Assignment #32: Save your worst shot
Nikolai
Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
We have learned how to take different angles of the same object.
Now let's think: what if we got only one shot and it's bad? I mean - B.A.D... :deal
Well, it's not allways the lost case. With the decent amount of post processing one can turn a lousy shot into a wall hanger. Or a cute avatar at least... :rofl
Your entry should consist of two pictures. One: your original bad shot. Two: your pulitzer-prize worthy treatment of it. in addition, to be a valid entry, the first should be bad enough and the second should be good enough.
For the extra credit, try to verbalize your thoughts on what's wrong with the original and what were the general steps you took to improve it and why.
Remember: this time we're not looking for improving a decent shot. We want to salvage a truly bad one, and come back with the bang while we're at it.
This time only: not necessarily fresh pictures (yet yours only, please), but fresh post-processing. And you can photoshop your heart out!
For the rest of the basic rules and index please check out this sticky.
Let's turn the trash material into the challenge winners!
Now let's think: what if we got only one shot and it's bad? I mean - B.A.D... :deal
Well, it's not allways the lost case. With the decent amount of post processing one can turn a lousy shot into a wall hanger. Or a cute avatar at least... :rofl
Your entry should consist of two pictures. One: your original bad shot. Two: your pulitzer-prize worthy treatment of it. in addition, to be a valid entry, the first should be bad enough and the second should be good enough.
For the extra credit, try to verbalize your thoughts on what's wrong with the original and what were the general steps you took to improve it and why.
Remember: this time we're not looking for improving a decent shot. We want to salvage a truly bad one, and come back with the bang while we're at it.
This time only: not necessarily fresh pictures (yet yours only, please), but fresh post-processing. And you can photoshop your heart out!
For the rest of the basic rules and index please check out this sticky.
Let's turn the trash material into the challenge winners!
"May the f/stop be with you!"
0
Comments
pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
I suppose "worst shot" is relative as some you can't do anything with so here's a shot taken out my patio window the other day.
Then, did some things in PS to make it interesting. There are prolly 1 million ways to make this better but I went this direction.
NAPP Member | Canon Shooter
Weddings/Portraits and anything else that catches my eye.
www.daveswartz.com
Model Mayhem site http://www.modelmayhem.com/686552
In the spirit of this assignment it might be useful to also list, at least in general terms, what the person did to go from B.A.D. to G.O.O.D. It's one thing to see the improvement, but it would also help others learn of the different techniques used to get there.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
It may mean great many things, but mostly we're talking photographer's mistakes. OOF, shaky handses, wrong exposure/dof, bad compo, subject in an awkward position, bad back/foreground, or simply very lame snapshot - you name it.
Ugly subject - probably not, though.
HTH
OK, good idea, I will, gimme a day or so..
Good entry!
I'd like actually to see more dramatic improvement, but it's a good way to start.
In this case we have an initial bad compo and some blurriness.
Tight crop removed the compo issue and the added motion blur made the original one look like an intentional decision, not a faux-pas.
Actually, guys, it would help us all if we try to verbalize our thoughts on what's wrong with the original and what were the general steps you took to improve and why.
pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
I hope many participate as we are all at different levels of expertise in PS. Nik, you certainly know your way around the program so ideas from you are appreciated.
This shot of my grandson bothers me because of the motion blur, the background busyness, and the goofy colors throughout. I love his smile here and wanted to do something. Here's the shot:
I color corrected to begin, then thought better to simply extract and place him on a new black background. Yes, I could have smoothed the extraction a bit but this was a workflow that went as it went if you catch my meaning. The end with selective high pass sharpening. It still isn't perfect and there are most likely other approaches to save this shot....this is simply one such direction:
NAPP Member | Canon Shooter
Weddings/Portraits and anything else that catches my eye.
www.daveswartz.com
Model Mayhem site http://www.modelmayhem.com/686552
pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
Started with the pole. Cloning, masking, grabbing neighboring areas, healing and all that fun stuff. Now that the pole's gone. Straighten the picture. Then the crop. Once I have that, I applied a few different treatments to it
Eve:
Twilight:
Retro:
pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
I do have many. But I am no expert in Photoshop at all.
