60-Hour Post-Processing Challenge #570 (closed, winners announced)

[WhidbeyLVR]

Long ago, in an age before social distancing. . .

Back when my E-PL5 was shiny and new (and the joypad wheel still worked). . .​

In a carefree era of no-frills cruising. . .​

​

Somewhere near Piesport on the Mosel (Moselle) River. . .

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Raw and Jpeg files are here.

Challenge will close at noon on Thursday, July 9th, Seattle local time (PDT, UTC-7).

-----
Post-Processing Challenge Rules (for thems what care):

1. The Challenge Master provides an image to be "improved" upon by way of post-processing, as well as a closing date for entries.
2. Entrants are to post their entries, visible in this thread, at a resolution of 1000 to 1600 pixels in the longest dimension, prior to the closing date.
3. Each entrant is allowed two entries in the Challenge. Please mark entries clearly by number.
4. At the close of the Challenge, the Challenge Master will select a Winner and Runners-up.
5. The Winner of the Challenge is honored as the Master of the next Challenge.

Notes:

• The image(s) used for the challenge must be the Challenge Master's own. Source images are posted solely for the purpose of this Challenge and are not posted to invite critique or criticism nor for other uses. If Entrants post their entries at a photo sharing site, they should credit the owner of the original source material.
• "Improve" is a subjective term, and may include many creative ideas, as well as traditional "fixing". The Challenge Master agrees that Entrants may make any changes they deem fit in their entries.
• Entrants are encouraged to enter their best efforts even if this means replacing versions. Please do this by exchanging your latest effort with the image you wish to remove. You may note the replacement in a comment in the edited posting.
• Entrants are also encouraged to share the tools and techniques used for their entries, however this is not a requirement for entry.
• As we all know, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. The Challenge Master is encouraged (but not required) to state the criteria used to decide upon a Winner. While we may not all agree with the result, the Challenge Master's decision is final. Please refrain from posting adverse comment.
• If the Winner is unable to post a new Challenge within five days, the honor passes to the next Runner-up.

 

[Dinobe]

Processing in DT3.0 my usual set of steps: apply lens correction, increase exposure, apply filmic module to set middle grey, white and black point, apply colour balance to increase overall contrast and saturation, apply local contrast (sharpening effect), apply contrast equaliser. Subtly apply denoising. Apply chromatic abberations removal and defringing.
In this case I have dropped the exposure over the sky, using the colour lookup table I darkened and desaturated the grass patch on the right. I added a second instance of the local contrast module only affecting the details in attempt to give it more 'bite' (which I find most lacking in my edits, fear of overcooking it).

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[RichardC]

In lightroom, straightened, cropped, reduced noise.
In photoshop, removed any colour casts, lightened a little, masked sky, made new layer.
In camera raw, reduced highlights in sky and added a graduated filter, lightened centre of picture with radial filter.
Back to photoshop, added small amount of 81A filter, smart sharpen and a frame (to divide opinion).

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[rpatodia]

Normal adjustments in DxO PL2. Cropped to 16:9

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[rpatodia]

less brighter than above

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[relic]

Edited raw file in DxO PL2, then tweaked in Elements.
Entry #1.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[relic]

Entry #2.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[todd]

Can't be in the running, will be heading out for some camping in a couple days, but wanted to have a go at the file...

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

The Stella Noviomagi is a replica Roman wine barge. The pilot station seems to be housed inside that wine barrel on the aft deck. I can’t quite understand how the symmetrical steering oars are controlled.

Apparently, on special occasions, the passengers (indentured crew?) will man the oars:

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Looks too much like work for me.

 

[Mooglover]

Entry #1

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[RichardC]

Entry 2

From scratch, cropped and applied noise reduction in lightroom.
Corrected colour in photoshop and increased saturation. Smart sharpen.
Duplicated the layer. Made and saved a selection of the boat. On bottom layer, selected the boat and removed it (sort of) with content aware fill. Softened background and foreground with tilt-shift blur.
With the remaining layer, used the saved selection to make a new layer mask, then inverted it to leave the original image of the boat whilst revealing the soft foreground and background.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Edit: Remasked the oars to get rid of the colour bleeding from my original mask.

 

[LilSebastian]

Entry #1
DXO Film Pack 2 - 16:9 crop and straighten, WB=Cloudy, ClearView = 13

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[LilSebastian]

Entry #2
Previous color JPG moved to FilmPack 5
CoolTV preset, removed vignette, de-saturated to black and white, Deep Orange filter.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Jay_M]

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[BosseBe]

Y'all know I like B&W so here is one.
Entry #1:

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[BosseBe]

And as usual, the colour one the B&W above was made from.
Entry #2:

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

I think since it is motor driven, there is a rudder below water after the propeller for steering while under motor. So the steering paddles are of no use as is.
(I don't think the tourist would be happy to be used as galley slaves.)

 

[Fred S]

Processed raw in Affinity photo
my usual Crop, Exposure, Shadows/Highlights, WB, HSL, Selective color
and my MILK button ( Make It Look Kool)

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

This wasn't a very promising image from the start. I hated the wasted space at top and bottom. The colors were dull, and I disliked the brownish cast in the water. The image was crooked, and the boat was crooked differently from the shoreline. The boat and buildings were overly dark. The sky was lifeless. The tourists onboard didn't seem nearly drunk enough. Truth be told, I don't think I was nearly drunk enough, either.

I liked recovered sky detail in many entries (although a few of you took it a bit too far). I liked the wide aspect ratio crops which got rid of the top and bottom waste, but retained most of the village background. I found the images which cropped to maximize the boat were less interesting to me. I liked the brighter renderings and enhanced color in the buildings -- @BosseBe did a great job with the buildings, but the greens in the grass and foliage were too saturated for my taste. I liked the way @RichardC minimized the power lines, and @Fred S made them go away. I wanted to like the B&W images, but both seemed too dark to me. Many of you straightened the image. @LilSebastian took it a step too far, and tilted most things the other way (and also cropped off the top of the windvane on the turret). But he, Bo and @relic were the only ones to address the muddy water. I liked most of the changes @Jay_M made, but I couldn't get over the sky being so much darker than the water.

Overall, I liked some aspects of every entry, and all aspects of none, but all were several steps up from my poor starting point. The top two were very hard to choose between. The results:

2nd Runner-up tie:

@Fred S . Good crop. Edited out the power lines. Wish you had straightened it. Weird local contrast artifacts on the Später-Veit building.​

@relic #2. Wish you had cropped more top and bottom and enhanced the building colors.​

1st Runner-up @BosseBe #2. Also a good crop. Very pleasing overall. Just a little dark . . . and those greens (!).

Winner: @Dinobe . Nice balance of sky and water. Only wish the colors of the buildings were a bit stronger.

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

My take:

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[BosseBe]

@WhidbeyLVR Thanks for the perfect spot! 1st runner up!
Just to clarify, I have done nothing special to the waters or the buildings, it is all standard DxO. I did adjust the green and orange by HSL so it might be from there that you see improvement in the buildings and of course the over saturation of the green.