Before and After #176

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 #177".

This is all about having fun so have at it!!!

This round will end Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 06:30:00 GMT

I wasn't sure what time zone to use me being in Australia and all so i used one everyone will know.

Here's a shot of my car. It's a bit bland and needs some treatment

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White is so ordinary...

I used a color balance adjustment layer and masked everything but the car, then used a hue saturation adjustment layer mask for the sky.

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CS2 - 2nd layer, desaturate, invert, 2.8 gaussiaun blur, soft light blend, selective sharpening, burning, color balance, channel mixer, custom license plate, cloned out the garbage on the ground, vingette

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

In ACR - temp +4, tint -5, exposure -.25, contrast +5, vibrance +50
Photoshop - bottom to top layers
- shadows/highlights layer w/mask, +15 highlights just on the sky
- contrast and brightness adjust of blues in sky
- tinted the windows using a levels adj layer and mask
- brightened the wheels using a levels adj layer and mask
- brightented the body of the car using a curves adj layer and mask
- shadows/highlights layer with the shadows slider cranked way up to expose some tire tread detail. masked out everything else.
- LAB soft light apply color to bump some of the colors in the sky and grass
- There was still a blue tint to the car so I used a combination of CEP remove color cast and white neutralizer to take most of it
out.
- noise ninja pass (sharpened and blurred some unwanted detail in the dirt and grass)
- final cep brilliance/warmth layer because I thought it was still too cool

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Masked car and foreground into new layer. Adjusted brightness/contrast in rest of layer to bring out sunset skies. Adjusted shadows/highlights for car to blend in but not lose detail. Used eraser to blend car/foreground layer into background. Adjusted saturation and contrast. Added a duplicate layer and applied RPM beautifier layer with about 50% opacity.

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Burning tool for the windows and the surrounding.
Dodge tool for the car.
Radial blur directing at the front of the car.

1. Copied sky to separate layer & changed blend mode to multiply
2. Repeated & set opacity to 50%
3. Hue/Sat adjustment applied to car (reduced saturation of yellow, then increased lightness to brighten car)
4. Copied entire layer & applied High Pass Filter @ 7 pixels; set blend mode to Overlay
5. Layer mask to selectively reveal sharpening on car only @ 40% opacity
6. Increased shadow beneath car to enhance separation from ground
7. Slight Levels adjustment
8. Quick border

Pixelbasher - feel free to disqualify me, I'm just having a spot of fun. I simply wanted to challenge myself, and see how large of an object I could remove from a photograph.

It's not really worth going into all the sordid details, and I'm not satisfied with this, anyhow:

• Magic lasso tool to nuke the car.
  
• Additional erasing.
  
• Lots of pasting, blending, smudging, and cloning.
  
• Desaturation, tint of blue.
  
• Moon added (bleh) with a slight outer glow, and spot of clouds.
  
• Just amusing myself
  

Went a little overboard with the colors on this one

set exposure to -.9 and made 5 exposure hdr
Overlaid original photo and cut background out
Adjusted opacity of car layer to 85%
Nik bi-color filter
Adjusted brightness -16/contrast +29
Noise removal
Sharpen car and tree in front of it

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Well this is the first time I had ever won any photo contest, and it is also the first time I have had to judge any photo contest, so it's going to be a bit tricky for me.
Please don't take any of this seriously, I am not a technical guy as far as judging photos go, so if I say something that makes no sense to the real photogs out there, sorry, I am just looking at them on a punter level.

Ok:

Hawkeye: didn't you get the memo? , white is the new black!
I like how you did the color change, it's given me hints on how it's done, which was another thing i wanted to find out how it's done, so thanks. BUT, it's not a fiesta, this car actually packs some punch (250KW 4 litre turbo 6) but if I lined up in a lemon colored car with silver wheels, it would HAVE to be quick! Not sure about the fragmenting in the clouds (is that the right word?)

Lore: such a nice mod in my eyes, and brought out a lot of detail in the shadows which is nice. even a number plate (sorry 'bout cutting mine out, but I gotta have some anononimity on the web!) I would have given it a little more saturation, and the rear of the car to me is a little washed out or something, but apart from that, it's a really nice image.


Ocron: nice, I like how you got the effect with the wheels. They are just factory painted, but they almost look like chrome silver in your pic. One of the nicest sunset mods so far and matches the colors we get most late afternoons at this spot. Made the tint look nice and black

tkbslc: not sure how to take this one, the way you gave the white a metallic look is really nice, but the whole pic is just too dark for my liking. The red in the sunset is very much like we get in summer just as it's gone over the horizon and there is some cloud to bounce it back, if only the rest of the image had more exposure to suit that sky.....I have a photo of the same place and the whole image is blood red, exactly like the water in your pic.

masterwillems: mmm, I spend a lot of effort trying to get the blur OUT of my pics, and you put 'em right back in again!
I think I know what you were trying to do, but maybe it was the wrong shot for that? Maybe more color would have helped? I'm really sorry and i don't want to sound mean or anything, but it just doesn't do anything for me.

SilverHCIC: Very nice, no crazy mods, just a nice mood to the picture, would have been perfect if you brought out some of the details in the shadows around the wheel wells and tyres like lore did. The frame really helps clean it up, but it wouldn't have been my first choice in style. I don't know what frame I would have picked of course!

kendoway: "dude, where's my car!" Apart from the funky shoreline in a spot, it's actually a prety good translation of what it looks like! The moon is cool, even though we aren't going to see any full moons within 15 degress of where the sun is setting at the same time this shot was taken! oh, and about my car..........

MJA: wow, nice effect, and again that nice metallic look to the wheels like ocron did. I like how it gives the effect of a light from below, very nice. it does look though like the car has lost some of it's shine in the rear quarter area. almost has a matte look to it which takes away from it slightly.


Ok, there's my take on the images. They are only my humble newby views so please take any critisism with a grain of salt.
One thing I noticed is apart from kendoway, who removed my WHOLE car!, I thought someone would have cloned out those ugly looking reverse sensors in the rear bumper.... but anyway.

It's really between Lore, Silver, and MJA. If only I could blend all the individual bits I like in each it would make this very easy....

I have learned a lot just from this thread, and the biggest thing I have learnt is I hate judging others work....!


OK, the winner is...............oh damn it, I still can't pick one so I asked my wife and two boys to pick one from the three I picked......and you guessed it, they all picked one each!! That puts it back to me.

I am going to pick MJA as the "winner".
I just like the colors, the gradients, it's got a pastel look to it, oh i don't know, I just like it


Far out, I didn't think it would be this hard to pic a pic!

Ok, MJA, over to you, it's been a lot of fun watching my pics get modified and learning how it's done, but you can have it !!!

Cheers
Paul

Wow, I thought for sure someone else had it. I do notice that me and ocron have almost the same eye when editing. I didn't even look at any entries when I edited mine...just did it, threw it up and then looked at others. I can tell it was a tough choice to decide pixelbasher.
So, here I sit at a little after 5AM and getting ready for surgery..supposed to be there at 6AM. I will go through some recent pictures and grab the first one I see. Great edits everybody!

Congrats Mike, that's a nice edit. Lore, I liked yours alot as well.

Congrats to Mike and all the others. Nice variety in this small group. Look forward to the next one!!

Nice MJA congrats can't wait for the next one.

Way to go Mike, and you always turn in great work (as did everyone else)!