[missbirdphotos] Re: Coot images
- From: "Judy Howle" <howle@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <missbirdphotos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:04:15 -0500
Thanks Kristen. Coot 2 was my favorite. As I said in the email, I used Nik
Color Efex tonal contrast with the option to brush it on over the bird and
rock which didn't enhance any contrast or details in the water. If I played
around more with Topaz Adjust sliders I could probably have come up with
about the identical look although I'm not sure about the eye getting lighter
which I think TC did. In Topaz Adjust you can select Local Adjustments and
"brush off" and go over the water area which is what I did to remove the
effects. BTW, Topaz Adjust is ON SALE thru tomorrow for 30% off!
"Celebrate St. Patrick's day by saving some green and taking advantage of
our weekend only sale! ALL products, including the Topaz Bundle and Bundle
Upgrades, are 30% off until 3/18/12. Just enter the coupon code "TopazGold"
when
<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=18359247&msgid=1260768&act=N04L&c
=239360&destination=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.topazlabs.com%2Fstore%2F%3Futm_source%
3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DTopaz%20News%26utm_content%
3D> purchasing."
Topaz Adjust = 49.99 after discount 35
<http://www.topazlabs.com/adjust/> http://www.topazlabs.com/adjust/
Nik Color Efex = 199
<http://www.niksoftware.com/colorefexpro/usa/index.php>
http://www.niksoftware.com/colorefexpro/usa/index.php
Makes it easy to choose! I had Topaz for a couple of years before I bit the
bullet and bought Color Efex. As you can see there isn't a lot of
difference.
This page has tutorials for Topaz Adjust with a movie also.
<http://www.topazlabs.com/tutorials/adjust.html>
http://www.topazlabs.com/tutorials/adjust.html
Compatibility:
These are the system requirements for the products in the Topaz Photoshop
plug-in bundle (Star Effects, B&W Effects, Lens Effects, Adjust, DeNoise,
Simplify, Detail, InFocus, Clean, ReMask* and DeJPEG)
Mac
* Intel-based Macs with OS 10.5, 10.6 or 10.7 (Topaz is NOT compatible
with PowerPC processors - like G4 or G5.)
* 1 GB RAM minimum - preferably 2 more
* Adobe Photoshop CS3-CS5.5 (32-bit and 64-bit), Adobe Photoshop
Elements 6-10.
* Apple Aperture 2 and 3, Lightroom 2-4, and iPhoto via
<http://www.topazlabs.com/fusion> Topaz Fusion Express
Windows
* Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)
* 1 GB RAM minimum - preferably 2 more
* Adobe Photoshop CS3-CS5.5 (32-bit and 64-bit), Adobe Photoshop
Elements 6-10.
* Lightroom 2-4 via <http://www.topazlabs.com/fusion> Topaz Fusion
Express
* Irfanview
* PaintShop Pro
* Photo Impact
* Serif Photo Plus
*ReMask is ONLY compatible with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop
Pro. ReMask is NOT compatible with iPhoto, Aperture, Lightroom, Photo Impact
or Irfanview.
Judy Howle
Southern Exposures
http://southernexposure.zenfolio.com
Digital Photography Class; Resources for Photographers
http://digitalphotographyclass.net
From: missbirdphotos-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:missbirdphotos-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kristen Eisbrenner
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2012 5:34 PM
To: missbirdphotos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [missbirdphotos] Re: Coot images
Judy,
Scrolling through the pictures made it difficult to see the differences so I
opened two explorer tabs, and would center one of the images in each. That
way I could see the differences more easily as they pop in or out of the
photo as I click on each tab.
Overall, I like Coot 1 and 2 the best. I especially like the
smoothness/lightness of the water on Coot 1 compared to the rest. I like
that the feathers seemed smoothed down in 1 also--makes the bird look very
sleek. However, Coot 2 feathers stand out more. The bird looks a little
more disheveled but the greater tone/contrast in the feathers is more
visually interesting. I guess the artist in me likes 1 and the photographer
in me likes 2.
I also like the dodged eye so that the red is brighter. Coot 2 eye is the
most beautiful to me.
Like you said, there is very little difference between 3 and 4, and when I
compared them to 1 and 2, I was still drawn to 1 and 2. Don't know why.
I wasn't distracted by the detail in the rocks because it is separate from
the bird. I like Coot 2 rock best for color, tone range/contrast.
In the end though, all are good edits on their own.
Thanks for your comments on my edit. I had no idea if the feathers were
supposed to be black or brown so I'm glad that you noticed mine was too
black. Guess I will have to save up the coins for a calibrator too :)
Kristen
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 11:22 PM, Judy Howle <howle@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://southern-exposures.net/page/coots.htm
Coot 1 - In Lightroom 3 I had the following settings: exposure + 20, fill
light 10, recovery 9, contrast 50, clarity 26, vibrance 25, Sharpening 35
with masking set to 20 to protect the water, noise reduction 20.
In Photoshop I used a slight curves adjustment to darken the lightest
feathers. I dodged the eye at 35% opacity to lighten it a little. I used
hue/sat to + 14. I used Smart Sharpen at 80 amt and 1 pixel radius. Images
are 1000 pixels in height to show details. (I think all images for
evaluation should be at least 800 pixels high if vertical to see any
details.)
Coot 2 - I used Nik Color Efex 4 Tonal Contrast on the converted image
before the sharpening at half of the default settings, as recommended by
Arthur Morris, and slid the whites slider up a bit to protect the beak. I
chose to brush on the filter just to the coot and rocks to keep the water
less contrasty and detailed.(Maybe I should have left it off the rocks?)
Then I applied Smart Sharpen.
Coot 3 - I used Topaz Adjust and brushed off the effects on the water inside
the plugin. Applied Smart Sharpen.
Coot 4 - I selected the coot and rocks with the Quick Selection tool and put
that on layer. Then I ran Noiseware on the background image to further
remove noise, and I ran Topaz Adjust on the bird/rocks selection and then
used Smart Sharpen on it and flattened the image. Not much difference from
Coot 3 but the noise is a little less. I don't normally go to this extreme
as the noise isn't usually too bad after raw conversion. I also have
Noiseware and Topaz DeNoise but that does take some detail out of the
feathers if one looks close on a larger image like these. I think I used
Noiseware on the whole image of Coot 4 as the Tonal Contrast filter made it
show up more.
Feel free to comment on what you like or don't like or suggestions.
Judy Howle
Southern Exposures
http://southernexposure.zenfolio.com
Digital Photography Class; Resources for Photographers
http://digitalphotographyclass.net
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