Blending

DavidTO · January 2, 2005

I know we've been talking about blending for a bit, but I thought I'd share this shot, which I found particularly difficult to blend. It's a view that I want to explore this year, after work. I plan on playing with long night exposures, featuring the iPod ad, and to the right is a view of Century City, which the sun sets behind.

So here's the shot. I know it's not great, but it's great experience for me. The problem is that there's a band of haze in the shot that makes blending a natural looking shot very difficult, at least for me.

So I took one exposure, but processed twice in RAW, once for the FG, and once for the sky.

Here's the links to the original files: FG exposure, sky exposure.

Maybe I should have done a third for the haze? But I didn't instead I built the matte as I would normally, and then added a gradient to the matte, so that the haze on the horizon got progressively darker. This caused problems on the iPod building, which I haven't completely resolved yet.

I also doubled up the sky and multiplied it, to get more contrast.

Anyway, anyone who wants to chime in, take a crack at it, or ask a question...this is what I came up with (so far, it's a work in progress):

Oh, and yeah, it's slightly tilted. Not my concern right now.

ian408 · January 2, 2005

Except for the slight horizon...

Can you do anything for the haze except re-shoot on a clear
day?

Ian

wxwax · January 2, 2005

Tough shot, David. I'm not sure that RAW has the range to solve all the problems this exposure presents. Better to take multiple exposures than fake it in RAW, I'm thinking.

For example, some of the bright parts of the clouds are still blown-out in the sky exposure. And yet the same sky has relatively dark clouds as well. Too much range even for RAW, I'm thinking. I'd also consider making a separate exposure for the middle ground, the hazy area. And maybe a separate exposure for the super bright sky parts, if they're recoverable.

But truly, I'm not sure that this sky is the most interesting sky that you could shoot. Maybe wait for something more dramatic?

DavidTO · January 2, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Tough shot, David. I'm not sure that RAW has the range to solve all the problems this exposure presents. Better to take multiple exposures than fake it in RAW, I'm thinking.

For example, some of the bright parts of the clouds are still blown-out in the sky exposure. And yet the same sky has relatively dark clouds as well. Too much range even for RAW, I'm thinking. I'd also consider making a separate exposure for the middle ground, the hazy area. And maybe a separate exposure for the super bright sky parts, if they're recoverable.

But truly, I'm not sure that this sky is the most interesting sky that you could shoot. Maybe wait for something more dramatic?

Thanks for the feedback, the clouds were rather flat, and by multiplying them, I got a lot more range. The clouds are bright in parts, but they're not hitting 255...

As for the shot, you're right, it's not the most interesting. I had decided that I wanted to shoot sunsets/night shots from this view, because they can be pretty spectacular. I wanted to start getting to know the view, to play around with it. I ended up getting sidetracked on the haze/blending issue.

Keep in mind, though that this is SoCal, and any clouds here are interesting ones...

DavidTO · January 2, 2005

ian408 wrote:

Except for the slight horizon...

Can you do anything for the haze except re-shoot on a clear
day?

Ian

That was part of the reason I posted this, to find out what others might do about the haze, if there is anything one can do.

wxwax · January 2, 2005

DavidTO wrote:

Keep in mind, though that this is SoCal, and any clouds here are interesting ones...

So have you tried making a separate RAW exposure for the hazy area?

DavidTO · January 2, 2005

wxwax wrote:

So have you tried making a separate RAW exposure for the hazy area?

Not yet. Aside from the sloppy matte work around the buildings, and just from a technical viewpoint, is it working? Or does the hazy area just look downright stupid?

wxwax · January 2, 2005

DavidTO wrote:

Not yet. Aside from the sloppy matte work around the buildings, and just from a technical viewpoint, is it working? Or does the hazy area just look downright stupid?

IMHO it's very close, from a technical point of view. I'm pretty sure you can do something with the hazy area. To be honest, my concern is that the shot may not be worth the effort.

DavidTO · January 2, 2005

wxwax wrote:

To be honest, my concern is that the shot may not be worth the effort.

It ain't if all you're going for is beauty, but I was going for an education.

pathfinder · January 2, 2005

DavidTO wrote:

That was part of the reason I posted this, to find out what others might do about the haze, if there is anything one can do.

