Before & After #229

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 #230".

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

Contest ends midnight on Wednesday the 28th.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT

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CS2 - Color, Contrast, Levels, curves x's 2, channel mixer, brightness/contrast, shadow/highlight, duplicate layer, overlay, gamma/exposure, shadow/highlight, brightness/contrast, Duplicate, desaturate middle layer, Adjust opacity on all 3 layers to my liking until the photo is how l like it.
Middle layer spotlight lightning effects
Clone, Sharpen, Desaturate Tool, Dodge Tool

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Duplicated background. Set black white and grey point. Changed blend mode to Multiply. Layer mask to paint back rocks. Used colour replacement tool to bring boost colour of rock and grasses. High pass sharpen.

CS4-curves-sharpen-adjustments- black and white-curves for sepia tone.

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Lightroom - Hue, Contrast, Exposure, Clarity, Selective Dodging, Desaturate, Vignette... etc..

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oops

Welcome to the game Fred!

Now you must have forgot to read this part of the rules

Always the same HDR process with an addition on the mask of a layer (third, see below)

CS3: Converted to 32bits

Qtpfsgui: 2 versions Mantiuk filter with and without contrast equalization (CE)

CS3: first layer: CE layer, with noise reduced with NeatImage plugin
second layer: non-CE with soft light blending mode and opacity to 30%
third layer: non-CE with the negative of the image as mask, and the sky blacked out (in the mask!). Opacity 50%.
Adjustment layers: saturation +25%, curves to lighten the mid-tones (just a bit)

Ok, back to being the silly me that you know and love ♥♥♥ - yay!

Cut the sky.
Destaurate + high pass - then curves/levels.
Added the eye + the sky.
Color balance, saturation, some smudging and other assorted stuff.
Probably left out a few steps, but since I won't be winning - it doesn't matter, right?

I did quite a bit...so I'll try to remember it all.
Used a couple layers to lighten and increase saturation.
Increased reds & greens.
Did some dodging.
Added sky and did some touchup work to blend.
Did some spot saturation and a bit more dodging.
Cropped a bit and done.

Shadow highlight (shadow only) to boost shadow detail
Levels - to lighten and improve contrast
apply image - overlay w/mask - more contrast improvement
hue/saturation (about 10 saturation)
unsharp mask (for local contrast - 20px @ 25%)
Dupe background
high pass (sharpen - radius 1, blend mode: vivid light)

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I took the photo in winter while a storm was on the way. I guessed I was the last visitor in the park at the time. I couldn't stop thinking whether there was a mountain lion or wolf staring me behind a tree when I did composition .
Mesa arch is so popular for photographers, but it also gives us a challenge on how do we make our photographs different with others while photographing it. Thanks Chris and Stacy, I got some inspirations from your edits. Chris had a wonderful idea, but I felt your edit is more like a screenshot of spacewar game than a landscape photo. so
Winner is Stacy.
I also very like Marco and NigelD's edits.
Lore, Chrisa, Fred, and givtu also did a good job, I noticed the details of the sky inside arch were lost.
Thanks everybody!

Thanks Haifeng
Well done Stacy - good varied edits this week from everyone.

Thanks for honorable mention BDbox, and congrats Stacy - awesome edit!

Wonderful entries everyone. I'm out of town this weekend (and computerless) so I'll probably miss 230. Your mother and I have marked all of the bottles in the liquor cabinet, so no mischief while we are gone

Hey bdbox! Thank you so much.
I was out of town and didn't have internet access. The hotel was suppose to have free wifi, but I couldn't get it to work the entire time I was there.
Am I too late to start a new one? I'll go look for one to post...just in case I can still do it.
I'm so excited!