Before & After #285

This game is to help those of us who are trying to learn new editing tricks.

Here's the breakdown of the game. I will post a picture, re-sized to exactly 1024 pixels maximum on the long side. Outside of being re-sized 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 #286".

This game will end at 9PM EST on Wednesday, May 26rd. Have fun!

image captured @ Coney Island NY

IMAGE LINK: http://img203.imagesha​ck.us/img203/4518/img5​563a.jpg

Opened in ACR and exposure/blacks adjustment.
Opened in CS4. Duplicated background 3 times in multiply mode to get sky back.
Selected sky and masked buildings in the other layers to bring them back. Flattened image. Duplicated again and this time added new layer 50% grey in overlay mode and lightened and darkened selectively. Copious amounts of cloning out unwanted items. Flattened. High pass filter in LAB mode to sharpen lightness channel.
Stroke white and black.

my attempt.
cloned out the cable and cropped the picture to 8x10 originally. brought in a sky using channels to make a layer mask. changed canvas size to allow for more headroom. added a "fog" layer to the bottom by rendering clouds then difference clouds, i then masked the layer to my liking and adjusted the opacity. The from there I masked and blurred the building to give a more convincing look. Then duplicated the building, made it B&W, and used the soft light blending mode to give it a grungy look. I then sharpened the foreground.

it took about 30 minutes in total.

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contrast and levels
desaturated
edited levels again
made the sky black
cropped
edited out trash can

Here is my try...

Removed sky...added black layer for sky with grey clouds using cloud brush.

Added a black layer on buildings, toned down the opacity to slightly darken scene.

Added layer for neon signs. outlined signs with red and yellow..applied gaussin blur to make it look like a neon glow.

Added the "hand" on the walk signal. Applied the same gaussin blur.

Created a downward light effect with an orange colored light for street lamps.

Burned shadows.

Removed cars mirror at bottom right of picture with clone tool.

Flatten image.

wanted to make it look like night life... curves, gradient map on sky, added my own night sky, used lens flare to add the lights, dodged, cloned, burned.. thanks

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cccc wrote in post #10237932
my attempt.
cloned out the cable and cropped the picture to 8x10 originally. brought in a sky using channels to make a layer mask. changed canvas size to allow for more headroom. added a "fog" layer to the bottom by rendering clouds then difference clouds, i then masked the layer to my liking and adjusted the opacity. The from there I masked and blurred the building to give a more convincing look. Then duplicated the building, made it B&W, and used the soft light blending mode to give it a grungy look. I then sharpened the foreground.

it took about 30 minutes in total.

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Well - I like them all but the fog in CCCC is going to push this one over the finish line first.

In in lot of my workups for the Before & After's I usually try/want to add a fog layer but I usually delete it because I'm not happy with my edits - so I know how difficult it is to add fog and although CCCC's fog is not as heavy as I probably would like to see it, IMO it's still pretty good.

Well Done CCCC

thank you for picking me!
I'll have a shot up tomorrow!

Congratulations cccc.

Well done cccc.

congrats.... cccc!!!