Before and After - The Weekly Editing Challenge

Reservoir Dog wrote in post #19201249
That's excellent!

Next step, a flying abducted cow?

Thanks Patrice. Yes I should have added an ascending cow. That would have been the perfect kicker.

My basic workflow
1. PL4 > save as DNG
2. SNS HDR > save as TIF
3. Photoshop > levels > ACR minor adjustments > resize & sharpen

My attempt to create a moonlight effect. Used previous version > applied nik dark contrast filter > reduced saturation and added witch!

Some fine renditions of the cabin photo. Thanks to all who participated.

First place goes to: rrblint. I found your sunset version very pleasing and natural, and the lens correction was a nice subtle touch that I didn't think of. There were several others with a nice, natural feel, but Mark's sunset effect edged them out. And of course, hat tips to those who contributed space aliens and livestock. Thanks again to all!

Here are my edits from several years ago. The first "painted" version is the one I had printed and framed. The print turned out very well. The second is just a bright, natural edit.

The baton now passes to rrblint.

Thanks Peano!


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 our of camera), full-resolution, and in a RAW format, ie. CR2, DNG, TIF, etc
  
  
• (Dropbox works well for uploading and linking these large files)
  
  

Using GIMP

Menu > Colors > Colorize > B&W Photo > Portrait... Done
Then
Menu > People > Hairs > Make Long Hair... Done

Oh I wished after a while...,
more seriously: from the .CR2 drop in GIMP -> Darktable opens it to demosaize it (I don't adjust so I close DT which auto transfer back to GIMP
-> A lot of layer in Overlay mode or LcH Color mode or Soft Light mode to paint eyes, lips, teeth's gum, T-Shirt, Hairs (I should have started by the hairs instead of finishing by them, as i am not happy with the mergence of the skin and the hairs...) and so, no tablet, so all with the mouse
For the longer hair: Select some hair on each side, transform selection to stretch them then to new layer adjust with the eraser to smooth out, few use of the clone tool to hide bad things

With GIMP, I did kept my eXperimental Computing Facility/File (.xcf)
So same file as above, I only copy hair above the shoulder on the left side (her right side) -> new from visible, did some adjustment + clean the BG + a high pass mode gray scale mode overlay, remove the background on the high pass to not sharpen it + some adjustment Curves

That's rather well done!

Used Luminar 4 to convert neg to positive; then to Aurora HDR, then to Luminad Ai: cleaned up dust spots, then to face enhancements - face, eyes, lips - played with the sliders till I liked the look. Then played with more light, contrast, detail - softened a bit. Wee bit of cropping and vignette.

Some more sliders, some more drama.

I used the negative for this edit. In the Adobe camera raw editor, I just set the white/black points, highlights, and shadows and cropped. Then in PS CC 2022, I removed dust and spots and applied noise reduction. I reduced the contrast and evened out the background a bit. I removed the lower catchlight in her eyes and brightened the irises a bit.

I then used Portrait Pro to add volume to her hair and add eye shadow, Mascara, and eyeliner. I darkened her lipstick as well. Back in PS, I added a black/white layer to desaturate the work done in Portrait Pro. Reduced image size and added a white border to emulate the look of a printed photograph.

Wow, some excellent edits! Patrice, I love both of your versions. the colorized version is really nice and I appreciate the hair extensions. Pebal beautiful edit but I know you don't want to win. RDWP I like your first version very much. navydoc once again you've showed your prowess at editing portraits. How'd you get so good at it? Anyway you're the winner, so congrats and take it away!

Thanks very much Mark. I suppose I've improved my portrait edits by trying to make myself look better.

For this new challenge, I'm offering a 7 exposure series of the parlor in the oldest house in nearby Winchester, Ca. I shot these when I was first learning HDR and they are all dark but can be corrected in Adobe ACR fine. You can merge all, part or just use one of these images for your edit.

Feel free to use your imagination. I include a version of one of my edits from 2011 below.


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 our of camera), full-resolution, and in a RAW format, ie. CR2, DNG, TIF, etc
  
  
• (Dropbox works well for uploading and linking these large files)
  
  

Gene, your linking is not working. I'm getting an error when trying to download.