Another day in the desert

[SpiderBob]

I like to walk, and I always take my camera, the more I look at this one, the more I feel connected - comments please always welcome.

[Nicola]

I like to walk, and I always take my camera, the more I look at this one, the more I feel connected - comments please always welcome.

Bob
I do like this picture it's a nice "desert-scape"
Did you use the "lights/shadows" recovery command in photoshop?
in my humble opinion, you have enlighted too much the shadows... it seems a bit "washed"
try also to increase the midtones contrast (there is the slider in the "light/shadow recovery" command, if you used it)
at last, the details in the bushes are too low, some local contrast enhacement will help
I hope my comments won't hurt you, maybe I've been too harsh..
again, I like your picture
cheers
nicola

[SpiderBob]

thanks Nicola, I appreciate your input, please feel free, this is what this is all about at least for me. Yes, I did use the enlighten tool, and after looking at it I could not agree more. So....I played a bit, only please comment again, as I might have added too much to the bushes. Oh, I did put less enlightening as well.

[SpiderBob]

The more I think and look at it, the more I should do just what you mentioned. The bushes were not that green in real life except for the small one more center. So this one I took the RAW I had and started over. What do you think?

[Nicola]

Good work Bob!
I like the sky in the #2 and the ground in the 3rd (expecially the "reddish" tone in the sand)
In my opinion, you could try to post process separately the sky and the ground using two different selection, in order to match the good results of the 2nd and 3rd version..
N

An other suggestion...
after the previous steps
try to create a B&W layer (just clicking on the B&W command) then turn the blending mode of the layer to "overlay" and adjust the opacity at your taste... I think it could help

this is a quick go...

[SpiderBob]

OK, here is the latest results

[SpiderBob]

I like your results better, it left the forward bushes as they were in visual sight.

I'm going to go they that one now, thanks again.

[Nicola]

Goood!!
I like your version very much!
I don't know how the green of bushes was... you have to control it and then
let's wait for comments of the others!

[SpiderBob]

I just did a bad thing, just spilled coffee into my keyboard and mouse - mouse not working or should I say doing funny things. I better shut down and try to dry this all out by for now

OK then, mayday over, I'm back. So....I had never done that before Nicola, that is awesome, thanks, here is my results, better or not

[Nicola]

I just did a bad thing, just spilled coffee into my keyboard and mouse - mouse not working or should I say doing funny things. I better shut down and try to dry this all out by for now

OK then, mayday over, I'm back. So....I had never done that before Nicola, that is awesome, thanks, here is my results, better or not

Better!
in my opinion
I would like to read others members' comments!

Bob
as I'm a pest
I see an "halo" around the rocks on the right side (a brighter area of sky/clouds just around and very close to the rocks)... it should be coming from the enlighten tool ...
honestly, I saw it since the first post but I haven't told you that before in order to don't write too much notes at one time...

[SpiderBob]

Wow, I just replied but it didn't show up. I'll try that again. Yes now that you mention it, it shows up like a sore thumb in all of the photos. I tried taking it down, but I lose the rest of the picture while doing it. Good time to learn another thing. Can you tell me how to, without losing the rest? Perhaps it is just a lot of pixel work?

[FrankMi]

Wow, I just replied but it didn't show up. I'll try that again. Yes now that you mention it, it shows up like a sore thumb in all of the photos. I tried taking it down, but I lose the rest of the picture while doing it. Good time to learn another thing. Can you tell me how to, without losing the rest? Perhaps it is just a lot of pixel work?

Hi Bob, just looking at the rock on the right for the moment, I see a halo on the left side. You have a sharp edge to the rock and fairly consistent sky on the left so although there are several methods available, this is the technique I would try first in this situation. I'm using Photoshop CS5.

I zoom to 500% and use the clone stamp tool set to a 5 pixel diameter. I would pick a spot just left of the halo, about the width of the Clone Stamp circle away and then draw down the side of the rock exactly where the halo is. The pickup point will follow your tool even if you stop and restart. As long as you can keep the sensor point from straying too close to any other objects (in which case you would need to pick a new sensor sample location, you could potentially clear the halo along the entire left side of the rock with one stroke.

If you want to try this on the top of the middle rock, just keep the pickup point parallel to the direction you are moving the tool, which means you would need to reposition the pickup point as you go around a curve, as in over the top of the rock and down the other side.
Hope this helps!

[SpiderBob]

Ok then, I'll be back soon

[SpiderBob]

did some more work, speaking of work this is a work in progress, any help would be appreciated.



While on the subject of halo, how or why does that happen to begin with? is it all from the post processing, or from the original take?

[FrankMi]

While on the subject of halo, how or why does that happen to begin with? is it all from the post processing, or from the original take?

Wow Bob, that was fast. and it looks like you were able to address the most obvious halos. Neat!

Halos can come from a number of sources but perhaps one of the most common sources is over-sharpening. Sharpening accentuates the brightness difference between high and low exposure edges. When an image is over-sharpened, there is an overshoot of brightness on one side of the edge and an undershoot on the other side of the edge. For a clearer explanation, please take a look at the following tutorial - https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...sharpening.htm.

When I was delving into Sharpening and Noise Reduction, Colin Southern provided an excellent explanation complete with examples of how to effectively sharpen images starting at post # 6 "Sharpening & Noise Reduction - The Workflow (and Debunking the Myths!)" in the following thread - Sharpening and Noise Reduction Sequence.

[Nicola]

Bob,
I detected an other halo... around the cloud in the top left...
sorry I forgot to mention it
(this time the sky is turned to deeper blu, since the cloud is white)

[SpiderBob]

Bob,
I detected an other halo... around the cloud in the top left...
sorry I forgot to mention it
(this time the sky is turned to deeper blu, since the cloud is white)

That one was difficult, but fun. I started with two new layers, one with saturation and one with contrast - neither solved the problem with the halo, so I made a duplicate layer and went the long way with pixels. Now if there is a faster way I would sure like to know it, or a different way.

[SpiderBob]

OK, so I took the sky down some on this one, perhaps it is better. It could work both ways to me. I've seen the sky both ways depending on the amount of dust in the air.

[FrankMi]

That one was difficult, but fun. I started with two new layers, one with saturation and one with contrast - neither solved the problem with the halo, so I made a duplicate layer and went the long way with pixels. Now if there is a faster way I would sure like to know it, or a different way.

Hi Bob, one way you could experiment with is using the Color Replacement Tool in areas such above the top left cloud. Use the Color Picker tool to get a blue that is as close as you can to the area you want to correct the halo in and try an initial brush size in the Color Replacement tool of about 10-15 pixels and I would use 500% zoom. Just run the tool along the outside edge of the cloud. If you end up running onto the cloud you could undo or touch-up with the Color Replacement tool by picking the cloud color. Because you are not replacing all the pixels as you would with the Clone Tool, you may see a little bit of a black fringe left behind in that specific location.

I hope this provides you with a 'different way' that you were looking for.

[SpiderBob]

FrankMi, gave it a try, this has been quite a learning experience. Played with the Color Picker, I really don't care for it as much as the Clone Tool, seems there are extra steps to take. However, I did go back and take out the black fringe that was indeed left behind with the Clone Tool. I feel I probably ended up with the same results, but I did learn the use of another tool.

Nicola, I did find some more halos on other clouds, so I smoothed them out as well.

What should / could I have done in the first workflow, that would have given me more of the results that I have now. It seems that I had to go through a lot of work to achieve what I should have been closer to in the first place. Another question, would a better camera (as in full frame) given me less work, or am I picking straws now?




I thinking that much of this could have been avoided in the first workflow by not using so much