A Town Shot Exercise

On 10/17/2014 05:24 AM, Savageduck wrote:
On 2014-10-17 07:39:28 +0000, philo said:

On 10/16/2014 11:05 PM, Savageduck wrote:
OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.


snip

I don't have time to fool with the DNG, too busy trying to organize my
stuff. (Just now getting around to sorting out my film photos. That was
going to be the first thing I did when I retired nearly two years ago)

My philosophy is that if a photo is properly exposed, composed and
focused...it should not be necessary to do much processing.


My point was that the cars which today seem ordinary will look amazing
years from now.

Whenever I see an old photo with cars in it I love it...then realize
that the image itself...at the time...probably would not have been
anything special.

On 10/17/2014 03:15 AM, Eric Stevens wrote:
On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:05:47 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.

The finished JPEG
https://db.tt/pjbOOFIF
...and the unmolested DNG:
https://db.tt/04y5jbGe

Have at it folks.

I like the JPEG but I still haven't persuaded Windows to open the DNG.

I'm sure there is something somewhere which will enable me to do it.
It's too late at night. :-(



On my Linux machine I opened it using Shotwell. It looks very dark.

Since you use Windows...I'd try the free program GIMP if you don't have
Photoshop.

The image looked fine there

On 2014-10-17 12:57:29 +0000, philoÂ* said:

On 10/17/2014 05:24 AM, Savageduck wrote:
On 2014-10-17 07:39:28 +0000, philo said:

On 10/16/2014 11:05 PM, Savageduck wrote:
OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.


snip

I don't have time to fool with the DNG, too busy trying to organize my stuff.

Then don't bother.

(Just now getting around to sorting out my film photos. That was going
to be the first thing I did when I retired nearly two years ago)

My philosophy is that if a photo is properly exposed, composed and
focused...it should not be necessary to do much processing.

That's nice.
If you noticed I used the word "exercise" in the subject line, you
might have got the idea that like Tony I was making an attempt to get
the general group discussion back to digital photography.
For this exercise I deliberately selected a slightly under exposed
original and offered it up to the group.

I am sorry that the subject matter was not what everybody would have
liked, but that was not the point of the exercise.

I am sorry the original doesn't meet your image capture philosophy, but
that was not the point of the exercise. I provided the DNG so folks in
this room could see what they might do to get an acceptable result
regardless of subject matter, or exposure settings at capture. We have
done this sort of thing before with Tony, Peter, Jonas, myself and one
or two others providing their RAW originals.

I was not asking for critique of the final image, but I fully expect
and welcome it.

Having said all of that it seems that I have failed in my feeble
attempt and all the usual suspects should just get back to their
bickering and flamewars.

My point was that the cars which today seem ordinary will look amazing
years from now.

Whenever I see an old photo with cars in it I love it...then realize
that the image itself...at the time...probably would not have been
anything special.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2014-10-17 15:35:02 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

On Fri, 17 Oct 2014 07:52:53 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-17 12:57:29 +0000, philoÂ* said:

On 10/17/2014 05:24 AM, Savageduck wrote:
On 2014-10-17 07:39:28 +0000, philo said:

On 10/16/2014 11:05 PM, Savageduck wrote:
OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.


snip

I don't have time to fool with the DNG, too busy trying to organize my stuff.

Then don't bother.

(Just now getting around to sorting out my film photos. That was going
to be the first thing I did when I retired nearly two years ago)

My philosophy is that if a photo is properly exposed, composed and
focused...it should not be necessary to do much processing.

That's nice.
If you noticed I used the word "exercise" in the subject line, you
might have got the idea that like Tony I was making an attempt to get
the general group discussion back to digital photography.
For this exercise I deliberately selected a slightly under exposed
original and offered it up to the group.

I am sorry that the subject matter was not what everybody would have
liked, but that was not the point of the exercise.

I'm not sure this group "gets" that we do do this purely as an
exercise. Sometimes we work on photos because we want to present that
photo in the best way possible, and sometimes we work on photos just
because it contains an element that requires post treatment and we
want to improve our skills in that method of treatment.

I am not sure that other than a handful “get� that. Unfortunately there
seems to be a preference to complain, argue, bitch, and keep flamewars
raging rather than deal with the nastiness of photography and post
processing.