So, my only chance was to present what I can do in a "not so lauzy" picture.
I present 2 shots.
In the 1.st one - which came right from RAW - the problem was that the people were too dark and the background was too light.
I opened 2 shots with different values: one for the background and another for the foreground.
Then, I duplicated the layer, made a mask and erased the unwanted areas.
I changed to LAB, apply curves at will, selected the Lightness channel and applied Smart Sharpen.
The result is the second shot.
I croped with for 24 * 36 because when I shot I was already doing my best composition.
Now that I saw both on the preview before posting, I can say that the difference is not a large one, is it ?
Sorry, my friend, this won't cut it.
Yes, 1st one is not bad enough, and yes, 2d one is not much different.
Time to become an expert, no?
pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
Oops, sorry, my bad, dog ate it...
I think is a very good example.
I like the twilight version the most. Cloned lamppost clears the field, drastic change in the exposure hides the softness of the image and brings "da mood".
Don't make me sic my cats on your dog =c)
Yeah I like the twighlight the best as well visually. But on the other hand I feel like it's a lazy edit. Easiest way to hide flaws is to darken something, which is why when I do heavy PS jobs, I always boost up the brightness to see if any flaws exists. It's a pretty good technique, if I do say so myself.
pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
I apologize, this does not count: the original is not mine, and the PP has been done long ago. However, I think it serves its purpose. Both treatments were done for the "optimize this" challenge at a different forum.
Here's a link to the "original":
http://static.flickr.com/97/244508267_f0ea062be3_o.jpg
As it's easy to see, the image is soft, the cute bunny is tiny and almost lost behind all the additional "noise" (leaves, etc), van ruines the mood... well, you can count your own points, it was enough for me...
I got two versions.
First one took me less than five minutes. I cropped the shot, thus making the bunny more prominent, and made it an illustration to the kid's book, by adding the white canvas, some text and applying some artistic filter (don't remember which one, sorry, maybe as simple as posterize...):
Next I decided to spend a little bit;-) more time, and came out with the "Sin City" version (I think I posted it here, too, under different context):
Weirdest curves, a dozen of layers, colorization - you name it.
HTH
And yet it's a very powerful "improvement" technique, since it can get you "from zero to hero" in no time..
Something like this?
NAPP Member | Canon Shooter
Weddings/Portraits and anything else that catches my eye.
www.daveswartz.com
Model Mayhem site http://www.modelmayhem.com/686552
I'm not sure if posterization is a right tool for this particular kind of shot, but if it makes *you* like it - sure, why not...
However, I don't think your original is bad enough
How about this ? It looks like this is what you have in mind ...
Colored Pencil + Glowing Edges + Background Layer + Blending modes + Curves in LAB + Smart Sharpen + Crop + Text + Save As
The original picture was to be erased !
This one was not to be erased ! Just is just a variation, a version !
My only grind is: only the first shot can be called bad enough.... :-(
Again: we're not looking at the general improvement/fiddling. We're talking about wreck-salvaging...
This time I understool since the beginning.:D
The second shot I was going to erase it because it lacks interest.
But I thought the third shot would work fine with this treatment.
As it really does !
Filter Gallery + Curves in LAB + Blendings + Smart Sharpen
From
Done. Next one please !
I have to congratulate you. If this is your worst shot ever....
Mine used to be so bad I'm ashamed to show them...
As I told you before: I do have many. A big lot of them.
But do you think I was going to show them to you all ?
No way ! You would pull my leg from now on and I don't want that
But this was it OK ?
I saw my shot again: but that is lauzy Nikolai. Lauzy
Is it worst enought ?
Rather old year 2000 shot, taken with my first then digital camera Ricoh RDC-300. Built-in memory for 40 shots (640x480 at 72 dpi, no less), it went through 4 AA batteries in under 30 minutes. Argh...
01: Family trip tp Mosquito Ridge Sequoia Park (Tahoe National Forest):
Today's edition. PS CS3, curves, linear burn, b/w, masking
02: Groethen in the night: