61c - A dandee snap!

Angelo

I think I really have to go with this one!
What do y'awl think?



3/24; cursory attempt at applying Nikolai's technique, with a little Adrian thrown in for good measure. Or was it the other way 'round? :scratch

Any better?

spockling

Nice

Nikolai

Very nice!

Angelo wrote:

I think I really have to go with this one!
What do y'awl think?

I'd boost a contrast a little (some PS-ing is still alowed:-), but otherwise a real contender!

Angelo

spockling wrote:

Nice

thanks Steve

Angelo

Nikolai wrote:

I'd boost a contrast a little (some PS-ing is still alowed:-), but otherwise a real contender!

Nikko - I tried that initially but lost some of that fabulous, beat-up background of the steel sign back. I think that lends to the "old" feeling appropriate to a b/w. You agree?

Justiceiro

Oh yeah Angelo, this one is really good. I've been looking for that shot for days!

Nikolai

Angelo,

Angelo wrote:

Nikko - I tried that initially but lost some of that fabulous, beat-up background of the steel sign back. I think that lends to the "old" feeling appropriate to a b/w. You agree?

I meant just a tad. Here's a composite picture: left hand part is yours, right hand part is what I was talking about (couple of masked layers and some blend-if magic for the shoe to pop up more)



Hope you don't mind me mangling your image:-)

Cheers!

Angelo

Nikolai wrote:

I meant just a tad. Here's a composite picture: left hand part is yours, right hand part is what I was talking about (couple of masked layers and some blend-if magic for the shoe to pop up more)



Hope you don't mind me mangling your image:-)

Cheers!

That does look good Nikko. I'll give it a go although I pretty much suck at PS. Thanks for the advice and help.

Nikolai

Angelo,

Angelo wrote:

That does look good Nikko. I'll give it a go although I pretty much suck at PS. Thanks for the advice and help.

Shoot me an email, I'll tell you how:-):):

Scott_Quier

Nikolai wrote:

Shoot me an email, I'll tell you how:-):):

Is there sometihng wrong with posting your method somewhere where the rest of us, (I'm king of the clueless lot) could gain from the shared knowledge? Sure would appreciate it.

Think about it.

Thanks

Nikolai

Well, if the author does not mind...

Scott_Quier wrote:

Is there sometihng wrong with posting your method somewhere where the rest of us, (I'm king of the clueless lot) could gain from the shared knowledge? Sure would appreciate it.

Think about it.

Thanks

I wanted to gave the picture a little bit more contrast, and I also wanted to get the yellow shoes more pop to accentuate the color part.

To achieve the first goal (overall contrast boost) I created a duplicate layer, then created a curves adjustment layer for it. As always with layers, at first I overdid the curves a little just to ensure the contrast goes to the right parts, and then tweaked the opacity of the whole thing to reach the exact amount. I like this two-step process, it gives you a finer control.

The second goal was a bit trickier. I wanted to pop the yellow color, but not the surrounding background. Luckily, the background was much darker than the subject (shoes), so the solution was relatively easy.

First I made a very rough selection around the shoes (we're back on the background). Use your preferred way: pen, lasso, quick mask, even marquee - whatever works. Don't try to be accurate - there is no need. We just want to isolate an area. The only thing to worry about is not to get any other bright parts into it (except those we want to enhance)

Now, while keeping selection active, create another duplicate layer, and move it on top of the layer stack. Ctrl-click the layer to select it and create another curve adjustment layer. Since your selection was active, this new adjustment layer would acquire the mask identical to this selection.

Adjust the curves to ensure the shoes are "popping out". As before, it's OK to overdo it a little and compensate with the layer opacity later.

While playing with shoe curves you will also notice that the rest of our roughly selected area becomes very dark and creates an ugly black spot around the shoes. Never fear, we'll get rid of it in a moment!

To achieve this, double click the shoes layer, or select Layer Blending Options some other way. Notice two Blend If sliders, combo value set to Gray. Start moving top left marker to the right, and observe how the ugly dark spot magically disappears. Move it as far right that some of your target (shoes) begin to dissolve, then pull back a little.

This way we achieved different contrast levels on different subjects and blended our two layers perfectly without enduring a lot of pain while creating the fine selection around the shoes.

HTH

Sorry for the lack of supporting images, I'm feeling very lazy today...

Angelo

Nik _ I'm glad you decided to do this here for others to learn from as well as me.

I'm going to give all this a try but honestly, you may as well have written it in Klingon for all the sense it makes to me.

I need to hire a tutor!

ultravox

Wow.
Now I'm hopeless. There is no way I can find something near that for this CH.61. So you ruin all of my dreams about entering the challange:cry . And others(like myself) to. You are a killer and your photo to.

and again

David_S85

Angelo, great find! And I agree with the contrast boost.

Scott_Quier

Nik,

I'm really glad you decided to put up that short tutorial. That is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping you would post. And, never fear, the lack of photos is just fine as your description of the steps taken are very clear.

I am starting a PS "little black trick book" and this will be one of the first pages.

Again, thanks.

4labs

Looks like a winner to me Angelo. Great eye...

saurora

This is very cool, Angelo!!! Not only is it black and white, but wow, it is so "vintage-looking". Great entry! You've definitely raised the bar for the rest of us!!!!

adrian_k

Angelo: I'd say that the image fits the challenge but it doesn't rock my boat. At the end of the day it's a pic of an unlit neon sign, outside of the chal. it doesn't hold up. I much preferred your building.

As a follow-up to Nikolai, a simpler method would be just to set the white & black point. Similar way, add an adj. layer (curves/levels - doesn't matter), select the white eye dropper and click on the whitest point you can see, then select the black eye-dropper and click on the blackest point.

Nikolai wrote:

I wanted to gave the picture a little bit more contrast, and I also wanted to get the yellow shoes more pop to accentuate the color part.

To achieve the first goal (overall contrast boost) I created a duplicate layer, then created a curves adjustment layer for it. As always with layers, at first I overdid the curves a little just to ensure the contrast goes to the right parts, and then tweaked the opacity of the whole thing to reach the exact amount. I like this two-step process, it gives you a finer control.

The second goal was a bit trickier. I wanted to pop the yellow color, but not the surrounding background. Luckily, the background was much darker than the subject (shoes), so the solution was relatively easy.

First I made a very rough selection around the shoes (we're back on the background). Use your preferred way: pen, lasso, quick mask, even marquee - whatever works. Don't try to be accurate - there is no need. We just want to isolate an area. The only thing to worry about is not to get any other bright parts into it (except those we want to enhance)

Now, while keeping selection active, create another duplicate layer, and move it on top of the layer stack. Ctrl-click the layer to select it and create another curve adjustment layer. Since your selection was active, this new adjustment layer would acquire the mask identical to this selection.

Adjust the curves to ensure the shoes are "popping out". As before, it's OK to overdo it a little and compensate with the layer opacity later.

While playing with shoe curves you will also notice that the rest of our roughly selected area becomes very dark and creates an ugly black spot around the shoes. Never fear, we'll get rid of it in a moment!

To achieve this, double click the shoes layer, or select Layer Blending Options some other way. Notice two Blend If sliders, combo value set to Gray. Start moving top left marker to the right, and observe how the ugly dark spot magically disappears. Move it as far right that some of your target (shoes) begin to dissolve, then pull back a little.

This way we achieved different contrast levels on different subjects and blended our two layers perfectly without enduring a lot of pain while creating the fine selection around the shoes.

HTH

Sorry for the lack of supporting images, I'm feeling very lazy today...

Nikolai

Adrian,

adrian_k wrote:

As a follow-up to Nikolai, a simpler method would be just to set the white & black point. Similar way, add an adj. layer (curves/levels - doesn't matter), select the white eye dropper and click on the whitest point you can see, then select the black eye-dropper and click on the blackest point.

You're talking about the overall contrast boost? Well, as they say, there are many ways to skin a cat in PS. Increasing a contrast of mostly b/w picture - I'm not sure if I have enough fingers to count them all. The only reason I've chosen the curves was because Angelo wanted a subtle change and curves in adj.layer, imho, give you the finest level of control in one tool. But anything else would most likely work here, too. It's really a matter of mood/preference.
Cheers!

