DPC Mentorship - Digital Color - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

07/12/2005 06:26:55 PM · #26

I still have to do mine - but I left some comments on yours DustDevil. I hope we can all learn from each other's opinions and efforts.

oOWonderBreadOo

Canon EOS-5D

07/12/2005 06:41:06 PM · #27

Okay, just so you know almost all mine will be indoor boring stuff cause I have two small children and dragging them around in the Arizona summer isn't real fun! :0) So here we are...

Before> Levels> Levels & Curves

Already I am learning! The curves lesson was great for getting specific tonal ranges with the color, as you hopefully can see in the last image.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

07/12/2005 06:57:43 PM · #28

Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:

Okay, just so you know almost all mine will be indoor boring stuff cause I have two small children and dragging them around in the Arizona summer isn't real fun! :0) So here we are...

Before> Levels> Levels & Curves

Already I am learning! The curves lesson was great for getting specific tonal ranges with the color, as you hopefully can see in the last image.

I think the levels+curves really worked great! It really brings out the colors beautifully and adds dimension and weigh to the box. I will leave a detailed comment on the shot.

DustDevil

Canon EOS-70D

07/12/2005 07:28:44 PM · #29

I ended up reshooting mine. Hopefully I will get it right after the 3rd 4th or 5th times.

Sunniee

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

07/12/2005 11:40:36 PM · #30

I applied levels, curves and played with the color balance...

Intelli

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

07/12/2005 11:51:13 PM · #31

Hey guys, My name is Nic, I'm 25 and I'm from west texas. Lot's of flat land around here, if you get a good pair of binoculars you can see the back of your head. I've always wanted to get into photography, so last october I jumped in head first and after much research I bought a D70. Now 10 months later I'm still trying to figure out how to use it! haha, I thought it would be EZ!

Well, here is my first assignment, I am using Photoshop CS. Curves is not my best area. Just a snapshot of a train, but it has good complimentary colors that I think needed some work.

Original---Levels---Levels and Curves---

End result, I couldn't get the sky the way I wanted it. Seems to me like it's an artificial blue. or maybe I'm just too picky?

Message edited by author 2005-07-12 23:54:45.

Sunniee

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

07/13/2005 12:01:54 AM · #32

Congrats to our illustrious mentor for his 1st place finish in the circle challenge!!

07/13/2005 12:06:57 AM · #33

Many congrats indeed. Are black and white considered complementary colors? :P

edit: I've left comments on the shots posted so far. I still haven't done mine yet :\

Message edited by author 2005-07-13 00:10:48.

07/13/2005 07:41:35 PM · #34

I went out on a little excursion to the botanical gardens on campus today. It took me a long time to find some complementary colors to work with (in fact, I only got a few shots that had any).

Unprocessed (RAW converted to JPEG)

RAW processing, Cloning, Levels, Hue/Saturation to shift the background more towards green.

Right before I hit post, I just realized that maybe we weren't supposed to do anything other than levels/curves? If so, let me know and I'll fix it and post that version.

07/13/2005 09:48:28 PM · #35

Just checking in.
I'm looking forward to shooting our first assignment. Hopefully I'll be able to get something tomorrow. We've had nothing but rain here since Monday. A little gift for the Midwest from Hurricane Dennis.
Hopefully I'll be able to post something Thursday night.
- Laura

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

07/13/2005 11:12:48 PM · #36

Originally posted by brianlh:

I went out on a little excursion to the botanical gardens on campus today. It took me a long time to find some complementary colors to work with (in fact, I only got a few shots that had any).

Unprocessed (RAW converted to JPEG)
RAW processing, Cloning, Levels, Hue/Saturation to shift the background more towards green.

Right before I hit post, I just realized that maybe we weren't supposed to do anything other than levels/curves? If so, let me know and I'll fix it and post that version.

Hey, you are always free to do as much post processing as you like. Just be ready to share your steps with the rest of the group :-)

Each lesson I will try to build on gradually with the post processing so if you feel comfortable with the ps technique for that lesson go ahead and experiment with more advanced stuff, we are always here for feedback.

Jeileen

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

07/17/2005 12:12:11 AM · #37

Alright here is my first assignment... after reading the "lessons" I began to practice using my knowledge. I started to find that most of my pictures were really imporved by using the levels and curves. Prior to the lessons, I wasn't really clear regarding these two commands. So anyhow, I kept practicing and practicing and now I can't decide which photo I will submit to the current challenge... I'll tell you if it is not one thing (bad pics), it's another (new knowledge with improved results). You be the judge - remember, I think I saved the better ones for possible challenge submissions. This is the original.

and

This is the post processed pic. As I recall the only adjustments made were those of levels and curves.

Another attempt at this contrasting color assignmnet - this is the original

and the corrected version

.

