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Joanna Trescott
10-24-2008, 12:42 PM
I was drawn to this shot because of the layers. Canon 20D, 100-400 lens @ 100, F14, 1/160 ISO 400, +2/3EV

Kaushik Balakumar
10-24-2008, 01:01 PM
Agree with u Joanna - the layers r indeed beautiful.

Tried my hand on tweaking the image a little bit. Here's the result:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3068/2969965466_d3aacd8cea_o.jpg

The difference is perhaps very subtle.
Tweaked the contrast & then sharpened a bit. Also tried pulling down the sky a bit.
Just an experiment...

Roman Kurywczak
10-24-2008, 04:42 PM
Hi Joanna,
As always....very nice clean comps from you. They are simple......yet very strong. Kaushik did a nice job with the contrast boost ......but you may want to multiply a layer on the sky B4 that.......to bring more depth to it. Let me know if you need the how to info.......and I will gladly show a re-post with the instructions.

Joanna Trescott
10-24-2008, 05:13 PM
Roman: I would be delighted to see how you multiply a layer. You guys are so awesome!

Roman Kurywczak
10-24-2008, 06:06 PM
Hey Joanna,
Here goes........I opened your image in PS 2.........under the layers pallette........make a copy of the BG.......by dragging it to the icon next to the trash can........you should now see background copy in PS's layers pallette.......just above the original BG.........use the lasso tool to select entire sky........doesn't have to be neat (in this case I used the magic wand.....with the tolerance at 40).......but I want to show you the concept.........so use lasso for this jpeg version.........now go to select>color range> make sure the preview is on black matte (bottom of windeow)......now holding down the shift button.........start clicking on the sky.......and watch the black disappear.......(moving the fuzziness slider up from zero....will expidite the process)..hit OK.........now back in the layers pallette.........click on add layers mask.........(.dancing ants disappear)......under the blending mode (just under where it says layers)........select linear burn; which I did in this case (thanks Artie!) or in most cases multiply.....not quite as strong.........you can now slide the opacity slider on the right.........till you get what you like (it was at 100% on the re-post).......imiideately go to filter>blur>gausian blur>......and move the radius.......until the line disappears.......around 4.7 on the magic wand.......but i have gone very high with sloppy selections........hit OK. Now for the local contrast adjustment........LCE for short......(thanks Robert A and David Kennedy.....of the pano forums...... for the tip).......using unsharp mask (USM).....go to filter>sharpen>USM.....I did the amount at 26.........radius at 42.....and threshold at 0 (playing around with those numbers from 20-40 on the amount...20-60 on the radius...and 0-4 on threshold.......usually works for most images....almost always on 0 for threshold). final result is re-posted below.

BTW.........I also tried using shadow/highlighs....with the shadow at 0.......but moved the highlight slider up towards 30.......pretty effective also.

Robert Amoruso is much better at curves than I am........so he would probably be able to duplicate my work with that (but he is a fan of multiplied layers). More than one way to skin a cat.

let me know if you can follow my instuctions.......as I may use this as a shortcut for others.

Kaushik Balakumar
10-25-2008, 01:33 AM
Thank you Roman for this detailed excerpt. Great learning for me.

Joanna Trescott
10-25-2008, 11:00 AM
Roman: Thank you so much for your time in putting this together. I have so many shots I can use this technique on. I will try some of these techniques this weekend. And thanks, Kaushik for your input. My photos always look so much better when you guys work on them!

Roman Kurywczak
10-25-2008, 05:54 PM
OK Joanna and all.......hope the images work! No critiques on them!!!
#1........drag the Background to the icon next to the garbage can.......screen should be what you see. Lasso tool......or magic wand the sky.....doesn't have to be perfect.......just make sure you get it all. Go to select color range.........#2 screen......selections should be as shown.......holding down the shift button........keep clicking on the image until all the black is out of the sky. Fuzziness slider makes it easier. Hit OK. Immediately apply the layer mask using the green circled button...#3 and #4 shows what the screen should look like. All the lines (marching ants) should disappear in the image. #5 shows what happens when you click on the blending mode (where it says normal...you get the pull down menu.......multiply and linear burn darken the sky....with different results.......screen will lighten the area. #6 shows that I chose multiply as the blending mode........pink shows where you pull the slider out in opacity........moving changes the intensity of the effect. Immediately after selecting the opacity you like (if it is 100% the image should have a horrible edge)..........go to filter>blur>gausian blur...........and use the radius slider......until the horrible edge tottally disappears. Hit ok. Now you can merge all visible layers......and continue with other corrections.
If anyone tries this........let me know if it works for you.

Roman Kurywczak
10-25-2008, 05:55 PM
Heres the rest of the steps

Kaushik Balakumar
10-26-2008, 05:00 AM
Really appreciate your time & help Roman. I'm learning a lot.
Thanks a ton :)

Joanna Trescott
10-26-2008, 09:22 AM
OK Roman. I have printed this out and will get to work with it. Thanks so much for your time and artistic display.

Robert Amoruso
10-27-2008, 12:15 PM
Joanna,

Great image. Roman laid down a challenge.

Here is what I did.

1) Created a curves adjustment and pulled down the midtones to get the sky much darker.
2) Using Color Range, pick some points in the sky and increased fussiness until the sky was completely selected. This resulted inthe snow and some hihglights inthe flowers being selected. I used the black mask.
3) Still in Color Range, changed the mask to a quick mask. Close color range and you end up with the QM.
4) Set FG color to white and choose the brush tool and painted over the QM areas in the snow and flowers to unselect them. Get out of QM.
5) Hit SHIFT + CRTL + I to inverse the selection.
6) Select the mask in the curves adjustment and paint black over the mountains and FG. Now the curves adjustment is limited to the sky.
7) Since you still have a selection of the mountain and FG, click on the BG copy and hit control + J to create a layer of the Mountain and FG.
8) Run a USM at 40/20/0 for local contrast enhnacement (LCE).
9) Create a mask on this layer with the LCE.
10) Change FG color to 50% gray.
11) Paint flowers with the brush to lessen the LCE affect.

I hope you like.

Roman Kurywczak
10-27-2008, 02:48 PM
I like it Robert!...........Now we have a great place to point to!

Joanna Trescott
10-27-2008, 03:10 PM
Thanks again Roman and thank you Robert. Lots to digest!

Robert Amoruso
10-28-2008, 09:52 AM
I am thinking I will copy this as a sticky and carve out the tonal correction examples. Then we can point to that.