Waterfalls for Terry

[FootLoose]

Christina, I had a play with the curves tool to try to bring out some structure in the white water -- and then wondered what it would look like in black and white. If you don't like it, I will remove it.

[Mike Buckley]

Terrific improvement to the water, Greg. This, no doubt, is a perfect example of why any reasonably powerful post-processing tool should allow the user to apply the tone curve to a selected area of the image.

However, I'd like to see your magnificent toning applied to the entire image.

[Brownbear]

Hi Greg,

Thank you so much for taking the time to demonstrate an edit. Truly appreciated and very helpful for me to see as I am working on improving my post processing skills.

Your water is truly magnificent. Is there anything in particular that you did to the water that I can try?


I'm not sure about the black and white simply because I see this place as a small piece of paradise... The water is Caribbean green. The rocks are very dark and foreboding, and even though it can be a dangerous place it is not the mood I wish to convey. Perhaps if I could try the water like you have, and keep the rocks light sort of a high-key happy black and white, so it is a beautiful tropical paradise in black and white.

Once again... Thank you! Truly appreciated.

Christina, I had a play with the curves tool to try to bring out some structure in the white water -- and then wondered what it would look like in black and white. If you don't like it, I will remove it.

[FootLoose]

Your water is truly magnificent. Is there anything in particular that you did to the water that I can try?

Christina, there is no formula, unfortunately, but this is what I did to the water.
I opened the file in PS CC and took it into ACR. First I dragged the exposure down to see if there was any detail in the water that could be recovered. There was, so then I set the black and white points (hold down alt key and drag the slider til some colour appears, then back off a tad).

Next was very slight adjustments with clarity and saturation sliders, being careful not to clip the whites in the water.

Then over to the Sharpening and noise panel. I keep a fairly low radius and generally don't go much above 60 with Amount. The important thing is to keep a close eye on the affects being produced in the water.

The curves tool is next. I use the Point diagram. I start by increasing the blacks (because I like them dark). If there is any clipping in the whites, I pull the top end of the curve line down til it goes away. Otherwise it is just a bit of trial and error manipulating the top half of the line to increase the contrast in the water.

Then I take it into Photoshop, and might apply contrast layers or hue adjustments to my taste. I find a useful adjustment (with CC, at least) is the Shadows/Highlights under the Image menu.

I'm not sure about the black and white simply because I see this place as a small piece of paradise... The water is Caribbean green. The rocks are very dark and foreboding, and even though it can be a dangerous place it is not the mood I wish to convey.

I decided to try black and white when I noticed the face in the cave at the top right. It reminded me of the drawings in Coles' Funny Picture Book, some of which gave me nightmares when I was a kid. To preserve / enhance the Caribbean colours I would try playing with the HSL sliders in ACR.

[Brownbear]

Thank you Greg!

I know there is no formula but your guidance provides me with some helpful tips to try and play with, and I will do just that. Truly appreciated.

Sorry if I brought back memories of any nightmares...

Christina, there is no formula, unfortunately, but this is what I did to the water.
I opened the file in PS CC and took it into ACR. First I dragged the exposure down to see if there was any detail in the water that could be recovered. There was, so then I set the black and white points (hold down alt key and drag the slider til some colour appears, then back off a tad).

Next was very slight adjustments with clarity and saturation sliders, being careful not to clip the whites in the water.

Then over to the Sharpening and noise panel. I keep a fairly low radius and generally don't go much above 60 with Amount. The important thing is to keep a close eye on the affects being produced in the water.

The curves tool is next. I use the Point diagram. I start by increasing the blacks (because I like them dark). If there is any clipping in the whites, I pull the top end of the curve line down til it goes away. Otherwise it is just a bit of trial and error manipulating the top half of the line to increase the contrast in the water.

Then I take it into Photoshop, and might apply contrast layers or hue adjustments to my taste. I find a useful adjustment (with CC, at least) is the Shadows/Highlights under the Image menu.




I decided to try black and white when I noticed the face in the cave at the top right. It reminded me of the drawings in Coles' Funny Picture Book, some of which gave me nightmares when I was a kid. To preserve / enhance the Caribbean colours I would try playing with the HSL sliders in ACR.

[ajohnw]

A touch of curves and saturation could be use to fix the Enfuse version. I placed a point in the centre and two more one in the centre of each section either side of the central one. Leave the central one alone, push the mid dark end one up a bit and pull the mid high one down a little more. The fact that the central one isn't moved flattens out the mid range contrast, pushing the dark end up increased and brightens that end a little and pulling the bright end down reduces the brightness and boosts contrast in the water. Then just a slight reduction in saturation. This might be more to your tastes.



The way I see it is that Enfuse might boost contrast so reduce that one way or the other and the change saturation to taste. Saturation can have a similar effect to contrast so it's a case of finding a suitable mix. A straight contrast slider might do it.

Seeing Greg's had to try an Ansel Adams. Mixed feelings about it but done very quickly.



Black and white conversion and a tint layer more brown than sepia set to the point where the colour of the tint wasn't obvious. The water looked too white to me so used levels to remap it to 0-230 and used the mid grey slider to adjust the over all image, more interested in rocks and trees. Then very roughly selected the water with a decent sized blend width completely missing twigs etc. Then used curves on the selected area to boost contrast. Top white moved left and 1/4 down the curve pulled down. This left water out of the selection darker so used a burn brush to cure that and give them some shape - should have done a bit more of that. Then a sharpening brush on the water.

I lost some water detail - should have watched that more closely when I used curves on it. The selection was really rough. No contours followed not even round the twigs. I sometimes feel this is a quicker method of retouching followed by a little bit of local work.

John
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[Brownbear]

Thank you John.

I also appreciate all the little tips! I like the less saturated foliage in the Enfuse version.

A touch of curves and saturation could be use to fix the Enfuse version. I placed a point in the centre and two more one in the centre of each section either side of the central one. Leave the central one alone, push the mid dark end one up a bit and pull the mid high one down a little more. The fact that the central one isn't moved flattens out the mid range contrast, pushing the dark end up increased and brightens that end a little and pulling the bright end down reduces the brightness and boosts contrast in the water. Then just a slight reduction in saturation. This might be more to your tastes.



The way I see it is that Enfuse might boost contrast so reduce that one way or the other and the change saturation to taste. Saturation can have a similar effect to contrast so it's a case of finding a suitable mix. A straight contrast slider might do it.

Seeing Greg's had to try an Ansel Adams. Mixed feelings about it but done very quickly.



Black and white conversion and a tint layer more brown than sepia set to the point where the colour of the tint wasn't obvious. The water looked too white to me so used levels to remap it to 0-230 and used the mid grey slider to adjust the over all image, more interested in rocks and trees. Then very roughly selected the water with a decent sized blend width completely missing twigs etc. Then used curves on the selected area to boost contrast. Top white moved left and 1/4 down the curve pulled down. This left water out of the selection darker so used a burn brush to cure that and give them some shape - should have done a bit more of that. Then a sharpening brush on the water.

I lost some water detail - should have watched that more closely when I used curves on it. The selection was really rough. No contours followed not even round the twigs. I sometimes feel this is a quicker method of retouching followed by a little bit of local work.

John
-

[Brownbear]

Hi Binnur,

Thank you. I agree and I will also practice my PP on the first image. Appreciated.

Hi Christina, I like both compositions very much. Although majority likes #3, #1 is a very nice image too and it might look better with some PP