Before and After - The Weekly Editing Challenge

HDR in NIK HDR Pro2=>stitched in Affinity Photo=>DXO Photolab3 for NR, highlight, shadow and contrast adjustments and a slight vignette.

1. All images > DxO Optics Pro 11 > Denoise and lens correction > Export as DNGs
2. Tonemap bracketed DNGs with SNS-HDR
3. Stitch HDR files in Photoshop > minor local adjustments > Crop & resize

Intheswamp wrote in post #19105922

Hosted photo: posted by Intheswamp in
./showthread.php?p=191​05922&i=i146800441
forum: Competitions

Cool edit, shadows and all

Stiga wrote in post #19108968
Mark, as Doc has explained already, it's a common compression format. For these images, it pruned 30MB off the same imaged compressed into ZIP format. That's important to me as my rural broadband upload speed is pathetic.

Just for you though, here is a link to a zip file

That link downloaded 3 files of a round ring for hay out in a field, not the images you have posted.
So I took a screen shot of the image you posted

Bianchi wrote in post #19109419
Cool edit, shadows and all

Thanks! Just a wild-haired idea.

Bianchi wrote in post #19109457
That link downloaded 3 files of a round ring for hay out in a field

Damn, sorry about that! Try this link

Convert to HDR Pano in LR then some Luminosity masking Nik Detail extractor , levels, curves & sharpening. Thought an evening type of approach might work.

NigelD wrote in post #19109497
Convert to HDR Pano in LR then some Luminosity masking Nik Detail extractor , levels, curves & sharpening. Thought an evening type of approach might work.

Hosted photo: posted by NigelD in
./showthread.php?p=191​09497&i=i55625069
forum: Competitions

Very nice Nigel! did you get the 0EV and -2EV files for the left-most frame?

I did thanks Mark - LR decided this was it's best effort and I thought it looked a good enough match.

I wanted to include the left-most exposure so made a faux HDR for it in Affinity Photo and stitched it to the other 4 HDRs. It doesn't quite match, but not too bad.

Well, that was a good week; thanks to all who posted an image. It's now time to hand over the torch.

There was some good imaginative stuff but the one I liked most was the last one posted by rrblint. Congrats, Mark, what have have you got in store for us?

Sorry I'm running a bit late this week, Fall Semester(online) is beginning here. Lots to do! I will look for something to put up for you, but in the meantime, if it's ok with Martin, maybe Nigel can put something up. IMO his entry was better than mine and I stole...I mean borrowed the idea from him anyway. How about it Nigel?

rrblint wrote in post #19113646
Sorry I'm running a bit late this week, Fall Semester(online) is beginning here. Lots to do! I will look for something to put up for you, but in the meantime, if it's ok with Martin, maybe Nigel can put something up. IMO his entry was better than mine and I stole...I mean borrowed the idea from him anyway. How about it Nigel?

That's okay with me

Happy to oblige Mark - thank you. Here's one of a series of 5 images from Wastwater in The Lake District, really overcast and murky day. The link gives you access to 5 .dng files rather than the .RAF Fuji files. https://we.tl/t-rXpzDK6HgO

Before and After - The Weekly Editing Challenge
...now compiled into a single, easy to locate thread, that can be added to your subscribe/follow list!

Rules are simple:

Download the image file from the current week

Contestants will have 7 days to edit the image and post their edited version to the thread (as many entries as you like)

The owner of the original image will choose a winner

The winner will copy & paste this post and include a new downloadable image link

The new image must be unedited / SOOC (straight out of camera), full-resolution, and in a RAW format, ie. CR2, DNG, TIF, etc

(Dropbox works well for uploading and linking these large files)


The purpose of this game is to be creative and learn new editing techniques. You must give some insight into exactly how you went about editing the image. For example, increased shadows sliders, reduced highlights, local sharpening, white balance adjustment, specific filters used, tone curve adjustments, etc. Comments and/or questions regarding the edits are encouraged.

Hmmm, looks like a normal day at Wastwater to me!