Help Me Learn How To Do This

[dixonge]

The more I visit photography forums, the more I realize how much I don't know yet. And now that I'm taking a stab at some actual post-processing it's more apparent than ever.

Exhibit A: this shot from Mendenhall Lake in Alaska. Fortunately I took it in RAW and I've been tweaking it in Aperture. I managed to recover the sky (look, clouds!) and the shadowy branches and leaves in the foreground, but the distant mountains are hazy and I feel like the overall image is too dark, as if an eclipse were in progress. I'm sure that was me futzing around with some slider. So - what do I do to make progress on this? I need some specific suggestions. Feel free to take a copy and mess with it, although I couldn't get the RAW file up to SmugMug, just a JPEG.

P.S. No need to comment on framing or cropping - I think this photo is a total loss in that category, but I'd like to get a print for myself and also use this as a learning opportunity for the future. Thanks!

[John911]

dixonge: What software have you been useing to edit your pic?

[dixonge]

Aperture 2

[PhotoByMark]

Glen,

Here is my attempt.

Using CS3
I duplcated image & set blend mode to Screen to lighten the image.
Then used my latest toy Topaz Adjust and tried not to over do it.
I am sure more could be done but I did this very quickly.

[RKEnnis]

Here is my really fast try. I don't have Aperture, so I can't give you a workflow for that.

In Photoshop I did:

Levels adjustment
Increased contrast
Increased exposure on just the background mountain area
Increased vibrance on just the background mountain area
bumped up vibrance just a bit on the foreground, and a bit more on the background
increased sharpness - whole image, with a bit more sharpness selectively on the mountains

(If I were working with a full sized image, I'd have likely done for noise reduction on the background as well)

[dixonge]

If you want the file in original size you can grab a copy here:

Mendenhall Lake

[Donb10]

I opened your original jpeg file in camera raw in Adobe CS4. I made most of my adjustments there. I have only had the software for a day so its all new to me. I changed the white balance a little and the exposure value, adjusted the clarity and vibrance. Then opened it in photoshop and sharpened it somewhat.

Having jumped from CS2 to CS4 is a whole new world.

[12stones]

Here's my take. I bumped up the contrast using curves, increased saturation. Made the sky a little bluer, lightened it a tad using levels, and then warmed up the whole thing a bit.

I worked off the pic in the first post since I couldn't get to the full size original. Smugmug is blocked at work.

[dixonge]

Mark,

You've given me an idea. I think I could adjust this picture all day and not fix it, but if I can't I can always go for an HDR effect. Thanks!

Originally Posted by PhotoByMark

Glen,

Here is my attempt.

Using CS3
I duplcated image & set blend mode to Screen to lighten the image.
Then used my latest toy Topaz Adjust and tried not to over do it.
I am sure more could be done but I did this very quickly.

[PhotoByMark]

Sure Glenn, Post you results...

[getndirty]

Clouds should be pretty easy since you shot in raw - providing that the clouds weren't completely blown out.

Develop two or three versions of the same image using ACR (or other raw processing software) - each version should have a properly exposed area - one for the clouds, one for the water, one for the mountains, etc..then layer them in Photoshop (or gimp or paintshop pro or..) and mask out the "bad" areas - leaving the good areas to show through..

BTW - I'm still learning digital too - here's my take on the pic you posted - took about 20 seconds in PS8 and I only tinkered with the clouds and a real quick crop.

[Duffy Pratt]

Here's my quick try, using LAB. First I boosted the greens in Channel Mixer, by tweaking the green channel, bumping greens about 18 points, while dialing back blue 18 points.

Then I converted to LAB, increased contrast on the L curve, and then steepened the A and B curves. Then sharpened the L Channel with Smart Sharpen, and did a high res low amount sharpen on the A B channels. Took maybe 2 minutes.

[gaea106]

Ok here is what I learned in school. ( Photoshop class, my well learned $1500 at work here O.o ) The Adobe PSD file is located on my website so you can view it with the layers and adjustments in tact.

http://www.angelicapettie.com/Share/lake.psd

Adjustment layer, curves.
Use eyedroppers, set the black eyedropper to 5 RGB across the board, set white eyedropper to 245 RGB across the board. Select darkest shadow with black eyedropper, whitest highlight with white eyedropper, then click around with the midtone eyedropper until you get a good color. You are looking for an 18% grayish color with your midtone eyedropper.

Selective color adjustment layer.
Next I did selective color adjustment layers for the blues, greens and cyan tones. This is a "please your eye" type thing. I liked the values I got for these colors you might adjust them for yourself if you prefer different levels.

Dodging and Burning
Create duplicates of your picture (layers) Set one to screen and one to multiply. Multiply is your burn copy, making things darker. Screen is your dodge, making things lighter. Add a mask to each, black it out and use a paint brush at like 20% opacity to add your color from your burn or dodge to your photo.

More detailed instructions on this dodge and burn are in this thread here including the mysterious location of the "Screen" and "Multiply" settings which I couldn't find before my class.
http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum....php?t=83373#5

I sharpened the base photo with Smart Sharpen filter and I added sharpen edges to each of the dodge and burn photos also.

Note: I left the original untouched photo at the bottom with the layer turned off. This is how we are taught to do things at school so we have the original available if we need it again to add something later.

[Phototx]

Glenn,

Here's my effort in Photoshop CS3.

1. Gassian Blur
2. Smart Sharpen
3. Levels
4. Saturation
5. Greens

Glen
www.phototx.net

[110240]