Before & After # 190

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 #191".

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

This round will end Thursday June 4th 7:00 pm PST USA.

larger image -> here

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Thanks for posting monty. ...

1. Cloned out small bit of branch @ lower left
2. Duplicated layer
3. Copied woodpecker & branch to new layer
4. Changed blend mode of copied layer to multiply
5. Changed opacity of woodpecker layer to 61%

That's all. ... I liked the original image, and didn't want to change much.

LR +Temp, -Exp, +Recovery, +Fill Light, +Blacks, +Contrast, +Clarity
CS2 Crop, Blur, Resize

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

I am just checking it is settled before I draw the Shamrock.

Starting from top to bottom in the layers:
1. Fill/adjustment layer - Vibrance - V+50 S+15
2. Fill/adjustment layer - Levels - RGB - 11 1,30 255 - Output: 36 255
3-4-5. Red, blue green channels extracted. 3. set at color - Opac. 50% 4. set at color. 5. set at soft light.
6. Duplicated cropped image, G.Blur at 8. set to colorburn - Opac. 35%
7. Duplicated cropped image, G.Blur at 8. set to siftlight - Opac. 35%
8. 2. Fill/adjustment layer - Brightness/Contract - B +25, C +15 (use legacy selected).
9. Original cropped image, auto tone, color and contrast (in the image options).

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I just adjusted the curves a little, did some dodging and "burning", and sharpened... am I forgetting anything?? OH yeah! I added a black boarder too.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …ayceg/359285521​7/sizes/o/

Sick of seeing my face after contest 187? Hah!

I wanted to try a blunt force trauma on this one, and didn’t think it was fair to submit any of my other portraiture to this - so I took a fresh headshot with my wife’s point and shoot. I have been itching to try some textured skin (never done it before), so following my typical self imposed homework rules for these contests, this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Tutorial Here

I won’t detail the steps here (the tutorial does), but this ended up being a nightmare. They use a stone texture in the tutorial (much more forgiving), but I had to go Google image hunting for bark. Hey with a woodpecker, ya gotta have wood. The bark warping was a huge pain, and in hindsight I wish I’d done more of it around the nose and lips. I’m moderately pleased with the results though, and it was a great learning exercise.

• crop
  
• levels layer set at multiply
  
• some selective masking
  
• some selective dodge and burn
  
• unsharp mask
  
• duplicate layer set to darken
  
• added border
  

Dang I hate judging these -- Awesome entries everybody!

I had the privilege of handling a 500 f/4 for a couple of hours and this was one of the few shots that I managed to get with it.

Silver -- Nice job and pretty much spot on for corrections I think - background is perhaps a little to dark. Surprised you did not do some sort of crop to at least get him off center.

Lore - Great job on the corrections and I really like this crop and may work on it a little this way myself.

The Laird -- LOL -- wonderful - I'm a big guinness fan.

joroco -- this is quite a good edit at bringing out some detail, however the highlights are blown and the shadow areas and background are a bit noisy. Good job though!

Jayce - very cool! Great job on this and great attention to detail - love how you charred the wood and even have some embers glowing in it. Great job on the head - the tail end is not working so well for me though.

Chris -- Wow man -- awesome job. I tried going through that tutorial and failed miserably. You did great blending everything together and the effect is outworldly and I also think the lighting is pretty much spot on.

FstopMiami - Well you left us without a clue as to what you did.. although I could probably guess. It's an interesting edit.

Douglas -- Great edit and crop - just an awesome edit. Maybe a bit lighter background and a little attention to the eye would really make this work (for me..)

Ok well have to pick somebody

Chris -- it's all yours, a lot of work and I just think that you handled the lighting very well.

2nd - Douglas -- great job.

3rd - Tie - Silver & Lore

Wow – knock me over with a feather. I’m stunned, and thanks Monty!

I really had NO expectation of winning, as the entries were so good this time. That said, I have to do something rather irregular here and award the prize to my esteemed runner-up Douglas, for his exceptional entry!

Congrats Douglas – and I’ve dropped you a PM.

Why? I’m working this weekend and all next week for Charlottesville’s Look3 Festival Of The Photograph, and my life has become quite insane. I would not do a good job of judging the next round (in fact I wouldn’t be available period). We’ve got 20 galleries to hang, a bookstore to set up, a common exhibit hall where Canon will be bringing in their high end printers, the list is endless. It’s pretty exciting, as 15,000 people will descend on my fair city for this event, which is now becoming one of the best photography festivals on the East coast. Monty, you should hop in the car and drive up here. Drop me a PM if you do, and I’ll buy you lunch.

Again, GREAT entries everyone!

Wow, PM received. Thanks Chris and have fun at the festival

And great job everyone.

I'll get into the archives and see what I've got to post!

Before & After #191 is up.....click!

Have at it and have fun

Thanks Douglas!

Dang I'm going to have to pass on that free lunch Chris (and that's not like me ) - Busy time of year for me with fishing charters most weekends. Have fun & I wish I could make it up there.