Message edited by author 2005-07-24 17:22:40.

07/17/2005 01:57:40 PM · #38

Ok, so first let me apologize for being so far behind the rest of the group. This first shot is straight from the camera.

This one was adjusted with levels and curves.

I definitely need to learn how to properly use curves. By looking at some of the other shots I'm beginning to see just how much it could help my photos.
I'm not sure if these are really complimentary colors or not, but it is very colorful!
-Laura

Message edited by author 2005-07-17 14:00:46.

07/17/2005 03:33:03 PM · #39

This adjustment follows some suggestions from oOWonderBreadOo.
I still haven't cropped it, but I did play with the levels and curves again with the hope of bringing back some of the detail. I also applied a little hue/sat to tone down the yellow in the leaves in the foreground.
Personally I think it looks better than my first attempt.
Thanks for the suggestions Laura.
:-)
- Laura

07/18/2005 09:31:35 AM · #40

Hey guys, i was out of town this weekend. I will post a new assignment and comment on all the newer shots tonight.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

07/19/2005 12:43:59 AM · #41

Lesson two posted. Here are a couple of inspirational shots that use cool or warm colors to enhance the mood...

Cool colors

Warm colors

DustDevil

Canon EOS-70D

07/19/2005 06:40:10 PM · #42

I failed again I can already feel it.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

07/19/2005 11:05:47 PM · #43

Originally posted by DustDevil:

I failed again I can already feel it.

you did not fail :-) good job being the first one to finish up the assignment!

--------------------

I would like to hear some general feedback from people in this thread or through pm if they feel that the two lessons so far have been helpful and you guys are learning stuff. Also do you guys like the pace? For instance should I include more PS techniques in each lesson?

Thanks
Nick

Message edited by author 2005-07-19 23:08:04.

DustDevil

Canon EOS-70D

07/19/2005 11:21:52 PM · #44

Well not always best to be first. Just was out looking and tried to find something I could use. I do understand about the "cool" effect needs to be more emphaized in mine. Will try working on it.

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

07/20/2005 12:08:02 AM · #45

I have enjoyed the two lessons so far - I rarely purposely cool/warm an image, so this will be a good exercise. I like the relatively slow pace (though would not mind it being faster) because it gives us time to put a good effort into it in accordance with our schedules. I think all aspects of color treatment would be helpful, but more PS techniques would certainly be interesting because I think this is where most (nearly all?) of the color work comes in (for me at least).

oOWonderBreadOo

Canon EOS-5D

07/20/2005 07:56:25 PM · #46

here tis teach! ;0)

original> warm> cool

Intelli

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

07/21/2005 12:22:24 AM · #47

Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:

here tis teach! ;0)

original> warm> cool

The cool shot looks good, It really brought out the color in the trees, the warm shot is nice as well, but it sillouted the trees, not that it's a bad thing. maybe a little more orange with selective color on the warm version? I dunno, I'm not the pro here:) I'm the student:)

oOWonderBreadOo

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

07/21/2005 11:06:02 AM · #48

Originally posted by Intelli:

You are absolutely right, I liked the cool much better too but it was hard to say why. But now I see that it might be the leaves! (And the fact I want to see a cooler image here in the blistering summer LOL) Guess I should have put a little description in my images but on the warm one I used the shadows to yellow up the leaves, because when I slid to magenta in midtones the green didn't shift & it lookd a little unnatural. Normally I would have lightened them up but I wanted to show the changes without messing around with anything else. But this is cool, now I can go back & fool with it a bit!

07/22/2005 12:41:05 AM · #49

Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:

Originally posted by Intelli:

The cool shot looks good, It really brought out the color in the trees, the warm shot is nice as well, but it sillouted the trees, not that it's a bad thing. maybe a little more orange with selective color on the warm version? I dunno, I'm not the pro here:) I'm the student:)

You are absolutely right, I liked the cool much better too but it was hard to say why. But now I see that it might be the leaves! (And the fact I want to see a cooler image here in the blistering summer LOL) Guess I should have put a little description in my images but on the warm one I used the shadows to yellow up the leaves, because when I slid to magenta in midtones the green didn't shift & it lookd a little unnatural. Normally I would have lightened them up but I wanted to show the changes without messing around with anything else. But this is cool, now I can go back & fool with it a bit!

I think i said it earlier to someone else but always feel free to do more stuff that you feel is necessary to reach what you have in mind. You should not feel constrained to just levels, curves or hue/sat for this lesson, i just want to try to cover all the tools one by one in case some people have never used them.

For the warm version i would encourage you to play with it a bit more. In particular try to bring out the leaves without making the sky any lighter. Try dodging the leaves and then bringin back the color in with hue/sat or color balance. The cool version gets a thumb up from me.