DTM @ Brands...How would you edit?

[Dan the 480 Man]

Hi people.

Was at Brands yesterday for the DTM qualifiers. Really disappointed with the fact Druids was locked off-was left, as many, shooting through the fence. Got some nice shots, but nearly all you can see the 'ghosting' of the fence, like the pictures misty. The Audi DTM doesn't look too bad, but i think it's noticeable. I've not done any PP on these yet either.

I shot entirely in RAW. Programs i have to hand are iPhoto and Canon's DPP software. As you can see in the shots below, you can see the outlines of the fence's. How would you edit those out, or is it a lost cause? Just seems a shame as i have some really nice photo's spoilt by the fence.

Any suggestions people?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/DanThe440Man/Random%20Stuff/230af7ee.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/DanThe440Man/Random%20Stuff/6664f1ed.jpg

Dan :)

[GSH]

A bit of Contrast & exposure adjustment plus sharpening for the top one will work wonders. I've done a quick Auto contrast, Sharpen at 200 / 0.1 and +.33 exposure adjustment on it... I'm on the laptop so i can probably do much better on my "good" screen.

As for the second one, the fence is too prominent so i wouldn't bother with it. :)

[Dan the 480 Man]

Hi Geoff.

That does look better. It's a shame about the F3 car, as alot of the other shots have come out like that :( Perhaps i'll see if any others post images from the weekend and see what they have achieved/what they can do with theirs.

I'm a bit funny about PP, especially colour saturation-i can never tell if i'm doing a good job or not! :lol:

[russdaz]

No exif, but ideally you need to be pushing over 300mm to block the fence with a nice shallow depth of view, the longer the lens the better. Everything i took there was taken though fences.

[Dan the 480 Man]

Hi!

The focal length was maxxed out at 500mm for the DTM, but looking at the F3,i noticed it was 417mm. Here's another at 500mm:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/DanThe440Man/Random%20Stuff/edd37aea.jpg

And here's the Exif:

Camera Model: Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Focal Length: 500.0mm
Exposure Time: 0.0012 s (1/800) Aperture: f/6.3
ISO Equiv.: 200 Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)

And here's the same shot after a bit of PP in iPhoto:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/DanThe440Man/Random%20Stuff/73b6e107.jpg

Look a bit better? I adjusted the Histogram level, used a bit more Saturation and Contrast, changed the temperature tint to a little cooler and reduced the noise a little. I don't know if it's a good improvement or not??

[Tobias N]

I like Geoff's edit and i think you did a good job on the last one.

[Dan the 480 Man]

Cheers!

I think i'm getting the hang of it now...:

Before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/DanThe440Man/Random%20Stuff/2c3e6cda.jpg

After:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/DanThe440Man/Random%20Stuff/ec1d0b88.jpg

A definite improvement i think....it's going to take a long time to do 200 photo's! :lol:

[Swiss Toni]

Try leaving the saturation alone, that last shot only needed a tweak of the levels.

[jejeje]

A definite improvement i think....it's going to take a long time to do 200 photo's! :lol:

Like what you've done. Check out Adobe Lightroom, it will help speed up your post production. :)

[russdaz]

Hi!

The focal length was maxxed out at 500mm for the DTM, but looking at the F3,i noticed it was 417mm. Here's another at 500mm:



And here's the Exif:

Camera Model: Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Focal Length: 500.0mm
Exposure Time: 0.0012 s (1/800) Aperture: f/6.3
ISO Equiv.: 200 Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)



Well in that case a higher ISO would have been required to get a brighter image as i asume that was the sigma, properly more like ISO 400 if not slightly higher. But not all of Druids fence is shoot throughable due to wires etc,

[Dan the 480 Man]

Thanks for the info/feedback guys. My experience in PP has been limited, but i always shoot in L Jpg, and when it came to editing pics prior, the results were never that good. Thats why i had a go shooting RAW this weekend, and i actually think that the PP results have been alot better.

With regards to Adobe Lightroom, i have read about it but not really looked into it. I'm considering purchasing Apple Aperture over the next few weeks-i originally updated the memory on my Mac to accommodate it, but never got around to purchasing it.

I guess it's just a case of playing around with it and seeing how i get on. With regards to the saturation, does it look too ott? I duplicated the image in iPhoto and reset the Saturation to 50-i had it set to 55. Does it look too rich?

[Kevbuts]

Good stuff Dan,

Looks like that Bigma baby was definitely worth getting for this weekend. Like russdaz said, the longer the lens the less likely you are of getting the fences messing up your shots when shooting through them. So you would have had even more problems had you not bought the Bigma and had to use your 300mm lens! I think that's a good reasoned argument justifying it's purchase :D It was just so annoying that they didn't open the infield section of Druids this weekend. First time I have known that to happen in all the times and events I've been to there. Lets hope they don't make a habit of it!

I really like your shot of the blue Hofmuhl Audi, and Geoffs PP of it is great. IMHO the red Audi is a little too saturated, and could do with a slight increase in exposure to lighten it abit, possibly +0.2 or +0.3. What white balance colour temperature have you used for that shot? I found that for my shots taken in the same position (I was with Dan on Saturday for those reading this) a colour temperature of 4520 was about right for my shots.

For the majority of my shots taken like the ones you have posted here I made the following adjustments:

Exposure - Adjusted to suit individual images where necessary (sun was in an out all day!);
Contrast - +5
Saturation - +10
Colour Temperature (white balance) - 4520
Shadow and Highlights adjustment - Adjusted to suit individual images where necessary

Plus sharpening and noise reduction adjustments. I use Phase 1 Caputre One Pro for my post processing of RAW images, adjustments for iPhoto may be different.

I look forward to seeing some more of your photo's, but those you have posted on here seem to be very good, especially for your first event using the Bigma :D

[Big Pete]

I'm not allowed to! :confused: Got told off last time! :oops:

Certainly need some work done to them..

[gdrMatt]

After
http://www.gdrphotography.com/forum_photos/edd37B.jpg

before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/DanThe440Man/Random%20Stuff/edd37aea.jpg

[Big Pete]

Try leaving the saturation alone, that last shot only needed a tweak of the levels.
Correct Swiss Toni... too much saturation!

Tweek the levels and a slight adjustment in curves.

The adjusted red Audi is the wrong colour. It's too red!

[Big Pete]

Here's my take on the images...

The red is not as bright as some seem to think..

[gdrMatt]

how about this ?
http://www.gdrphotography.com/forum_photos/bosch.jpg
a little bored today.. lol

[Big Pete]

Again just a tweek in levels and a touch in curves!

[Big Pete]

Final image. No saturation needed!

[gdrMatt]

they need to remove the saturation from Photoshop.. it's way overused. :)

[Swiss Toni]

they need to remove the saturation from Photoshop.. it's way overused. :)
Ain't that the truth, although maybe there are a lot of uncalibrated monitors around as well.

[GSH]

Best option is simply not to shoot through the fence with the sun shining on it.

On a sunny afternoon you're fighting a losing battle. Better to wander off around the circuit and explore a bit. That's why i like the GP circuit...more options to watch & shoot :)