March 09 - PROCESS THIS...

[odklizec]

Thank you all who participated in the February contest! You posted many nice photos and stories! You can vote for your favorite photo here. Let's start with MARCH contest!

Theme:
The theme for this month is "PROCESS THIS (DNG)...". I got an inspiration for this theme from Chris's "Thugby in the Shark Tank" post.

The idea of this month's contest is giving you lot one flat looking DNG file and your task will be to process this DNG file in the best possible way! Any kind of processing is allowed! Just start your favorite RAW editor and turn this uninteresting shot into something worth to keep. Crop it, add some contrast, play with curves or desaturate it. The only thing that matters is result



Here is the source DNG file:
_0016059.DNG

Rules:
You may post one photo right in reply to this post. Please, do not link it from other sites! Use the "Upload Attachment" instead.
The max size of the photo is limited to 1024x768!
Please guys, describe the processing you did over the photo!

The deadline for posting contest photos is 31.03.2009 at 12PM forum time.

Here you can learn how to upload (please, do not link) the photos right in forum post...
http://ricohforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=56

SW prizes for this month:
- SILKYPIX Developer Studio, kindly provided by Shortcut Software.
Or any of these, kindly provided by Mediachance...
- Dynamic Photo HDR
- PhotoBrush
- DCE AutoEnhance
- Pure Image NR

 

[Skippy]

Pavel, the uploading doesn't work (for me it is) so I have to link the image. Sorry about that.

I think the original was very drab and somber looking so I thought I'd give it a somewhat brighter look.

Software used; Photoshop Elements and Nik Capture NX.

 

[busch63]

here as colour negative. just inversed, extend the sharpness and add with exposure stripes with Gimp.

 

[RJY]

[No message]

 

[cfw]

[No message]

 

[palec]

These days I'm trying to find a digital workflow to normally process GRDII pictures.
This one is done in Aperture for main editing, dodging and burning plus Color Efex for colour and contrast adjustments.

 

[odklizec]

No way!!! Another Slovak member with GRDII! I've must missed your previous posts! Nice to see you here man!

Sorry for being off-topic guys! Czech/Slovak Ricoh fans and owners are a very...very rare phenomenon Photographers in Czech&Slovakia often think that Ricoh cameras are just overpriced noise generators.

 

[palec]

No way!!! Another Slovak member with GRDII! I've must missed your previous posts! Nice to see you here man!

Sorry for being off-topic guys! Czech/Slovak Ricoh fans and owners are a very...very rare phenomenon Photographers in Czech&Slovakia often think that Ricoh cameras are just overpriced noise generators.

Hi there, thank you for invitation!
Btw. while I like GRDII, it still has reserves to reach for GR1. But that's OT now, you're right.

 

[odklizec]

Btw. while I like GRDII, it still has reserves to reach for GR1. But that's OT now, you're right.

Let's discuss it here (GRDII vs. GR1v shootout)...
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2196

Sorry guys, it was last OT here!

 

[Kaz de Wro]

Ulead PhotoImpact x3 > crop > extend the sharpness > desaturate > curves > add special effect- Moon > What's the matter ;-)

 

[rui fernandes]

Pavel, with this London view, you've made an irresistible proposal, thanks!

So here it is:
Silkypix convertion to taste (great colour selection - I was asking for a good sepia option!)
Plus: distortion/perspective correction (and crane removal) > shadows/highlight filter > contrast/levels adjustment > a touch of high pass filter > crop (the wide frame "sounds" better for me) > voilá!

It looks like an old post card or what?
(the plain was killing the "old" ... )

 

[paulyrichard]

Lovely photo, tones and colours are great. Nice one.

Is it me, or does this image look very noisy for a RAW ISO 100 shot? I can see tons of noise even at this size.
I have JPEGS that have been PP'ed and show much much less noise when viewed at 100%.

 

[rui fernandes]

What do you mean, Paul? On the last image or on the original one?

If it is the first case, it was the PP that brought up the noise. I decided not to clean it because I like it's caracter and graphic expression ;-)

 

[paulyrichard]

I guess the crop has a lot to do with it too.
I was jus' shocked to see noise in a RAW PP'ed image in such a small sized picture, thats all.

 

[rui fernandes]

Paul, I think it's the "shadows/highlights" CS2 filter that hads lots of noise. I found it anytime I use it. But, usualy I like the result, so I never clean it (I also must confess that I don't know how to use noise removal software and usualy get "plastic" results...)

Pavel, do you think it could be a good topic for the "NoiseNinja" forum? I can post a link for a bigger file to see if someone can clean it "properly"?

 

[odklizec]

Why not? Just start a new discussion and I will move this discussion there.

 

[uKrris]

This is my sixth attempt .Used SilkyPix. Wanted to keep the photo looking as natural as possible but add some pizzas to the colour. Slight crop - 24% and trim to 3:2; Lens aberration - struggled with the two towers; Exposure 0.0; White balance - 6000K; Tone- low contrast; Memory colour 2; Sharpness - natural; Noise reduction - 2/3; Tone curve - low key; Fine Colour control - small adjustment to bring out people on bridge and gold colour on clock and minarettes;Highlight Controller - Chroma - way down; Hue - low; Luminance restoration - min; Dynamic Range - to the max. One hour later - couple glasses of wine.

 

[RobertE]

Sorry, I cheated. I processed the .jpg - Couldn't process the .dng (no means to) so I used Paintshop Pro (I hardly am), but this is my vision of the scene. Details preserved and enhanced, not really etched but not softened either. Vibrant colors, muddy waters, blue skies, clouds still present (and the airplane's still there). and it's nice & contrasty. It POPS. Wish I could've (or knew how to correct the perspective/skew like rui, but live & learn, I guess that's for another day). Didn't crop out the crane as I liked the bit of color, or crop the bottom of frame though I like the widescreen perspective if I'd done so, which naturally would bring the building more upfront in the image and refocus the eye to it. So folks, you may or may not dig this, but that's how I see it...

Regards, Rob

 

[lrcphoto]

Lots of messing about (gaussian blurs, soft light overlays, curves) to get a high key, misty look. Perspective correction, cropping and crane removal. No sharpening to retain "misty" look.

 

[qnadam]

used adobe camera raw, added some polaroid polachrome-look with alien skin exposure, corrected perspective and added some vignetting with ptlens, cropped a little bit, resized to 999px, very little unsharp mask, and here is it