I've been looking through my old pix for a similar photo because I
want to learn how to use the perspective tools in PS. I really don't
care if it's an interesting photo in itself.

I have been doing the same sort of thing and have several other
problematic images in mind, but now I am less than enthusiastic with
dealing with this NG much longer.

There are so many specific PP tools which can be used to tackle a
variety of issues which arise from time to time. Also there are tools
available now which were not available to us 10 years ago.

I am sorry the original doesn't meet your image capture philosophy, but
that was not the point of the exercise. I provided the DNG so folks in
this room could see what they might do to get an acceptable result
regardless of subject matter, or exposure settings at capture. We have
done this sort of thing before with Tony, Peter, Jonas, myself and one
or two others providing their RAW originals.

I was not asking for critique of the final image, but I fully expect
and welcome it.

I regard it as an excellent result in post-processing and very well
done in general. Not at all in the "too vivid" range.

I thought that might appeal to you. ;-)

I see only one mistake in the post, and that's the very obvious error
in the brickwork at the bottom left. You've patched in something from
somewhere else in the photo and the bricks don't line up and some sort
of circles show. I can't see where you grabbed that section from.

I just removed one of the posts with the healing brush in LR. I should
have waited until I took it into PS where I could have use “Vanishing
Point�, “Content Aware Fill�, or the “Patch� tool.

I would have toned down that blue awning because it's an eye-grabber,
but that's choice not an error.

Fixable to taste. ;-)

As an exercise, it's well done except for that one thing. As a photo,
it doesn't have much interest value.

So I guess nobody is going to go out of their way to steal it.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 10/17/2014 12:05 AM, Savageduck wrote:
OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.

The finished JPEG
https://db.tt/pjbOOFIF
...and the unmolested DNG:
https://db.tt/04y5jbGe

Have at it folks.


I don't see much interest in the image, except perhaps as a building for
sale.

With that in mind I got rid of some of the distractions by cropping and
content aware fill. A conversion to B&W made the dirt on the building
less prominent. And a slight elongation and perspective change casese
the building to appear larger than it is.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/duck%20DNC_0141.jpg

just an exercise. The image is not one that inspired me.

--
PeterN

On Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:30:40 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-17 08:15:30 +0000, Eric Stevens said:

On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:05:47 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.

The finished JPEG
https://db.tt/pjbOOFIF
...and the unmolested DNG:
https://db.tt/04y5jbGe

Have at it folks.

I like the JPEG but I still haven't persuaded Windows to open the DNG.

I'm sure there is something somewhere which will enable me to do it.
It's too late at night. :-(

Why would Windows open the DNG?

Just open it with ACR or import it into LR. For those without PS or LR
use the RAW & photo editing software of choice.

What I want is to be able to cliick on the URL and have the DNG open
in front of my eyes. I don't want to have to save files, open
applications and all that folderol. As I said, it had been a hard day
and all I wanted to do was to get to bed. I will try to set up Firefox
shortly.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On 2014-10-17 20:59:22 +0000, Tony Cooper said:

On Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:24:51 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.

The finished JPEG
https://db.tt/pjbOOFIF
...and the unmolested DNG:
https://db.tt/04y5jbGe

Have at it folks.


I didn't feel like working on the RAW file because The Duck has taken
the image to where it should be. I'd only re-work if I thought it
needed a major change.

I did make a couple of alterations, though. Using a photo of mine
from another day, I added a point of interest to the building.

I repaired, somewhat, the brickwork at the lower left. Working from
just the .jpg, it was not possible to pick up enough brickwork without
evidence of the earlier adjustment, though. The bricks now line up,
but there's a smeary looking area from the previous adjustment.

http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/photos...cJ2tsMW-X2.jpg

I like it. ;-)

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2014-10-17 20:30:20 +0000, Eric Stevens said:

On Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:30:40 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2014-10-17 08:15:30 +0000, Eric Stevens said:

On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:05:47 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.

The finished JPEG
https://db.tt/pjbOOFIF
...and the unmolested DNG:
https://db.tt/04y5jbGe

Have at it folks.

I like the JPEG but I still haven't persuaded Windows to open the DNG.