Angelo

4labs wrote:

Looks like a winner to me Angelo. Great eye...

Thank you. I have probably seen that sign a thousand times and never thought too much about it until now.

Luck I guess!

Angelo

saurora wrote:

This is very cool, Angelo!!! Not only is it black and white, but wow, it is so "vintage-looking". Great entry! You've definitely raised the bar for the rest of us!!!!

Thank you. I love the vintage look as well. The sign, and the store it promotes, have been in the same Hollywood location since the 40s or 50s.

It seems I didn't come to the challenge, the challenge came to me!


.

Nikolai

Scott,

Scott_Quier wrote:

Nik,

I'm really glad you decided to put up that short tutorial. That is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping you would post. And, never fear, the lack of photos is just fine as your description of the steps taken are very clear.

I am starting a PS "little black trick book" and this will be one of the first pages.

Again, thanks.

You're most welcome! :
The only reason I didn't want to do it here at first was that I didn't want to hijack/OT Angelo's thread...
Cheers!

Angelo

adrian_k wrote:

Angelo: I'd say that the image fits the challenge but it doesn't rock my boat. At the end of the day it's a pic of an unlit neon sign, outside of the chal. it doesn't hold up. I much preferred your building.

As a follow-up to Nikolai, a simpler method would be just to set the white & black point. Similar way, add an adj. layer (curves/levels - doesn't matter), select the white eye dropper and click on the whitest point you can see, then select the black eye-dropper and click on the blackest point.

Hey Adrian, thanks for stopping by and commenting. Yes, I agree it is just a pic of a sign and yes I agree it just so happens to fit the challenge very well.

I would never compare a lucky snap to a well thought out, beautifully composed photo but sometimes, just sometimes, luck is the factor in a good shot.

The contrast technique you offered is exactly what I tried initially but I got terrible results. My blacks went too black and I lost all the delicious imperfections of the sign's old steel frame.

Nikolai

Angelito,:-)

Angelo wrote:

Nik _ I'm glad you decided to do this here for others to learn from as well as me.

I'm going to give all this a try but honestly, you may as well have written it in Klingon for all the sense it makes to me.

I need to hire a tutor!

Give me a call on a weekend and I'll guide you through:-):):
Cheers!

Angelo

Nikolai wrote:

Give me a call on a weekend and I'll guide you through:-):):
Cheers!

that would be "Angelino"! Get it RIGHT :whip

thanks Nik. I'll be on a business trip through Thursday. A few lonely nights in a Florida hotel should give me ample time to practice PS.

Angelo

Have I mentioned I HATE photoshop!?!

Nikolai

oops

Angelo wrote:

that would be "Angelino"! Get it RIGHT :whip

Disculpame, Angelino!

Angelo wrote:

thanks Nik. I'll be on a business trip through Thursday. A few lonely nights in a Florida hotel should give me ample time to practice PS.

Yep, that's the way to do it. I learned PS myself on a trip. It was a trip to Russia: 13 hour flights, jet lags, nothing to do at nights, etc. :-)
Good luck!

Angelo

Nikolai wrote:

Disculpame, Angelino!



Yep, that's the way to do it. I learned PS myself on a trip. It was a trip to Russia: 13 hour flights, jet lags, nothing to do at nights, etc. :-)
Good luck!

and the copy of PS For Dummies I intend to purchase later today!

Flyinggina

Angelo, say it isn't so. You went over to PS???

Virginia

Angelo

Flyinggina wrote:

Angelo, say it isn't so. You went over to PS???

Virginia

well................ let's just say I own a copy!

I still do better with Corel but I'm beginning to accept that PS is the industry leader.

I attended the Nikon School back in January and a lot of PS stuff was covered. The pros made it seem SOOOOOOOOOOOOO simple and the results so teriffic.

Don't label me a conformist, YET!

Angelo

OK guys, recheck the opening post of this thread and give me your opinions. Thanks.