Exercise 20 - improvements

I carried out this improvement exercise for one of the images I selected for my first assignment entitled: Walkers.

I'd taken a few photographs of this street because of the reflections in the rain on the large paving stones. The street alone, regardless of the reflections, didn't make for a 'good' photograph - there was nothing to anchor your view. Adding pedestrians to the image was just a matter of timing and placement - most people walked up the centre of the street rather than on the cobbles.

Having taken a few shots with varying exposures I opted to expose for the reflections, rather than the people, and then make the necessary adjustments later in Photoshop.

Walkers - as shot

The process I followed was exactly as per the exercise in the file. I selected the walkers and feathered the edge.

Selection and refined edge

Once happy with this I added a curves adjustment layer and lightened my selection.

Photoshop toolbar showing layers and adjustments

After this first adjustment, I made a second selection of the walker on the far right and lightened him again. (Not shown here.)

Walkers- final image

A similar effect was achieved using 'fill light' in the raw, however, this lightened everything especially the shadow in front of the walkers and changed the whole feel of the image.

"Consider the limits that you would accept for this to remain an innocent, legitimate adjustment."

Observing the scene, I certainly was not aware of my eyes adjusting between the light from the reflection and the relatively dark clothing of the walkers. In previous exercises we have already determined that my camera has a more limited dynamic range than my (human) eye. Therefore, I would suggest that rather than a dodgy or questionable adjustment this is an appropriate adjustment as it better represents how I saw the scene on the day.

Generally I think lightening/darkening areas within an image, by whatever means - curves or dodging/burning, is acceptable.

Exercise 19 - correction

For this exercise I elected to use the photographs from the OCA website.

Photograph 1 - glass objects



Before

After

I think it would be more accurate to say that I 'sanitised' this image - the slightest speck of dust; the smallest blemish; even some of the imperfections in the glass, everything was removed. There is no doubt that the corrections I made were over-the-top, I would also suggest that the image is far less interesting because of the alteration.

It is very easy to alter somebody else's work - they are not my nick-knacks, it is not my composition and I have no personal investment or connection to the work. This in itself enables a more radical approach to correction. In addition, I don't actually know what is a bit of fluff and what is a genuine flaw in the glass. It is possible to speculate that, with the exception of a couple of very dark specks, all of the 'marks' on the glassware are manufacturing defects or age related and this collection of pieces was assembled for this photograph because they were interesting.

Does it bother me, removing dust specks from my image? Yes, but more so because I have dust on my sensor rather than any qualms relating to image tampering. In this particular instance, if it were not for this exercise in correction, I don't think I would have removed any of the 'specks' from the image - possibly the very tiny one on the white background just above the amber glass.

Photograph 2 - lens flare

Before

After

In this particular photograph the lens flare looks odd - two little hexagonals on the edge of frame. The position of the flare makes it easy to remove, as long as you don't over work the correction it is unlikely to be noticed. The more I work with Photoshop the more I realise "less is more".

How justifiable was this exercise? If this was my image, I would have tried to take the shot without flare; failing that, I would have tried to direct the flare across the shot and make it part of the image. 'Justifiable' is an interesting word and has quite strong moral overtones - is it permissible, fit and proper? I would say yes it is OK to do it because it dos not change the meaning or the content of the image. However, I'm not sure its justifiable.

This exercise was interesting because I have never used the colour blending mode to assist in removing flare.

Exercise 18 - colours into tones 2

I opted for number 2 - lightening the complexion without significantly altering the tones of the rest of the image.

Original version of the image

The 'default' version of the image was created using 'Greyscale' - whilst quite a raw conversion I think it works quite well because is simplifies the background.

Greyscale conversion

For this next conversion I added a Black & White Adjustment Layer and then very slightly increased the red slider - by 10 points.
Initially, I used the magic wand to select just his face and hair and then added a Curves Layer and lightened the selection. This conversion was acceptable, but no better than the greyscale version above - and considering the additional work involved, not really worth the effort.

Complexion lightened using the red slider

Lightening his face in this way certainly improves/lifts this image. My only comment would be that his forehead now blends into the pillar behind, whereas there is a clear distinction in the 'Greyscale' conversion.

Currently in the Pdog19 library - March

Advanced Digital Black & White Photography by John Beardsworth
(2007, Ilex Press Ltd)

I purchased this book 4 years ago when I started an image manipulation course at the local college. By section 3 of the first chapter I was completely out of my depth. So I put it on the shelf in the vain hope that one day I might pick it up and understand it. Two weekends ago I dug it out and read it - its actually a very good book.

