bastien

iTrader: (1)

I kinda like the original better. The black is no longer black and it's kinda dull. Needs more burning.

here is my attempt:

bastien

iTrader: (1)

I like them both, but I prefer the 2nd one.

bastien

iTrader: (1)

It's "somewhat" an HDR. I took the raw file and messed with it, so I guess you can consider that an HDR. Give it a try, it's really fun. It needs a lot of work to be prefect and look realistic though.

Louie83

iTrader: (3)

Question on all of Josh's before and afters:

What photoshop what tools do you use on the car to give it the color a deeper, glassy look to it, that seems to make it jump out of the picture and give it more dimension?

Question on Bastien and Josh's backgrounds:

What tools do you use on the backgrounds to make them less blurry and more crisp?

bastien

iTrader: (1)

pretty sure the tools he uses are: curves, levels, brightness/contrast, and some dodge/burning.

You can use the sharpening tools to make backgrounds look crisp, but in my case, it's straight out of the camera. I love my lenses.

LS1BADZ

iTrader: (5)

Here's my post process....whattya think?

----------BEFORE--------






------------AFTER------------

jjs89lx

Im nto a picture expert by any means.. It looks good... Other then the shadow still being noticeable. What i mean is where you ethier lassoed or used the magic wand you can see where something was there. Sorry if i didnt explain what i thought correctly! im a bit tired - JJ

BlackHawk T/A

iTrader: (3)

If you look closely on some of the pics, like around the edges of the windows which have a curved surface there is some aliasing. Maybe I can see it easier because of my monitor (22" LCD), as CRT's aren't as sharp and probably would hide it in my experience. Still I would stick to a power of 2. Looks like you use a Nikon D80 so you start with 3872 x 2592. That means you should be using 968x648 pixels for an even resize. I am not sure how big the difference will be but I do know it has to do wierd things to make odd ratios work. 950 is 24.5% whereas 968 is 25% of the image. Hope this makes some sense.
I need to learn how to do that as well, it seems all the pros do. I just use a Smart Sharpen, 50%, 1.0 Pixel, "Remove: Motion Blur" because it has the least drastic effect of all the sharpening and doesn't leave me with any over-done edges on objects. However I bet seperating the channels is better but I need to learn how to do that.

bastien

iTrader: (1)

You need to work on your cloning skills, lol.

LS1BADZ

iTrader: (5)

lol...thanks, I did the gravel really quick just to finish it, I was more concerened with the car and background

jjs89lx

The edits i did of your car... Hope you don't mind!

1st one


and



Just a short edit... Don't really know what im doing! hope it looks good!

LS1BADZ

iTrader: (5)

Stealthy! lol, but you forgot to wash off that spot on the hood in the 2nd one

I thought I shot a booger on my screen

DopeFedZ

iTrader: (34)

Blackhawk T/A I have just been following the steps in the tutorial Josh provided and then also tried playing with curves which Bastien advised. I really don't know how to use it so I'm just eyeballing it. Other than those changes I have been cropping the pics and adding the border thing.

http://tutiki.nikoncafe.com/w/index...ustments#Step_2

DopeFedZ

iTrader: (34)

[QUOTE=josh99ta]GO CARLOS!!! Thats what I'm talking about. Great pictures.

Thanks to you and Bastien for providing all the useful links and advise .

bastien

iTrader: (1)

To sharpen your pictures:

1) Image - Mode - Lab Color
2) In the "Channels" menu, select the lightness layer only by clicking on it.
3) Filter - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask --> Settings: Amount: 200-300 Radius: 0.1-0.5 Threshold: 0
4) Image - Mode - RGB Color

this should get you started

e.g:

Pre-sharpening:



Post:

-Freak-

iTrader: (6)

Awesome Thread! I've learned lots and its given me something to do in the airport tomorrow.

I'm going to go pick up this book, I've heard great things about it.

http://www.photoshopforphotographers...cs2/index2.htm

Book Review: ( Note that the CS3 version isn't out yet.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/pro...039215&sr=11-1

josh99ta

iTrader: (1)

Sharpening alone can actually make your colors pop that much more even though it doesn't actually effect the colors like other things do. My usual process is...

-Open RAW file in Bridge (open RAW file in CS2 and it automatically imports it to bridge)

-Adjust white balance, exposure, shadows, contrast, etc as needed

-Open in CS2

-Check levels, usually dont need any more adjusting as I fixed it all in Bridge on the RAW file to maintain top quality, if I didn't have Bridge and shoot in RAW this would be my first step

-Check curves, usually dont need any more adjusting as I fixed it all in Bridge on the RAW file to maintain top quality, if I didn't have Bridge and shoot in RAW I'd convert the image to CMYK mode, go into curves, select only the black channel (Ctrl+4), select the black dropper, and select a black portion of the photograph to set as absolute black and everything else pretty much adjusts itself on most of my photos (but some others do need more work especially if I shoot with a point and shoot)

-Shadows/Highlights are checked were I drop shadows to 0% and adjust highlights as needed

-If I couldn't adjust contrast and brightness in Bridge on the RAW file I'd do Brightness/Contrast next, usually bumping contrast +4 to +8 and brightness 0 to +4 depending

-Convert to LAB mode, select luminocity channel (Ctrl+1), apply Unsharp Mask (150-250% for me but usually 200%, 0.3 pixel radius, 0 threshold)

-Convert back to RGB mode, add border and text, and call it a day (unless I add in any graduated or photo filters in which case thats usually the last thing I do here before border and text)


I actually know very little about dodging and burning and dont use either in my editing process. Its something I need to read up on an experiment with. Any tips bastien?

bastien

iTrader: (1)

Dodge/burn is really a personal thing. There is no set setting. You gotta experience it. I'll try to find a good example and post it.

Dr Tran

iTrader: (10)

How do you convert to CMYK, and LAB mode and back to RGB? Also thanks for the write up and for your help in advance.

bastien

iTrader: (1)

In photoshop:

Image - Mode - Lab Color
Image - Mode - RBG Color