Project 52 by Frank Miller

If you've ever been fishing with trees nearby, you likely recognize this situation and the frustration it brings.

This week I'm still trying to get water images that are compelling and interesting. I loved the reflection of the shore and sky in the ripples of this lake and felt that the tangled fishing line, bobber and sinker added a bit of interest.

It was a bit flatter before I set the White and Black points but I feel that perhaps I should have left the points just a bit wider. Your thoughts?

http://i45.tinypic.com/1znx06c.jpg

If you look closely using the Lytebox enlargement, you may just be able to see the fishing line.

Superb thread, thank you for sharing your deep knowledge about photography and PP Frank :) This thread is full of useful information and I just want to make it seen for the other members again because it is an old one.

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Originally Posted by bnnrcn

Superb thread, thank you for sharing your deep knowledge about photography and PP Frank :) This thread is full of useful information and I just want to make it seen for the other members again because it is an old one.

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Hi Binnur, Your comments are most appreciated. If there is one thing that this year of trying to learn something new each week has taught me, it is how much more there is to learn!

Ever since Project 52 faded away into the sunset, I have regretted not completing my goal of doing a new photography learning exercise each week of the Project. I have decided to get off my lazy rear end and try to finish the last three weeks of the project, better late than never.

My original goal for the project was to try to improve my post processing skills and that usually meant stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new. This week’s project is no exception. With Marie Hass offering me encouragement to photograph Amaryllis blossoms, I’ve been trying to find a way to display the Amaryllis differently.

For this exercise I used the Amaryllis Picotee that is now displaying the blossoms on its second stalk as a starting point. I used a reading lamp behind the middle blossom to get some back-light and took a focus stack set of images. I then moved the reading lamp to the right front and then to the left front to get the right and left set of blossoms and got a focus stack set of each. You can tell that my tools and skill for subject lighting hasn’t progressed past the natural light stage. I’m not sure if I’ve even used the built-in flash on my camera as yet. Oh well, another learning project for ‘some day’.

http://i59.tinypic.com/2hegd8w.jpg

In Adobe Camera Raw I set the white and black points and other basic sliders and applied the settings across all copies of the image.

Next, I stacked the three sets to give me three images, one each lit from the back, right, and left.

Using layers and selection masks, I merged the three images into one. Because I kept the selection masks, I could play with the three different parts on the image separately even though they now displayed as a single image on my monitor.

The backlit image was too dark to match the other two but simply increasing the brightness also lost much of the back-lit detail I was trying to preserve.

I tried several techniques, including Dodge and Burn with various blending settings but in the end I used Topaz Adjust setting of Crisp to being out the back-lit detail without changing anything else. I could have done this in Photoshop, but it could potentially take a long time to get all the setting just right to get the result I wanted. With Topaz Adjust I can try a number of results at the click of a button and easily compare the details to get just the look I wanted.

To simulate a sunny day, I selected just the complete flower with a selection mask and set the background to transparent. I filled the next layer down with a sky blue color and the one below that with white. By applying a Diamond Gradient at an angle to a layer mask I created on the blue layer, the white simulated sun appears in the center of the layer, right behind the flower.

Once all three layers (flower, sky and sun) had settings that looked good, I merged them together with the Stamp Visible tool and the result came out looking like this:

http://i59.tinypic.com/2i7vnso.jpg

You can use the arrow buttons in the Lightbox to switch back and forth between the before and after images to see the difference.

Comments, suggestions, and critiques are always welcomed. ;)

If you want more detailed steps on how this was done and/or images of the intermediary steps, I can pull them out of the PSD file and provide them for you. :p

Just beautiful Frank :)

Nicely done.

Frank, this was quite a feat. Thank you for giving such a detailed explanation. And congratulations on a great outcome!

Your Week 52 Project was in full swing when I joined CiC. I learned a lot from it so was glad to see you're completing the series.

Beautiful Frank. I really like how the light behind the centre flower almost makes it look transparent.

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Originally Posted by bnnrcn

Just beautiful Frank :)

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Thank you Binnur! Your recent viewing an commenting on this thread was one of the reasons I was encouraged to try to complete it. Now I am once again searching about for what I can do for next weeks post! :eek:

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Originally Posted by Shadowman

Nicely done.

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Thank you John. It's nice to have the appreciation.

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Originally Posted by Cantab

Frank, this was quite a feat. Thank you for giving such a detailed explanation. And congratulations on a great outcome!

Your Week 52 Project was in full swing when I joined CiC. I learned a lot from it so was glad to see you're completing the series.

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My pleasure Bruce. A big part of my goals for this project was the hope that I could help others learn new techniques and I certainly learned a lot along the way.

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Originally Posted by Rita

Beautiful Frank. I really like how the light behind the centre flower almost makes it look transparent.

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Thank you Rita! In another thread you expressed a desire to learn more about the masking process and as I hadn't gone into that kind of detail in this discussion and really didn't have a good example for you, I thought I'd do that here for you.

Additional Detail on the Making of the Starburst Mode Image

For those of you that want to know how I went from the Before image to the After image, here are the steps in more detail. For those that are looking forward to learning more about taking and processing Focus Stacking images, this information should be sufficiently detailed for you to be able to experiment on your own.

The hardware consists of any camera can be manually focused in small, evenly spaced points, a tripod, and a cable release to minimize camera shake. I am using a Nikon D3100 for this image.

The software consists of any software with the ability to use Masking and Layers, and Focus Stacking capability. I am using Photoshop CS5 for this image.

Shooting the Focus Image Stack:

Although one stack of 9 back-lit images could be used, I moved the only light I had to three different locations and took one stack of image for each of the light positions and combined them. For simplicity I am going to describe just the back-lit flower stack.

Once I had the light shining from behind the flower and the camera mounted on a tripod with the cable release in place, I manually focused the camera just shy of the closest part of the flower and took the first image. After checking the exposure, I manually adjusted the focus ring by just enough to be certain I moved it closer to the flower and took the second shot.

I continued this process until the entire flower was just out of focus. For this exercise, that was about 9 shots. