48-hour Post-processing challenge #553 - Winners announced

[GregRed]

#2
Moody, "hand-tinted" version:

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[relic]

Entry #2: Edited DNG file in Elements; tweaked light levels, etc. a bit, added a heavy dose of "dynamic contrast" to the sky using ON1 Effects, then applied Kodachrome 64 emulation using DxO Filmpack 5.

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[WhidbeyLVR]

This particular afternoon (May 6) there was a dearth of wildlife at the pond (the draw for me) but the light looked as if it might do something interesting so I stopped and waited. And waited. Soon enough, I couldn't cheat the dog out of his dinner any longer. I still wonder what I missed.

All I can say is, you should have waited a little longer. . .

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See what you missed? Bigfoot!

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

B&W entry

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[Robert Davidson]

Processed in ACR and photoshop.
#1

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[travelbug]

entry #1
added some blur effects to give it a long exposure look. played with the tones to emphasize the different colors of foliage and converted to bnw to give it a more moody look.

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[rpatodia]

Using DNG. adjustments in DxO PL2 and cropping 16:9

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[rpatodia]

Used Nik HDR Efex Pro2 on above image

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[Walter]

#2

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[Hendrik]

Twelve hours left, or thereabouts. Just sayin'.

 

[Hendrik]

The challenge is closed. There's a lot of nice stuff I need to wrap my mind around and coffee to be had. Back in a bit with results.

 

[Hendrik]

First off, great work everyone. What’s most fascinating about hosting these challenges is seeing how many different takes there can be on the same image. I had my favorites but all showed thought and none were “wrong”, whatever that is.

Except for the problem with the raw file not being openable by some software, this image presented no technical hurdles. It was exposed to the right, conservatively so, but possibly just enough to obscure how the scene might have truly appeared in person. My reason for pushing the button was the spotlight being cast on the delicate, spring color of the leafing-in trees on the far bank of the river as opposed to the trees in the fore- and middle ground, which were still bare and in the clouds’ shadow. So, from the beginning, emphasizing that difference is what I wanted most. After that, I wanted good supporting performances by everything else in the scene. In this case that means to me that the long, low string of cloud shouldn’t upstage the trees.

The sky proved to be a major pitfall. Too liberal use of the available saturation facilities could drive the clouds to become overly blue and sometimes display a heavy cyan cast or even tinges of magenta. I found this distracting. Likewise, heavy enough sharpening or major global exposure moves could render the reveal of the sky and/or the main subject through the bare trees to be either overly edgy or too different from the expected –– small, isolated patches easily get left behind. In several versions there was the start of haloing around the foreground trees at right –– look closely at the value of sky within the trees - noticeably lighter than the main body.

Composition-wise, the original 4:3 ratio has its beauties, but the scene easily accepts cropping to a more panoramic aspect ratio. This was my intention from the get-go.

Those were the technical considerations I brought to viewing the files. Another axis to consider is that of affect, and that was all over the board, as well. There was a little bit of moody, some quiet and several different sorts of dramatic. All to the good, I say.

On with the show, I hear you all clamor. OK, but first, congratulations to all and my heartfelt thanks for playing.

Second Runners up, ex aequo
@GregRed , @todd phillips

Runner up
@travelbug

Winner
@RichardC

Over to you, Richard.

 

[RichardC]

Thank you. I was in two minds whether to sharpen some more - glad I didn't now.

PPC #554 is live:

https://www.mu-43.com/threads/48-hour-post-processing-challenge-554.108362/

 

[travelbug]

@Hendrik thenk you for the contest and the runner-up recognition. One of the main reasons I joined is because I wanted to see how the processing of an em5iii raw would fare. I did have some difficulty taming those highlights - as was reported in quite a few youtube reviews. It seems they prioritized lifting of shadows at the expense of highlight control, so maybe a more conservative ettr might be the way to go. Im seriously considering the em5iii as a replacement to my em5ii which is starting to fall apart .