Duckling - post processing critique please

This is another image from the last week. I spent quite a while with this one in CS2. I'm trying to learn how to use the exposure and the shadow and highlight features. Before CS2 I only used Levels and Curves. I don't think I did curves at all on this image. After I brought it back into LR3, I added recovery and reduced the green and blue luminance a bit.

EDIT:
(For some reason the edited image (the top image) is reading a bit warmer in the browser than it does in LR. I'm still trying to understand how I need to manage color profiles when going between CS2 and LR3 which I think is what ends up causing the color shift on export from LR3. When I export to CS2 from LR, I choose the option to convert the color profile, then I save the tiff back to LR3 and export it from there as a JPG.)

Any suggestions?

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like the 1st one

Kristin, is it safe to assume that the photo on top is the one you processed as described?

Diamond Lil wrote in post #14531558
Kristin, is it safe to assume that the photo on top is the one you processed as described?

Yep, the top one is the processed image. What I get off of the card is nearly always washed out and dull looking.

Kristin I'm assuming that you shoot in RAW? Do you have your camera image settings like saturation and sharpness set to zero?

Also why exporting from LR to CS and back to LR? It seems like a lot of extra work.

To keep everything simple, set your camera to use sRGB. Then in your CS2 and Lr3, when converting the RAW, set them to use sRGB as well. Finally, when you are done with the PP and ready to save the image as jpeg for web display, In CS3/4/5 there is a menu option "Save for Web", and you will see a "Convert to sRGB" checkbox and "Embed color profile" checkbox. Make sure you check them both.

The images posted above, i saw some jpeg compression artifacts. One is about 100kb, the 2nd one is 83kb. Maybe that's why. I understand the forum rule when attaching an image, it must be < 150kb. What most of us do here is, we let some online gallery to host our images, then when we post here, we just embed the image to display here. So, open a Flickr or Photobucket account for free, and upload your higher resolution jpegs there. Then when you post, you just click the Insert Image icon from the toolbar to embed your images in your post.

Hope that helps.

Stephen Stephen wrote in post #14532216
Kristin I'm assuming that you shoot in RAW? Do you have your camera image settings like saturation and sharpness set to zero?

Also why exporting from LR to CS and back to LR? It seems like a lot of extra work.

I do shoot in RAW exclusively. I use CS because I feel it is a stronger application than LR3 and my local printer/studio warned me off of any color management in LR. They have gobs and gobs of professional printing experience, so I trust their opinion on this. I imagine there are plenty of arguments on both sides of the fence and I don't want to start a LR vs CS sort of debate here. I also have more experience in CS and so am more comfortable manipulating images in CS than in light room. LR3's cloning tool really sucks in my opinion. I can accomplish cloning with much more ease and accuracy in CS2.

I'm not sure what you mean about the saturation settings on the camera. I shoot a 40D and see nothing in the manual about settings on camera that control these targets.

cfcRebel wrote in post #14532277
To keep everything simple, set your camera to use sRGB. Then in your CS2 and Lr3, when converting the RAW, set them to use sRGB as well. Finally, when you are done with the PP and ready to save the image as jpeg for web display, In CS3/4/5 there is a menu option "Save for Web", and you will see a "Convert to sRGB" checkbox and "Embed color profile" checkbox. Make sure you check them both.

The images posted above, i saw some jpeg compression artifacts. One is about 100kb, the 2nd one is 83kb. Maybe that's why. I understand the forum rule when attaching an image, it must be < 150kb. What most of us do here is, we let some online gallery to host our images, then when we post here, we just embed the image to display here. So, open a Flickr or Photobucket account for free, and upload your higher resolution jpegs there. Then when you post, you just click the Insert Image icon from the toolbar to embed your images in your post.

Hope that helps.

I've been on webshots since the beginning of time and I am on Photo.net (though they are somewhat mean over there). I just don't always take the trouble of linking. Where are you seeing the artifacts in the image? I may be seeing a bit on the blue area of the water where I tried to knock down the shine. I have a 22" screen so maybe its not showing up as clearly on my monitor.

I will try that with the sRGB. Thanks!

kristin6 wrote in post #14532359
I do shoot in RAW exclusively.

I'm not sure what you mean about the saturation settings on the camera. I shoot a 40D and see nothing in the manual about settings on camera that control these targets.

you don't need to worry about the settings since you are shooting RAW. however, those settings will effect jpeg images and your image playback on your camera since those are jpegs also. the settings in question are under "picture style" and then a custom setting under that tab which opens shrpness saturation etc.

if you want your images to appear in your playback as they will when you first download your RAWs without edits then you should set your picture style to neutral. the images on the back of your camera aren't actually RAWs, but jpegs, so these settings will effect image playback.

BirdBoy wrote in post #14532681
you don't need to worry about the settings since you are shooting RAW. however, those settings will effect jpeg images and your image playback on your camera since those are jpegs also. the settings in question are under "picture style" and then a custom setting under that tab which opens shrpness saturation etc.

if you want your images to appear in your playback as they will when you first download your RAWs without edits then you should set your picture style to neutral. the images on the back of your camera aren't actually RAWs, but jpegs, so these settings will effect image playback.

Thanks. I don't really use the playback for much other than checking the histogram. I was currently set to landscape for some bizarre reason. I probably shifted it accidentally with the back button.

When I talk about the images coming off the camera looking dull, I'm speaking of the second image in my post above. That image is not edited, and that is the quality I get with most images. The only difference is that this one was a bit bright due to the challenging exposure situation that day (bright full sun on water).

cfcRebel wrote in post #14532277
To keep everything simple, set your camera to use sRGB. Then in your CS2 and Lr3, when converting the RAW, set them to use sRGB as well. Finally, when you are done with the PP and ready to save the image as jpeg for web display, In CS3/4/5 there is a menu option "Save for Web", and you will see a "Convert to sRGB" checkbox and "Embed color profile" checkbox. Make sure you check them both.

The images posted above, i saw some jpeg compression artifacts. One is about 100kb, the 2nd one is 83kb. Maybe that's why. I understand the forum rule when attaching an image, it must be < 150kb. What most of us do here is, we let some online gallery to host our images, then when we post here, we just embed the image to display here. So, open a Flickr or Photobucket account for free, and upload your higher resolution jpegs there. Then when you post, you just click the Insert Image icon from the toolbar to embed your images in your post.

Hope that helps.

I was set to sRGB everywhere but on the export to CS2 which was set to Pro Photo (huh?). I'm not sure why that was. I changed that and then saved the edited copy again from CS2 instead of exporting from LR3. I'm reminded of why I stopped doing this. These two sites have a limit on the size images can be viewed at. Notice how the color temp changes on these based on what website I put them on. I'm surprised that the Photo.net image is so different.

Exported from LR3:

IMAGE IS A REDIRECT OR MISSING! MIME changed to 'text/html' | Content warning: script