Post Processing Suggestions on this Pic (extreme newbie)

[Bix Beiderbecke]

Hey guys, this is my very first post here, so if I do anything taboo don't be afraid to tell me...
ok, here's the deal, i'm completely new to photography! For the last few years I've been using an Olympus D-520 (3x optical zoom/ 2.0 mp :rolleyes: ) and have finally saved enough money to upgrade (the S2 IS is on its way in the mail as we speak!). I have been trying to develop some post processing skills for when my new camera arrives and thus have been fooling around with photoshop, I was hoping some of you guys could take a look at what I've done and then tear me apart and give me some suggestions, possibly even repost the same original image redone? thank you all so much! i'm really anxious to learn alot around here, it seems like you all have an awesome community...

anyhow, this is a picture from my backyard and my first photoshop job ever, it was taken with my 2.0 mp olympus....

original (http://image52.webshots.com/52/5/41/95/2433541950086970126mRVsTO_fs.jpg)

photoshopped (http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=showPhoto&albumID=548317230&photoID=2624414110086970126&security=abKQqW)

I fiddled with color saturation, sharpness, and curves... it seemed to make the picture look better;)

edit: had some trouble attaching the photos to the thread, posted the links...

[tim]

I can't see any photos...

[NickSimcheck]

Orignal:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/548317230/2433541950086970126mRVsTO

Modified:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/548317230/2624414110086970126abKQqW

Not bad but too much color saturation in my opinon.

[tim]

The original link doesn't work : "Forbidden - You don't have permission to access /52/5/41/95/2433541950086970126mRVsTO_fs.jpg on this server."

The photoshopped version is good, just don't go quite so far with the saturation. Perhaps add a little contrast.

[imrtun]

Here's my effort on the tractor picture. I used shadow/highlight with a large radius to make the image pop, smart sharpen with a radius of about 0.9, neat image with a profile made from the sky and a channel mixer layer with values:

Red Channel

110
-5
-5

Green Channel
-5
110
-5

Blue Channel
-5
-5
110

I didn't touch the saturation slider at all.

I also set the white balance with curves by using the middle eye dropper on the tractors top righthand light.

[DavidW]

I greatly prefer imrtun's effort. The OP's Photoshopped version looks quite lurid on my calibrated monitor - it's way beyond Velvia saturation!

I had a very quick play along the lines of imrtun's workflow. I didn't quite get the Noise Ninja settings right, but the image will benefit from some noise reduction (Noise Ninja works much better from camera profiles than profiling images). I found some use of the Shadows part of Shadows / Highlights helped to lift the shadows (I tend to shoot RAW with a 20D, and, if necessary, tend to apply a curve in Adobe Camera Raw that lifts the shadows rather than using Shadows / Highlights - especially as Shadows / Highlights can't be used on an adjustment layer).

I did a very quick tweak in Levels, put the Channel Mixer effect suggested in an adjustment layer but turned it off (it makes especially the greens look a bit more saturated to me, when I didn't feel it needed it - but I don't like very saturated images). Smart Sharpen, and I was done. I won't post the results, because the messed up noise reduction has left a rather sub-par image and imrtun's post is close to what I have anyway.



David

[PhotoVagrant]

A quick makeover with a PS action.

[PhotoVagrant]

...and another one...

[imrtun]

DavidW, indeed you are correct. When we don't have camera profiles to hand though a sky works quite well. If it's taking away too much detail you could try creating a luminosity mask and applying the noise reduction to the shadows only.

ctrl+alt+~ (I believe)

The neat image settings i used were as follows.

Noise levels.
high +10
mid 0
low -5

y 0
cr 0
cb 0

Noise Reduction amounts

high 100
mid 100
low 100

y 75
cr 60
cb 60

Hope that helps.

[imrtun]

Photovagrant, your images aren't showing.

Edit: they're working now, I like the first one! mind sharing with us what you did?

[PhotoVagrant]

Yes the first image was with the SkyPolar action from http://www.1clickactions.com

[imrtun]

cheers!

[stupot]

thought i'd post a b&w as nobody has yet...

made it pop through neat image...

levels

new adjustment layer with mask to darken sky a little

convert to b&w using channel mixer...

usm

EDIT: its suffered quite a bit in compression... but you get the idea:)

[imrtun]

Very nice indeed! Don't you just hate jpeg compression though?

[Bix Beiderbecke]

Thanks for all the ideas guys, they all look fantastic! You're all great at this, I'm going to google the techniques being talked about since I have no clue how to use them properly, props to running through how you did things. I am thinking of eventually enlarging and framing this picture for my father (his tractor) after I develop my post processing skills (i love all your images, I just want to do it myself). Would this be counterproductive seeing as how its taken with a 2.0mp camera? How big can I enlarge this without losing significant quality? I realize this will look like sewer water compared to things you can produce on your dSLRs, but my father is a farmer and will not even notice the quality of the photo. However, I would like it to look its best possible for aesthetic purposes. Thanks again!

[PhotosGuy]

Try an 8X10 first & see what you think. You might be surprised.
And, if you haven't calibrated your monitor yet (you too, PhotoVagrant), then take a look at these:
Monitor calibration and gamma
Quick test:
http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/index.html
Better info:
http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html
http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1B.html
Dry Creek "Introduction to Digital Photo Lab Profiles"
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Frontier/index.html
WEB BROWSER CHECK - Test Page - ALL FILES have embedded ICC profiles Photoshop Color Management
http://www.gballard.net/psd/go_live_page_profile/embeddedJPEGprofiles.html

[dpastern]

Bix - your shot looks OK to my eyes, but take into account that my monitor isn't calibrated (and is very dark), so on a calibrated monitor it most probably is overkill with the colours. It's also very noisy, try running something like neat image (http://www.neatimage.com/) to reduce the noise!

Dave