An Early Selection of My Favourite 2010 Shots (Using new editing technique)

[Kevbuts]

Hi All,

Bit of a strange thread, but I would like some comments on the photo's below as I have recently made some changes to my post processing workflow. Your comments on the quality on the photo's listed would be much appreciated. Some of the photo's you may have seen in other threads I have posted, but the version you see here has been edited differently using my new technique.

I look forward to receiving your comments.

The photo's were all taken at Snetterton at either the BMCRC, Aston Martin Owners Club or Top Hat Masters Historic events.

#1
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_075PSE.jpg


#2
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_071PSE.jpg


#3
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_072PSE.jpg


#4
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_056PSE.jpg


#5
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_050PSE.jpg

#6
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_107PSE.jpg


#7

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_101PSE.jpg

#8

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_106PSE.jpg

Apologies for not having provided my usual descriptive captions to go with each photo, but I am more interested in the overall quality of the images in this instance - plus you probably know more about the subjects that I do!

Cheers

[restyles]

Kevin, they are a little " over processed " in my opinion. Some look a little over sharpened and that gives them a slightly false look. Also the colours on some seem to be over saturated, 5 & 8 particularly. This gives a bit of an unnatural look to the picture. This is only my personal opinion and viewed on my lap top screen. Just ease back on those adjustments a little and they will be excellent.
PS are you at Snett this weekend ?

[Kevbuts]

Thanks for your comments Richard. You're not the first person that has mentioned that my photo's tend to look over-saturated in my threads. I think this is down to a bad habit that I seem to have got into of editing my photo's on my laptop! I always used to us my desktop PC which has a better monitor and more accurate colour reproduction.

With regards to the over sharpening - do you think this leads to some of the lines becoming jaggard? I will have another look at a few photo's and perhaps re-edit and re-post them with a little less sharpening and saturation.

I really want to get my workflow right this year to get the best shots possible from my gear. With this in mind your comments are very much appreciated.

Unfortunately I am not at Snetterton this weekend. I am off to the Silverstone Supercar (FIA GT's) event next weekend though. You going there?

[bdeitemeyer]

I agree with the criticism of the photos being a tad bit over-saturated. Nevertheless, the photos look great. Nice job Kevin.

[Ingsy]

I agree with with the slightly over-saturated, but I am viewing on an uncalibrated screen (my tv). Sharpness and overall image quality looks good, but I have been down the pub since 8pm so perhaps not the best judge of that right now :)

[Kevbuts]

Thanks for the comments guys I appreciate it. Not sure how valid your comments are though Ingsy if you had just got back after a few jars. Hope you had a good evening.

Taking you comments on board I have today created some newly edited shots with reduced sharpening and reduced saturation. Hopefully these will look much better.

As previously your C&C is welcomed. I really want to nail my workflow this season so all C&C helps.

Here are a selection of re-edited shots:

As previously, I have posted a selection of different shots from the BMCRC, AMOC & Top Hat Masters events at Snetterton.

#9
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_202PSE.jpg

#10
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_201PSE.jpg

#11
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_205PSE.jpg

#12
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_207PSE.jpg

#13
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_208PSE.jpg

#14
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_153PSE.jpg

#15
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_206PSE.jpg

#16
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i42/Kevbuts/POTN_155PSE.jpg

Cheers

[Kevbuts]

Blimey - I have just viewed this thread from work on a half decent monitor and can see why you guys have said the original images were over-saturated. I should have posted those with a warning. Apologies for that.

Hopefully the second batch of images I've posted look better. They certainly do on this monitor - although the saturation could still be dropped a bit further IMHO.

Your C&C's are welcomed as always.

[Ingsy]

Do you know, I didn't even remember I'd posted in this thread, until it appeared in my subscribed threads list! FRiday night was good, thanks for asking :)

Second set seems less saturated, but could still do with coming down a tad. On the whole images look good sharpness wise, although no 11 (Which I really like by the way, but then I like pans and I know not everyone does) looks oversharpened - especially the wheels, and the trim above the door has become a bit jagged.

[restyles]

Kevin, they are now looking pretty good on my monitor on the lap top. The only thing I will mention is that the first two (bike shots) appear to show more noise than the others. I have not checked the exif, were these shot at a higher ISO ? Otherwise as I said they are looking good. You really need some of the PP experts( Glenn & Simon spring to mind) to take a look and pass opinion.You are definately heading in the right direction though in my opinion .. for what that's worth !!