The book has a natural flow and this makes it very easy to read - it starts with destructive conversion techniques, rapidly moves onto non-destructive techniques, and includes numerous creative effects. The images used are varied so you get a good feel for how b&w works, plus they're a good size so you can actually see what happening. Page layout is intuitive: screenshot > instruction > image with caption > screenshot > updated image with caption > etc, etc. Normally a couple of methods are documented for each process, plus the individual instructions are given in long hand and as short cuts. On top of this, the book also has loads of "a good little trick is to...".

For £19.99 it is superb value for money.

Exercise 17 - colours into tones

I selected a red lily for this exercise because of its striking colours. In Photoshop, I added a channel mixer layer and then saved a version of the image with each of the presets so that I could compare them side-by-side. In addition I also saved a greyscale version.

Rather just selecting 2 contrasting images, as per the exercise, I included all of the images in my blog because I thought the subtle change of tone across the sequence was interesting.

Ø       The blue filter is the least affective conversion for this particular image.

Ø       The greyscale and orange filters I put together in the sequence because of them being the 'standard' methods for creating b&w in digital and film photography, respectively. Both filters produce an acceptable b&w version, with the greyscale image having more contrast.

Ø       The red filter, unsurprisingly, produces an image least like the original - the red leaves turning white.

Ø       The yellowed filtered version I like the best - it has good tonal separation and makes a nice photograph.

Ø       The green and infrared filters are very stark b&w, quite limited in the tones represented and the IR is really just too dark.

       As shot

           Blue filter

          Greyscale

             Orange filter

        Red filter

             Yellow filter

            Green filter

               Infrared filter

Finally in terms of selecting a contrasting pair of images I would go for those with the red and green filters.

Exercise 16 - strength of interpretation

Part 1 - increased contrast using a pronounced S-curve

Trees - as shot

Trees - high contrast (pronounced S-curve)

The strong S-curve made the image look gaudy and very over processed. Taking the above image and converting it to b&w transformed it into something interesting.


Trees - b&w conversion

I added a futher curves layer and adjusted the red and green channels to create this 'lith' version.


Part 2 - high key treatment

Tulips - as shot

Tulips - high key colour

This image was created by slightly increasing the exposure in RAW. Once in Photoshop I added two adjustment layers - the first set to overlay and the second set to colour dodge. To convert the image to b&w I added a hue/saturation layer and set saturation to -100. After that I added a black & white adjustment layer leaving it with the default settings.


Tulips - b&w conversion

Finally I added a 2mm grey border to the image to anchor the flowers.

Exercise 15 - black & white

Armed and dangerous with some tips from the black and white pro's:

Ø        Avoid shooting with the sun behind you - your after contrast!

Ø        Whilst flat/dull days are poor for colour, their great for black and white - get out there with your camera and experiment.

Ø        What works in black and white? - the same as what works in colour...

Ø        On the other hand, a  poor colour image with a good tonal range can be 'worked' very effectively in black and white.

Ø        Black and white is very good enhancing depth.

I took my camera out with the specific purpose of taking black and white photographs for these next few exercises; it was a cold day with a very harsh sun and a good sky.

Interestingly I took shots that previously I would not have considered taking. By this I mean, shots that contained 'noise' or possibly more accurately 'clutter' - with the absolute belief that this would be removed/minimised/irrelevant because of the black and white processing. It took me back to an interview with Liam Neeson and the making of Schindler's List. The reason for black and white was so people could focus on the story not the detail of the film - for example, the blood. Colour is a very strong visual element and people are easily distracted by it, substitute this with grey and detail goes unnoticed.

The photograph selected here is rather nondescript and if it had remained a colour image would have been unlikely to catch anybodies eye. As a black and white image it is much more interesting.



The Street - as shot

Image information: f/11, 1/125, ISO 200

In terms of processing I tried a number of different black and white conversions: -

Ø        Greyscale - the result was fine, but felt rather clinical and stark.

Ø        Desaturate - for this particular image I couldn't see any difference between this and greyscale.

Ø        Gradient Map - this provided good contrast and I liked this result. I also liked the 'reverse' capability and the ease of which the image could be tinted.



The Street - sepia



Ø        Channel mixer - I found this a useful tool and ideal for quick conversions.

Ø        Black & White - this option provided the greatest flexibility and was also the most intuitive to use.

My favourite final image was obtained using a black and white adjustment layer.



The Street - using a black & white adjustment layer

One of the most interesting lessons learnt form this exercise is the use of 'channels' to examine your image - I had never noticed this tab on the layers pallet. When flicking though other images, even those destined to remain colour, I find it provides great insight into how you can work with your image to bring out its better qualities.