60-Hour Post-Processing Challenge #697 (closed, results posted)

[WhidbeyLVR]

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End of summer. Early autumn colors. Can B&W win again?

Raw and JPEG files are here. Image was taken with E-M5.3, but I edited EXIF on the RAW file to E-M1.2. Any problems, please let me know.

The challenge will close at 8:00 AM on Thursday, September 16th, Seattle local time (UTC-7).

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Post-Processing Challenge Rules

1. The Challenge Master provides an image or images 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.
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:

• Images provided by Challenge Masters must be their own. They are posted solely for the purpose of this Challenge; not 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 image.
• "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 strongly encouraged to share the tools and techniques used for their entries, however this is not a requirement for entry.
• Compositing is allowed, provided the use of the donor image does not violate any licensing or copyright restrictions.
• 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.

 

[betamax]

#1 HSL adjustments in Capture one

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[BosseBe]

Entry #1:

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[BosseBe]

And of course! A B&W.
Entry #2:

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[betamax]

...and tighter crop. In B/W!

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[Robert Davidson]

#1. ACR & Photoshop

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[relic]

A most difficult challenge. I wanted to get rid of the dead trees on the ground but didn't know how to proceed. So I decided to play, not expecting to post the result. However, since so far I don't know what else to do, I thought I might as well post it. I used the jpeg file and "edited" it in Elements. I extended the image using Content Aware fill, then tried to "fix" the resulting defects then cropped to 16x9.

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[Growltiger]

Cropped top and bottom to 1.5 aspect ratio. Lovely autumn colours, so accentuated them with increased saturation but trying to keep it all looking natural.
Entry 1:

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[Growltiger]

Fixed the boring sky with one from my personal sky collection (yes, I go out and photograph skies for future use).
Entry 2:

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[Kae1]

Thought I would be unable to do justice to this lovely scene as am away from home for a few days. However as it is miserable outside I've had a go using what I've got available to me (JPEG, XnViewMP and an old Asus Notebook).

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[Kae1]

Entry #2 a narrower crop

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[Rob Rider]

#1

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[Rob Rider]

#2
Cropped tighter keeping the nice curved tide lines, still plenty of driftwood to see.

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[rpatodia]

Entry#1

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[rpatodia]

Entry#2

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[WhidbeyLVR]

Just a little less than one day left in the challenge. That’s plenty of time for your over-the-top, avant-garde, super-chromatic surrealist vision to be realized, or that gritty monochrome hyper-contrast noir masterpiece, if you prefer. Pursue your dreamscape, and get ’em in. It’ll be all over by this time tomorrow.

 

[GBarrington]

Going for a sinister, yet hopeful theme.

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[Hendrik]

For me, it's all about the driftwood. Converting to nighttime allowed maximizing the perception of contrast between the bleached wood and the surroundings. The midday sun actually made it much easier. I had a night sky to use to increase interest. It was shot on a moonlit night pointing NNE. I figure I had ~50/50 odds of nailing it such that the locals would have a hard time spotting the fake.
Nighttime conversion done in Adobe Camera Raw. Ditto, matching the challenge image to the correctly exposed donor image for color balance, etc. Then in Photoshop, an orange layer (set to Normal blend) revealed through some of the dwelling windows. A Curves layer used to lighten some of the snags and the dwellings, especially the roofs as well as a nod at a street light. ...perhaps some other prissy stuff, too, I can't rightly recall...

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replaced with a 3:2 crop and the addition of the foreground lightening in the version below.

 

[Hendrik]

A mono conversion. Some brushwork to brighten up the foreground. It didn't take very much.

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replaced with a 3:2 crop

 

[GBarrington]

A mono conversion. Some brushwork to brighten up the foreground. It didn't take very much.

View attachment 907879

For me, the color version works much better!