[Kevbuts]

Kevin, they are now looking pretty good on my monitor on the lap top. The only thing I will mention is that the first two (bike shots) appear to show more noise than the others. I have not checked the exif, were these shot at a higher ISO ? Otherwise as I said they are looking good. You really need some of the PP experts( Glenn & Simon spring to mind) to take a look and pass opinion.You are definately heading in the right direction though in my opinion .. for what that's worth !!

Cheers Richard. Glad to hear that the re-edited images I posted are looking better. You're correct about the first bike shot (#9) it was taken at ISO 800 due to the weather being very dull and overcast. The second bike shot (#10) was captured earlier in the day at ISO 100, but is a crop of the original image so any noise would be more evident as a result.

I would love to hear Simon Harrison's and/or Cadwell's C&C on these as you say. The quality of their shots never fail to amaze me - as you say they are the masters when it comes to image quality it seems.

Thanks again for the kind words.

Did you get to Snetterton last weekend? If so what was on?

[restyles]

Yes did Snett at the weekend, things like MX5's, Fiesta's etc .... not forgetting the Fun Cup on Saturday. Not a bad meeting all round. Had 36 car grids for the Mazda races !!

[KevB]

Nice shots Kev. They look spot on this end.


Kev

[John Hudson]

Second set look excellent Kev.

John.

[snyderman]

Overall, the shots are brilliant. Excellent exposure in all cases, great WB, good DOF and very sharp ... probably straight from the camera as well. The 2nd set showed excellent color saturation. Even the 1st set wasn't over the line on saturation, IMO.

Some of the sharpening in the first set leads to some jaggies. Very noticeable on the cycle in #2. All the plastic parts have that stepped thing going on with the angled lines. For some reason, I've noticed that backing down the saturation actually sharpens my sports photos up a tad. Something to try on for size on your images if you're so inclined.

Are you sharpening using USM? If so, what is the recipe please? Thank you.

dave

[Kevbuts]

Are you sharpening using USM? If so, what is the recipe please? Thank you.

Thanks for your comments Dave. I have actually put together another thread which details a couple of sharpening options which I am currently trying out. The thread can be found here:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=10076650#post10076650

All the shots in this thread were sharpened using the USM method applied to a layer with the USM Filter settings of Amount = 500%, Radius = 0.4, Threshold = 0. The layer was then set with an Opacity of around 20% (on average).

Hope this all helps :D

[Simon Harrison]

Kevin,

I don't think you're too far away here with these. A little tweaking, and I think you're about there.
Simon.

[Ingsy]

I take it that it's not possible to acheive a "one size fits all" aproach to sharpening that you can roll out across a batch of images?

[Kevbuts]

Kevin,

I don't think you're too far away here with these. A little tweaking, and I think you're about there.
Simon.

Thanks for your comments Simon - I have tried out two different methods of sharpening, and both combined in another thread here:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=864442

Take a look as I would appreciate your comments on these also.

Ingsy - I think it is something which needs assessing on an image by image basis. In the full version of Photoshop you can set up actions which I think you can apply to batches of images though. I am certainly no expert so I would welcome comments from others on this one. All the sharpening work I have done in these Forums to date has been executed on an image by image basis though.

[Simon Harrison]

Here's a very interesting link on image sharpening.

http://www.pixelgenius.com/tips/schewe-sharpening.pdf

I tend to use some (all) of the techniques here when prepping images, particularly for print.

Simon

[Kevbuts]

Here's a very interesting link on image sharpening.

http://www.pixelgenius.com/tips/schewe-sharpening.pdf

I tend to use some (all) of the techniques here when prepping images, particularly for print.

Simon

Thanks for this link Simon - The sharpening guide by Jeff Schewe is brilliant. I wasn't too far adrift with my sharpening adjustments, by the look of it, but this certainly helped clarify where my settings should be for the USM and High Pass filters. Had a play around and the results are a real improvement. Thanks very much for your help here.

NEXT CHALLENGE - Jaggard Edges - How on earth can I re-size my full size JPEGS and prevent the diagonal lines (i.e. car grills, sills, body edges etc.) from looking jaggard like the edge of a saw blade? Anyone got any guidance on resolving this annoyance??

[snyderman]

Thanks for your comments Dave. I have actually put together another thread which details a couple of sharpening options which I am currently trying out. The thread can be found here:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=10076650#post10076650

All the shots in this thread were sharpened using the USM method applied to a layer with the USM Filter settings of Amount = 500%, Radius = 0.4, Threshold = 0. The layer was then set with an Opacity of around 20% (on average).

Hope this all helps :D

Thank you! Appreciate the 'recipe!'

dave