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Thread: RP: Moeraki Boulders; Nik Adjustment Brush; Tony Kuyper PS Actions

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    Lifetime Member Jay Gould's Avatar
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    Default RP: Moeraki Boulders; Nik Adjustment Brush; Tony Kuyper PS Actions

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    Hi, I am posting this here because the post is mainly about new workflow procedures I have learned in doing an RP of Moeraki Boulders for my buyer: OP = http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...hlight=Moeraki.

    Normally a buyer sees an image on your website; in this case the buyer first saw the image on my mentor Kah Kit Yoong's website: http://www.magichourtravelscapes.com...y=nzexpedition.

    When we cyber chatted after I sent him a jpeg of the image for his approval, his reaction was that the image on KKY's site was redder and sharper than the image I sent him. I didn't know if in posting the jpeg I sent to KKY he either/both processed/sharpened to make it look better. Anything KKY wants to do to any of my images can only make them look better!

    Anyway, back to the drawing board. A lot of you reading this are going to quickly tell me how easy it can be done using basic PS tools; horses for courses! I am slowly learning PS that to Bob A., my brother, and others. I am quickly learning to use the wonderful plugins available from Nik, Topaz, and amongst others, Tony Kuyper's (TK) incredible PS actions pertaining to saturation, lumination, web sharpening, and a host of other tools. Many here on BPN know and use Tony's stuff; you should really check it out: http://goodlight.us/index.html.

    Nik Adjustment Brush; what an amazing find. Nik is know for its U Point technology; I use it all of the time in Viveza. Up until today, when I didn't want to apply a change to the entire image I would use a mask. Do the changes, create a mask, and either paint them in or paint them out.

    Because I wanted to apply different filters to different parts of the image, after I did some post Lightroom content aware cleanup, presharpened, and used TK's Burn-Dodge Action, I did a CTRl-Alt-Shft-E (CASE) to merge the layers so that I could apply each filter independent of the other filters.

    First, I applied Nik Detail Extractor by brushing the filter onto the boulder and the rippled water. I then did another CASE; this is necessary if you want to apply a different filter in different places without using the first filter.

    Next, I created a double filter of Tonal Contrast and Brilliance/Warmth to be applied only to the sky and rippled water; I did not want to apply it globally. Again, once saw that the sky was as I wanted it I simply clicked on the brush and painted the combined filters where I wanted the effect.

    Finally, I applied a 10% + 10% burn to the entire image to tone it down.

    Flattened, saved and used Alien Skin BlowUp to reduce in size, and then brushed Nik RAW Output Sharpener. Brushing was fantastic!

    I didn't want to sharpen the dry sand or most of the sky; I only wanted to sharpen the foreground boulder, the rippled water, and the sun. I used the default settings and simply changed the size of the brush and opacity as I brushed on sharpener to the different areas.

    I would think for this would work great for Wildlife and Avian. The ability to sharpen the entire animal/bird and a bit of extra sharpening to the eye simply by brushing a stronger opacity eliminates the necessity to create masks to isolate portions of the primary subject.

    The larger watermark is there because this image is a reduction of the high res image posted on my Zenfolio website.

    Here is the final result; I hope you like. Jak and I do!!
    Cheers, Jay

    My Digital Art - "Nature Interpreted" - can now be view at http://www.luvntravlnphotography.com

    "Nature Interpreted" - Photography begins with your mind and eyes, and ends with an image representing your vision and your reality of the captured scene; photography exceeds the camera sensor's limitations. Capturing and Processing landscapes and seascapes allows me to express my vision and reality of Nature.

  2. #2
    Lifetime Member Jay Gould's Avatar
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    I received this PM; I am posting the discussion without identifying the sender since it was sent as a PM because I want to continue learning about Nik. If I have said something about Nik that is incorrect I need to be corrected.

    congrats and terrific image....I love the Nik stuff and found I can really make images pop...I use the upoint selectively to areas on the images and found I can really create depth....you mentioned you like the brush...I have never seen how that works or been able to make it work ...but in truth I have not dug for the infor since the selective upoint has worked well.....but I would like to know...did you use one of their tutorials to see how to do it? I am looking for the instructions now...
    The brush: I could not find anything written so I simply took and image and pushed the button to see what would happen. I use burn and dodge all of the time with a brush. I also create simple masks and use a brush to selectively apply or remove to particular areas with varying opacities.

    Experimentation is the only way to learn and apply; if I do not like what happens I simply either use the history menu to backup, delete the layer, or I do not save the image.

    I too used the U Point; however the problem with U Point is that unless you place static points on the image, the chosen U Point will affect all of the similar areas of the image either by texture or color.

    From Nik:

    Control points work by identifying an object based on a number of criteria. When you place your first control point, U Point technology identifies the unique elements of the object on which you place a control point, including its position, color, saturation, and texture. By identifying these elements, and in conjunction with the Size slider, the control point can determine the boundaries of the object in order to affect only that object and objects with like elements. With every control point that you apply to the image comes greater control over specific objects in the image. The additional control points ensure that the adjustments you make are being applied to the current object only, and placing a control point on an object with default settings prevents other control points from affecting that object.

    Through a unique mixing function, the effects of the control points are applied throughout the image so as to create a natural-looking, seamless result.
    What this means, my interpretation and it seems to be borne out by my experimentation, is that if I put a control point on a red leaf and apply a change either through CEP or Viveza, for example, that change will be applied to all red leaves in the image unless I have also put control points on the other red leaves. Same if I want to sharpen a particular boulder; unless I have put control points on all similar colored and textured items, everything that is similar will be affected.

    Using the brush technique, the change is only applied to that which I brush. Using the brush seems to eliminate a lot of masking and expedites the workflow.

    [/QUOTE]

    If I am on the right track this is going to change my entire workflow as the brush works from the very beginning - selective noise reduction - through output sharpening after resizing.
    Last edited by Jay Gould; 02-05-2012 at 01:30 PM.
    Cheers, Jay

    My Digital Art - "Nature Interpreted" - can now be view at http://www.luvntravlnphotography.com

    "Nature Interpreted" - Photography begins with your mind and eyes, and ends with an image representing your vision and your reality of the captured scene; photography exceeds the camera sensor's limitations. Capturing and Processing landscapes and seascapes allows me to express my vision and reality of Nature.

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    BPN Member Steve Uffman's Avatar
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    did find out how to see the mask that the upoint is selecting. to the right of the list of Crtl points selected their is a box. Click to show...very helpful although I did have to add some additional ctrl points when it picked up elsewhere..sometimes some very small details.....

    On occasion I have been able to hold the ctrl key down and the mask will show but it has not been consistent..will investigate further..


    and man I love this image you did...know how satisfying in must have been to generate a sale from all your hard work...sure it is the first of many

  4. #4
    Robert Amoruso
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    Thanks for the workflow Jay. I will need to look this over in more detail as time permits.

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