if I'd shot it. I think it's rather a nice image.

Did you use Topaz Sharpen or anything similar by any chance ? This looks sharper - more in focus than the original and especially other variations to my eyes. At least regarding the hand and the rings as well as the hat.

 

[Erik Baumgartner]

Here's my take with Lightroom. I can't help you with specific details as you're a Capture One user, but the basic idea is the same, even if the tools are different. I backed off on the exposure a bit and touched up some nearly blown highlights on the hat and sleeve with the adjustment brush and added a big fat tone curve to open up the shadows and mid tones and tame the contrast without pushing the highlights back up too much. I tried for more of a high key sun-blasted vintage look more in line with your target samples with a custom profile based on the Classic Negative look, but not as extreme and without the pinkish midtones. The field was a bit greenish so I brushed a bit of magenta tint to bring it back towards neutral and brought down the sharpness as well to minimize the noise and keep the bokeh smooth in the background. I also warmed up the shadows and midtones a tad with some split toning too. It's OK if you hate it, but it's pretty much what I would have done if I'd shot it. I think it's rather a nice image.

Did you use Topaz Sharpen or anything similar by any chance ? This looks sharper - more in focus than the original and especially other variations to my eyes. At least regarding the hand and the rings as well as the hat.

I used Iridient X-Transformer for the demosaicing (as I almost always do), but everything else is just plain Lightroom, including the sharpening. I do have Topaz DeNoise and Sharpen, but I didn’t use them here. I very much like the A.I. Clear utility in DeNoise for some very high ISO images, both for noise removal and sharpening.