Before & After #231

[BitterSweet]

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 #232".
This is all about having fun so have at it!!!

This round will end on Sunday November 8th @ 11:00pm

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii244/Devilslilvamp/LGBG_0099.jpg

[bdbox]

Reduce lightness of sky, and increase contrast.
reduce lightness of plants/building slightly.
merge layers and apply gaussian blur.
adjust H/S, hue:35, saturation:25.
bordered with paint brush.

http://www.cctvdiy.com/upload/BA231.jpg

[Lore]

LR2 - Rotate/Crop, Recovery, Clarity, Fill Light, Blacks, Vibrance, -Saturation, Curves, Blue Saturation, -Yellow Saturation, -Green Saturation, Red Saturation, Orange Saturation, Vignette
CS2 - Unsharpmask, clone out dust speck that appeared on cloud.

http://www.eideticmemories.com/LGBG_0099.jpg

[reisset]

add contrast,
add saturation,
add water,
dodging the wall

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn125/reisset/LGBG_0099copy.jpg

[Saphire]

Brightness/Contrast
Hue/Saturation
A little burning on midtones.

[spitfire23bc]

GIMP: Duplicate, blur, soft mode, increased saturation slightly. Masked shadowed bits of the building to see original layer http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i234/spitfire23bc/ba231_edit.jpg

[Kendoway]

I thought it would be fun to go a little overboard with this one (as I never go overboard in these contests :rolleyes: )

Tilt Shift.
Levels/Curves
Masked - then Gradient
Lens Blur (Radius 20, Brightness 11, Threshold 255)
Saturation and contrast boost.
LR 2 - then Exposure + Additional selective sharpness.

http://i37.tinypic.com/30hsmxd.jpg

[NigelD]

Duplicated background
Adjusted levels
Selected sky and set blend mode to multiply
Filter - texturizer
Marquee tool to select border size, invert and change levels, bevel and emboss with inner shadow

[brennasg]

okay.. so I wanted to make it have an extra femine vibe...
LR2- rotate adj, virbance up, sat down, contrast, brightness, red sat, yellow sat, blue sat,
CS4- levels, curves, cloned out the top of the structure, the lady in bg, the pathway, and the two benches along the path, dodged structure, burned flowers and trees, added magenta photo filter adjustment, sharpened, slight vignette...and because I couldnt resist...the Pool Party TRA...very low opacity.

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp320/brennasg/LGBG_0099-Edit.jpg

[BitterSweet]

Sorry for the very quick reply very busy and sleepy lol. Everyone did a fantastic job.

bdbox- the sepia tone really let you see the details in the photo and the border you did is awesome.
Lore - I love how it's very nice and clear and the sky is fantastic.
reisset - I really like how you turned the walk way into a stream, great job on the reflection and colors. Wish it was a bit sharper though.
Saphire- Great color on the flowers but needs to be a bit brighter.
Spitfire- love the whole dreamy type look that is going on with the photo.
Kendoway - I think you're having way to much fun with these :) Truthfully at first my head kind of hurt from looking at it but then I got use to it. I love love love the colors you were able to get out of the photo.
NigelD- Great colors, sharpness and border but I'm not 100% sure about the texture but that's just my opinion of course.
Brennasg - Usually i don't like the more feminine things I'm a more of a dark gothic look type of person lol. But wow that's all I have to say you did a great job at cloning out the lady in the background and also the path. The sepia tone without losing the colors is just awesome I can even picture couple sitting in the bench.

So the winner is Brennasg!!! Congrats to everyone and I'm looking forward to the next one.

[brennasg]

Thanks Tracey! First B&A in forever and I won! woo hoo! Glad you liked it, even with the feminine touch.

Good job everyone! Next round is up... http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=8980749#post8980749

[Kendoway]

Nice work Brennasg - congrats!

Super entries everyone, and thanks for the great judging job Tracey!

[NigelD]

Well done Brennasg and fantastic job everyone else - roll on #232!!