Can you save this image?

[Fabs Forns]

I know it should go in the delete bin. But maybe there is hope? Can you save it?

Hint: There is a similar save posted in Wild and Free Birds :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Fabs,
I liked what you did in the avian post but I went with a totally different direction while still keeping to your idea somewhat. Did SH........color balnce (more blue)......USM..........jacked the colors way up (75 H&S on BG and 30 on birds).........then glass diffusion.distort 1, smooth 4, and the texture in glass is frosted. The sky had noise left in.
Let me know what you think,
Roman
PS jpeg was saved around 50 so at 100% results were even cooler!

[Sid Overbey]

Hi Fabs, here is my attempt. I only have PS Elements right now so I adjusted the levels, isolated and changed background, adjusted shadows, and sharpened.

I am just getting started so be kind.
Sid

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Roman !!! That is one funky treatment I like it Not sure if that is what Fabs was looking for !!! It reminded me of something one of the IPT participants and good friend "Ted" told me ..... pixelate your gaussian blur, duplicate and feather ... just feather !!! Not sure what it means but did come to mind !!!:D:D

Hi Sid You did well here and did see what happens when you open the shadows Get bit time digital noise !!!! One of the reason we stress getting perfect histogram !!! On whites you can get away with more !!!

[Harold Davis]

i went in a totally different direction. established a white control point ONLY. applied a ton of noise reduction and got a kinda dreamy look to the birds. liked and left it. established a couple of color control points in the light areas of the bg to blend those areas to look like the rest. applied a tick of USM to the eyes and beaks. that's it.

i actually worked on this thing and did a ton of different stuff only to totally degrade the image. went back and got real simple and i think it's a ton better.

[Sid Overbey]

Harold, that is really slick. What a great effect. Could you be more specific on how this was done (i.e. commands).

Thanks.
Sid

[Harold Davis]

sid, i am a minority here. i use capture nx to do my editing. i dont have photoshop. maybe one of the others can translate what i did into PSese for you. wished i could help. if you have cnx i will be glad to explain it to you!!

[Brian Wong]

Hi Fabs!

It was good to see you and Alfred again (while we were on James' boat a few weeks ago).

I really liked your treatment, so I thought I would try and see if I could reproduce it with my current tools.

I think the coral-pink BG goes well with the dark-green plants. I tried to give the BG more of a gradient to see if I could make it more dynamic. The stick behavior was what I observed while I was out there with you guys (birds courting) ... and I hope that it adds to the intimate interaction between the two. The fine neck feather selection is pretty rough, and needs more work (time)!

Thanks for the inspiration!

.

[Alfred Forns]

Here is my rendition :D:cool:

[Raul Quinones]

Here is my rendition (Photoshop Elements 4.0 and neat image) I will compare against your rendition and see how much I am off from the target.:)
Cool exercises.

[Fabs Forns]

You all did very good, guys, with Roman and Alfred being the most creative. The branch addition by Brian was a nice touch. Some of you had more trouble than others with the noise, which was the biggest problem.
Give yourself kudos, I'll try and find some others to fix later.

[Paul Lagasi]

Did some funky curves, to slightly change colors....took the neck feathers from right hand heron, reversed feathers and pasted to image to remove twig...sharpened then softened lightly to give it a water color effect...lolol..not sure this is what you had in mind but this was fun..Paul

[Mike Tracy]

Delete bin from the git. Although there were some admirable efforts with Romans and Raul being my favorite there are too many shortcomings in the original to spend any time on IMO.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Mike,
Philosophically..........I agree with you......I'm a........ get it right in the camera guy........HATE working on the computer, as it takes away from in the field time.........that being said.....my BG is an Art major.......failed miserably (hated school).........this has opened my eyes to another world..........I like what I've done with Fabs post so much.............I'm considering doing this at times that I have free time (almost never......2 almost teen kids....instead of watching TV). I was a diehard film guy, only making the total switch in Dec! I love digital and would never close an option that is available to me.............and that still includes film! Growing as an artist (as photographers...this is what we are.).....we should never limit our horizons........but embrace them as a tool..........you can do the same exact effect I did with Fabs picture.......... with a "good picture". I love the fact that I created something I really like with something I myself would have thrown out or deleted.
Never stop growing!
Roman

[Mike Tracy]

Hi Mike,
Philosophically..........I agree with you......I'm a........ get it right in the camera guy........HATE working on the computer, as it takes away from in the field time.........that being said.....my BG is an Art major.......failed miserably (hated school).........this has opened my eyes to another world..........I like what I've done with Fabs post so much.............I'm considering doing this at times that I have free time (almost never......2 almost teen kids....instead of watching TV). I was a diehard film guy, only making the total switch in Dec! I love digital and would never close an option that is available to me.............and that still includes film! Growing as an artist (as photographers...this is what we are.).....we should never limit our horizons........but embrace them as a tool..........you can do the same exact effect I did with Fabs picture.......... with a "good picture". I love the fact that I created something I really like with something I myself would have thrown out or deleted.
Never stop growing!
Roman

I agree with you on enough accounts not to banter back. Maybe I hate editing even more than you and if it isn't pretty good out of the camera I usually will toss it. It also could be that I am not as "artsy" as others and although I make a effort to think out side of the box in the field it rarely occurs to me to do so with a image on the computer.

I also hope I haven't come across to the members here as a stick in the mud. I agree exercises such as these are valuable learning experiences especially for those new to Photoshop or other respective programs.

Turn off the TV and keep doing what you do because you do it well.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Mike,
By no means did I want to go there.............I run tours...........and I always see people........ "stick to rules".........and maybe that is my bias..........I was only trying to encourage people.........of all levels..........including myself............to sometimes take a step back and try something new (for them). I can't even begin to tell you the # of pictures that I personally have thrown out..........that looked like Fabs original post...(over 10,000 at least).........what I was trying to convey was..........take a new/fresh look.........but I agree with you......I would have thrown this out!
Roman

[Fabs Forns]

Let me chime in for the record :)

Although I did not need to keep this image, obviously after 3 days in Venice, I have enough well lit, well posed images, I was curious to see the extent of salvaging an image with obvious underexposing problems. Which, by the way, is the only problem unless you nit-pick that it needs space at the bottom.

I spent about 5 minutes saving it, nothing out of this world, and the full frame original can be printed any time. I'll include a crop equal to the one I posted, a pixel crop, 100%, no sharpening so you see the noise level, and a resized version of the full frame original.

This was an exercise fr me also, and very glad I did it.

[Fabs Forns]

Here is the pixel crop (100%) no sharpening.

[Fabs Forns]

Here is an allowed size of the original, which I intend to keep.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Fabs,
You've definitely opened my eyes to looking a little harder at my images before I hit the delete button!
Roman
I would also definitely keep this one!