Before and After #169

[sancho1983]

This game is to help those of us who are trying to learn new tricks when it comes to editing.

Here's the breakdown of the game. I will post a picture that I choose, resized to exactly 1024 pixels maximum on the long side. Outside of being resized it has to be unedited...meaning no adjustments to any levels, it has to look like it did as it came out of the camera.

The game will last 72hrs and whoever can produce the best edited image (as judged by me) will be picked and it'll be their turn to post their unedited picture for all of us to take a crack at.

The participants must have their "Image Editing OK" turned on and they must provide at least a simple breakdown of how they edited the image, some entrants are a little vague on this point, please give us all details so we can learn and share tips. For instance if you use the unsharp mask tool or Smart Sharpen, provide us with the adjustments you used so others can try them out.

You can post multiple images, but the first image you post will be the one that is judged - all other images will be considered for knowledge and tip use only.

Also, please keep all comments, be they positive or negative, to yourself until after the game has ended.

If you happen to be the winner of the game please start the next one with the title of the game and the following number. For example…the next game should read "Before & After #170".

This is all about having fun so have at it!!!

This round will end Saturday 3/21 at 12:00 GMT
Took this shot at the weekend with a new lens, was reasonably pleased with the shot but think it looks a little flat and boring.

Good luck all!!

http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu79/sancho_1983/meadowducks_91.jpg

[form]

I'm fond of dreamy landscapes, rich color, etc.

So...uhm. Cloned out the branches above right...Added overlay and saturation vignettes...an inverted, soft light duplicate layer w/~6px high pass + ~1-2px gaussian blur...a few screen duplicate layers with brushed in (masked) selective brightening for the spots I wanted brighter...lightening of the top right corner...and that's about it. The result makes me feel soothed, and like I want to go there.

http://www.resolutionplan.com/Joey/meadowducks_91_2.jpg

I neither want nor expect to win this; I just like the feeling the edited version gives me.

[Kendoway]

Fairly tight crop.
Cloned out that plastic bottle in the water (left). Jeez I hate it when people litter!
Levels adjusted.
Slight curves adjustment.
Saturation + 10%
Rough Pastels filter - Stroke length 30, Stroke detail 3, Texture: canvas, Scaling 72% Relief 27, Light: Bottom
A touch of burning.
Black frame.

http://s5.tinypic.com/2zovxuc.jpg

[Lore]

Adjusted curves, channels, levels, contrast, sharpened, did some burning, added a a vingette, & a duck ;)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b178/silentlore/contest.jpg

[MJA]

Made mild HDR using +/-2 exp. in 1 exp. increments (5 images total)
Cloned alot of white spots in water, tree branches etc.
Nik foliage filter and brushed onto tree and adjusted opacity
Added slight contrast to tree
Cropped
Slight vignette
Messed around with opacity of layers

http://www.cornbread.com/~ratta/banda169.jpg

[snoop69]

My effort using 5 pics saved as Tiffs & merged using Photomatix.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g126/snoop69/meadowducks_91And4more.jpg

[BitterSweet]

This was a beautiful image and I didn't want to do to much besides enhancing it.

-Cloned out the branch, some things in the water, and the bottle on the side of the image.
- Contrast Color Range Filter
- Enhanced the saturation but put a soft light filter on the layer.
- Monday Morning Filter on with a overlay filter.
- Darkened the building behind the tree.
- Added border.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii244/Devilslilvamp/meadowducks_91copy.jpg

[MarineManiac]

crop, highlights/shadows, contrast, exposure, heavy clone, brush strokes

saw a painting

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/cabbage2003/meadowducks_91copy-2.jpg

[shannyD]

here is my go..

curves, levels, hue/sat to my taste.
cloned out branches, things in the water, and in the grass.

on a seperate layer, blend mode soft light.. i painted with a white soft brush over the water to put some light back into the water, and lowered the opacity to about 50%.

from there i burned the sky in to make the blues deeper, and then burned the corners a little more to give a vignette.

then i did a usm of about 40/1 radius, and then i did a new copy, blend mode overlay, and ran high pass on it of about 2.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/daisydeadpeddles/meadowducks_91c-1.jpg

EDIT... the colors dont looks nearly as strong on IE, as they do on safari.

[sancho1983]

Really sorry for the delay, been a hectic day today.

Great entries by everyone, really made the flat, boring image stand out. I've never judged anything like this before, so remember it's entirely subjective!!

form - Great job on the cloning and the tree really stands out.

Kendoway - Lovely idea, like the crop, gives it a really different, but still nice, look

Lore - Again, the tree really stands out, the vignette emphasises the pic

MJA - Good job with the HDR, still looks really natural but brings out the details well

Snoop69 - Nice work, the tree really pops

BitterSweet - bonus point for saying the image was nice in the first place ;) The foreground and the tree's reflection look top notch

MarineManiac - Interesting interpretation (sp?) really love the crop, gives a new dimension to the image

ShannyD - Lovely effort, made the tree look good, brought out detail in everything else

Like i say it's very subjective, and it was still a very hard choice, but the winner is ........ MJA..... I'm a sucker for HDRs when they still look natural, made the image really stand out. Thank you

Thanks all to took part, look forward to seeing #170!!

[shannyD]

congrats MJA!!!

[monty28428]

Some really great edits here!!

Congrats MJA!

[MJA]

Wow, thanks. There were some really great edits as always. The hardest part of these is picking just 1. I'll have next one up in just a bit.

[BitterSweet]

Congrats MJA!!!

[Lore]

Congrats MJA! Fantastic edit indeed :cool:

[Kendoway]

That was a fun round - Congrats MJA!