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Day 14: Post Processing
Day 14: Post Processing
cgino


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM for Nikon
Location: Polvadera, New Mexico
Date: Aug 22, 2007
Galleries: Vintage, Architecture
Date Uploaded: Oct 15, 2007

Viewed: 473
Comments: 18
Favorites: 0

 I know that I’m stretching the rules of this challenge a bit because rather than post an image that I took today I am choosing to post an old image that I processed today. I got to spend most of the day Sunday playing with PS plug-ins and actions and frames and textures and all sorts of great stuff (many suggested by fellow DPCers), so I never managed to drag myself out of the yard for new images. This little exercise has reinforced what I already know: it is SO much better to make a good capture in the first place than try to correct a crappy shot after the fact! I also know that the perfect capture is not always possible, especially when you are doing it from a moving car and you are the driver :-)

This little church is about a half-mile down my street, and is very picturesque due to the fact that my street runs north/south and the dramatic lighting we natural-light photographers love comes from sunrise/sunset which of course occurs in the (general direction of) east/west. So if I go here in the early morning the front of the building is lit with the gorgeous golden light of the sunrise. When I go here in the late afternoon the front of the building is in shadow but it is back lit with the low sun, glorious cloud formations (clouds tend to develop in the afternoon here) and very often great crepuscular rays. That was the case on this day when I was heading north on my street and noticed the wonderful lighting behind the church. So I pulled over, steadied my camera on my driver’s side window, and took a series of three images of differing exposures in hopes of combining them into an HDR image. I then go about my business, later come home, and discover a set of terribly skewed images of this classic little adobe church with perfect back lighting. What an idiot. Yeah, when I saw the great lighting I should have gotten out of my car, set up the tripod, and shot away… and yet I am still uncomfortable with taking photographs in public places, even when there are no humans around. DOH!

Today’s task was to recapture via post processing the look and spirit of this cute little adobe church that I witnessed with my eyes but due to the sometimes haphazard nature of street photography I didn’t quite capture in a single unprocessed image.

PP: (note: if no other value for a layer is given assume normal mixing mode and 100% opacity)
- combine three very poorly aligned images in Photmatix (it did a good job of fixing my horrible alignment!)
- in Photoshop, duplicate background and use PTLens (www.epaperpress.com) to adjust perspective on a terribly skewed image
- crop image
- duplicate adjusted layer, adjust perspective a bit more using PS perspective tools; clone out phone pole, wires, and ugly air-conditioning unit on building
- duplicate layer, apply ‘transparency’ filter from Virtual Photographer (thanks Jutilda!)
- duplicate layer, apply LucisArt Whyeth at 20%
- duplicate layer, use burn tool to accentuate the crepuscular rays
- channel mixer layer to desat, R+70 G+12 B+22; layer opacity to 50%
- photo filter layer, warming filter 81 @ density 41%
- levels layer to adjust contrast to taste
- resize canvas to add room on bottom
- fill new area with matching color and clone some texture from real concrete walkway from image onto new area (not much needed however since I planned to apply a couple of texture layers that hopefully mask the fact that I’ve extended the canvas on the bottom)
- resize and rotate texture layer from Bichromate action (shared by madbrewer); blend mode multiply opacity 32%
- resize and rotate 180 deg from prev roation same texture layer, blend mode Overlay, opacity 75%
- new layer, soft light blending mode, paint low opacity very soft brush in black and white where I want to ‘dodge’ and ‘burn’ image.
- Save now as full-size cpt
- Resize to 640 height
- Oops, notice building is still a bit tilted so rotate and recrop
- Save for web

Here is medium exposed pathetic original capture:

The moral of this story is that although in post processing one can right a lot of wrongs in an original image, one can never go wrong by just taking a good image in the first place!

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AuthorThread
 10/25/2007 01:20:42 PM
Beautiful shot, I love the processing on it!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/20/2007 09:40:31 PM
I love this photo! You totally NAILED the processing. The backlighting is beautiful, and I love the way you have enhanced the old textured look of that charming church. This is really awesome!

  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/18/2007 04:54:04 PM
You've done a really good job with the pp especially the way you brought out the rays of light.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/17/2007 08:40:16 PM
What powerful image here and love that sky.....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/16/2007 12:54:17 PM
No rules, just right! Really spectacular processing, and your original shot doesn't suck to begin with. Next time, be brave, get out and shoot. I'm still shy about it and I do it all the time. Well, OK, not all the time, but I do shoot and have discovered that most of the time, no one pays attention to me. Of course, I look like a geek and most people take a far and wide path to avoid me... :-) Seriously though, this is very inspiring - and again, thanks for sharing all the steps!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/16/2007 10:13:54 AM
Great processing. The sum is certainly greater than its parts.

Have you thought about using a monopod? I carry a monopod and tripod in the back of my car. The monopod is a lot less conspicuous to use than the tripod.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/16/2007 07:00:46 AM
Astounding what you did based on looking at the original. Awesome processing...thanks for all the details!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/16/2007 02:31:34 AM
This is wonderful you did a fanatstic job on the processing
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/16/2007 01:18:03 AM
awesome, what rules, we have rules?

great shot
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 11:06:56 PM
Great editing. I don't read all the steps - I just soak in the finished product. WELL DONE!!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 10:14:04 PM
wow, this processing is just extraordinary. thanks for the details!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 09:40:59 PM
Wow, what fantastic proceesing skills! You captured a wonderful mood with this dramatic image. Nice work!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 09:22:25 PM
The moment I saw the thumbnail, I knew it was yours. This is really great in all respects.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 08:57:46 PM
Rules, shmules. This is awesome! I am going to have to come back and read it all because I'm in a rush - but man, fantastic image!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 05:38:15 PM
You might be breaking the rules, but I still like the image. The sun behind the church building really works.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 05:17:09 PM
Damn, you really made that church look incredible! What amazing PP!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 04:45:49 PM
I agree with the moral of the story ! Also fun to experiment...you did an amazing job with editing

Message edited by author 2007-10-15 16:51:33.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/15/2007 03:12:35 PM
Beautiful post processing on this shot! I really like it
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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