Dave, I may be just stating he obvious, but I would consider trying a circular polarizing filter and/or a UV filter like a 1a or something. That should cut the haze somewhat for you. Much haze is simply water vapor in the air.
Yellow, orange, red filters - the real screw in kind - should cut through the haze the best tho for B&W images.

DavidTO · January 2, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

Dave, I may be just stating he obvious, but I would consider trying a circular polarizing filter and/or a UV filter like a 1a or something. That should cut the haze somewhat for you. Much haze is simply water vapor in the air.
Yellow, orange, red filters - the real screw in kind - should cut through the haze the best tho for B&W images.

DigiRebel with haze filter. Thanks for the other ideas.

ian408 · January 2, 2005

How's about a slightly different approach. Instead of trying to get rid of the
haze, accentuate the things that are important in the picture by punching up
the contrast/saturation? Things like the iPod ad board, the row of apartments
and the trees? These are all things that my eye is drawn to when I look at the
image (I think the sky/clouds might be ok). Since the iPod bb is somewhat hazy,
you might need to replace the colors?

While it certainly won't fix the haze, it will take the focus away from it.

Ian

pathfinder · January 2, 2005

DavidTO wrote:

I know we've been talking about blending for a bit, but I thought I'd share this shot, which I found particularly difficult to blend. It's a view that I want to explore this year, after work. I plan on playing with long night exposures, featuring the iPod ad, and to the right is a view of Century City, which the sun sets behind.

So here's the shot. I know it's not great, but it's great experience for me. The problem is that there's a band of haze in the shot that makes blending a natural looking shot very difficult, at least for me.

So I took one exposure, but processed twice in RAW, once for the FG, and once for the sky.

Here's the links to the original files: FG exposure, sky exposure.

Maybe I should have done a third for the haze? But I didn't instead I built the matte as I would normally, and then added a gradient to the matte, so that the haze on the horizon got progressively darker. This caused problems on the iPod building, which I haven't completely resolved yet.

I also doubled up the sky and multiplied it, to get more contrast.

Anyway, anyone who wants to chime in, take a crack at it, or ask a question...this is what I came up with (so far, it's a work in progress):

Oh, and yeah, it's slightly tilted. Not my concern right now.

Ok Dave - I downloaded the 800 pixel image here on dgrin. I selected the non-sky portion and increased the slope of the contrast curve after hitting ctrl-M. I then selected the building with the iPod ad and again pumped up its contrast. I used overlay blending to increase the saturation and color in the foreground and used overlay blending to decrease the darkness of the sky at the same time. Took me about 2 minutes - would take a little longer if I had to be real careful with my selections. How did I do?

pathfinder · January 2, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

Ok Dave - I downloaded the 800 pixel image here on dgrin. I selected the non-sky portion and increased the slope of the contrast curve after hitting ctrl-M. I then selected the building with the iPod ad and again pumped up its contrast. I used overlay blending to increase the saturation and color in the foreground and used overlay blending to decrease the darkness of the sky at the same time. Took me about 2 minutes - would take a little longer if I had to be real careful with my selections. How did I do?

Notice - no blending just some selection tools and contrast changes and Cletus' famous overlay blending. The area near the horizon is hazier than the foreground, but that is normal in looking at landscapes.

I think the original image has potential still that I haven't tapped with the 800 pixel image.

DavidTO · January 2, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

Notice - no blending just some selection tools and contrast changes and Cletus' famous overlay blending. The area near the horizon is hazier than the foreground, but that is normal in looking at landscapes.

I think the original image has potential still that I haven't tapped with the 800 pixel image.

Well, the original image is already a blend that I did. Your work on it highlights my poor mask around the buildings, especially. Don't know whyt that's been giving me so much trouble, the straight edges, but I can't seem to get them clean.

As far as how you did, I think the image has more punch with your changes, but that some of it also looks like it has been pushed too far.

pathfinder · January 2, 2005

DavidTO wrote:

Well, the original image is already a blend that I did. Your work on it highlights my poor mask around the buildings, especially. Don't know whyt that's been giving me so much trouble, the straight edges, but I can't seem to get them clean.

As far as how you did, I think the image has more punch with your changes, but that some of it also looks like it has been pushed too far.

I probably did overdo the saturation of the foreground but it was a small file and I wanted to demonstrate that much of the haze of the foreground could be dealt with

I thought you wanted the iPod ad more noticeable so I went with that thought.

Masking the original should be possible with the polygonal lasso - just click click click along the building tops.

Blending

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