I'm sure there is something somewhere which will enable me to do it.
It's too late at night. :-(

Why would Windows open the DNG?

Just open it with ACR or import it into LR. For those without PS or LR
use the RAW & photo editing software of choice.

What I want is to be able to cliick on the URL and have the DNG open
in front of my eyes. I don't want to have to save files, open
applications and all that folderol.

Dropbox doesn’t work that way with RAW files, downloading is the only way.
I used Dropbox as that provides the simplest access.

I am still not sure of what access those who do not subscribe to the
Creative Cloud have. I know you should be able to get to this link and
view it or download it as you choose. i am beginning to think this
whole exercise in this NG was more trouble than it was worth.
http://adobe.ly/1wewqW3

As I said, it had been a hard day

Have you been out plowing the South forty?

and all I wanted to do was to get to bed. I will try to set up Firefox
shortly.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On Fri, 17 Oct 2014 21:15:30 +1300, Eric Stevens
wrote:

On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:05:47 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.

The finished JPEG
https://db.tt/pjbOOFIF
...and the unmolested DNG:
https://db.tt/04y5jbGe

Have at it folks.

I like the JPEG but I still haven't persuaded Windows to open the DNG.

I'm sure there is something somewhere which will enable me to do it.
It's too late at night. :-(

For some reason Firefox persists in trying to open the DNG in
Paintshop Pro. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. No doubt I
will get to the bottom of this someday.

In the meantime, I have managed to get it into ACR and have a go at
it. I found that adjusting it with your JPG in mind was an interesting
exercise. I didn't save the result so I'm not able to put it up.

I finished with a slightly lighter scene although the row of parked
cars were as dark. Your sky is better although I didn't work much on
that.

I didn't try to remove the bollard, as you have done. The perspective
in the paving stones makes it impossible to do without leaving visible
artifacts, as is the case with your final image.

I notice you appear to have corrected some of the perspective
distortions, which I didn't bother to do.

I prefer your sharpening. How did you go about it?

Altogether an interesting exercise.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On 2014-10-17 22:37:43 +0000, Eric Stevens said:

On Fri, 17 Oct 2014 21:15:30 +1300, Eric Stevens
wrote:

On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:05:47 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

OK!
Just to get into the spirit of things, here is my finished rendition of
a local Paso Robles, CA street scene, and a DNG of the original for
anybody who wants to, to play with.

The finished JPEG
https://db.tt/pjbOOFIF
...and the unmolested DNG:
https://db.tt/04y5jbGe

Have at it folks.

I like the JPEG but I still haven't persuaded Windows to open the DNG.

I'm sure there is something somewhere which will enable me to do it.
It's too late at night. :-(

For some reason Firefox persists in trying to open the DNG in
Paintshop Pro. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. No doubt I
will get to the bottom of this someday.

In the meantime, I have managed to get it into ACR and have a go at
it. I found that adjusting it with your JPG in mind was an interesting
exercise. I didn't save the result so I'm not able to put it up.

I finished with a slightly lighter scene although the row of parked
cars were as dark. Your sky is better although I didn't work much on
that.

I didn't try to remove the bollard, as you have done. The perspective
in the paving stones makes it impossible to do without leaving visible
artifacts, as is the case with your final image.

I notice you appear to have corrected some of the perspective
distortions, which I didn't bother to do.

I set the lens profile and applied the “Upright� filter in LR/ACR.

I prefer your sharpening. How did you go about it?

I sharpened in LR, but ACR uses the same engine and functions in the same way.
The neat thing with using ACR/LR Sharpening is using the alt/Option key
when you click on the slider.
That also works when you go to the basic panel to set the Black & White
points and when dealing with highlights.

I removed the bollard in LR when I should have used either “Content
Aware Fill� or “Vanishing Point.

Here is a quick 6 ½ minute video (62MB mp4) of my ACR process. This is
a quick version to show what I was doing, with the exception of using
Vanishing Point to deal with the bollard this time. I could have done a
better job with that if I had taken a bit more care. I also tried
"Content Aware Fill" and that seems to have worked well.
https://db.tt/3HdS5Rfb

Altogether an interesting exercise.

I tried.


--
Regards,

Savageduck