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help with some post processing

ohmkohmk Registered Users Posts: 5 Beginner grinner
edited February 24, 2012 in Finishing School
I was debating getting a metal print of the image below but decided I should probably post here as to get some ideas for post processing. I'm an amateur so any advice would be fantastic...and I still have the raw file! :)

http://dustmust.smugmug.com/Travel/USA-Roadtrip/20306177_Jn7VNz#!i=1605629281&k=rNL4fzw&lb=1&s=A

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    PeanoPeano Registered Users Posts: 268 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2012
    Nice shot, but it needs more careful processing in Camera Raw and also in Photoshop. I obviously
    was working with the low-res jpeg, so you should be able to get even better results starting with
    the raw file. The horizon also appears to need leveling.

    view3c.jpg
    Peano
    RadiantPics
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    pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,697 moderator
    edited February 22, 2012
    I was there February 2009.. That is looking north from the Meteor Crater, isn't it?

    I thought it looked familiar.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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    MarkRMarkR Registered Users Posts: 2,099 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2012
    The image is pretty low contrast, which is fine if that's your vision for it.

    However, by setting a white point and black point, you increase your tonal range, and get an image similar to what was presented by Peano above. Most people will prefer the wider tonal range to the original.

    What is your ultimate vision for this picture? What elements are you trying to emphasize? Minimize? Where are you trying to draw the eye? Are you more interested in color or shape? These are some of the questions that should inform your PP.
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    ohmkohmk Registered Users Posts: 5 Beginner grinner
    edited February 24, 2012
    Peano wrote: »
    Nice shot, but it needs more careful processing in Camera Raw and also in Photoshop. I obviously
    was working with the low-res jpeg, so you should be able to get even better results starting with
    the raw file. The horizon also appears to need leveling.

    view3c.jpg

    awesome. i figured it needed to be a bit brighter. i also saw the horizon thing as well and will definitely be correcting that. thanks for giving me some ideas as to where to go with it...i've never had any of my pictures printed before and am excited to learn more about PP in the process
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    ohmkohmk Registered Users Posts: 5 Beginner grinner
    edited February 24, 2012
    pathfinder wrote: »
    I was there February 2009.. That is looking north from the Meteor Crater, isn't it?

    I thought it looked familiar.

    Yup! Funny how my favorite shot FROM Meteor Crater ISN'T Meteor Crater thumb.gif

    MarkR wrote: »
    The image is pretty low contrast, which is fine if that's your vision for it.

    However, by setting a white point and black point, you increase your tonal range, and get an image similar to what was presented by Peano above. Most people will prefer the wider tonal range to the original.

    What is your ultimate vision for this picture? What elements are you trying to emphasize? Minimize? Where are you trying to draw the eye? Are you more interested in color or shape? These are some of the questions that should inform your PP.

    Honestly I def. need to bump up the contrast a bit because I'd like to get this printed high gloss on metal. I'm trying to emphasize the mountains but also the desert that lays in front of it...I like the contrasting colors; the barrenness of the landscape leading up to the eye-popping mountain range. Any specific settings you can give me to play around with in cs5 or LR3?
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    MarkRMarkR Registered Users Posts: 2,099 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2012
    ohmk wrote: »
    Yup! Funny how my favorite shot FROM Meteor Crater ISN'T Meteor Crater thumb.gif




    Honestly I def. need to bump up the contrast a bit because I'd like to get this printed high gloss on metal. I'm trying to emphasize the mountains but also the desert that lays in front of it...I like the contrasting colors; the barrenness of the landscape leading up to the eye-popping mountain range. Any specific settings you can give me to play around with in cs5 or LR3?

    Easiest thing to do is go into LR and press "J." That will show you visually the clipping (white and black) points for your image. Then move the exposure slider to the right to raise the exposure until the brightest part of the image starts to show clipping. Then either back off slightly or use the recovery slider. Then slide the Blacks slider over until you just start to see some clipping. My own experience is that images can handle more black clipping than white clipping, and a little black clipping will add perceived depth to many images. Significant white clipping on digital files rarely looks good.

    Alternately, you could go to the Tone Curve section, switch to point curve, and then follow this tutorial: http://dgrin.smugmug.com/Tutorials/Photoshop-Start-Here/Make-Your-Image-Pop/2292454_Q3sPbK You may have to do some fudging, as the tutorial was written for Photoshop, not LR, but the concepts are the same.

    Another hint: the clarity slider in LR was made for images like this. Move it over to the right and you'll probably like the effect.

    You might also want to experiment with using the selection brush to brush in some contrast, saturation, or clarity (or all three) into the mountain range, to draw the eye to it. You can also use the selection brush to dodge and burn areas to draw the eye where you want it to go.
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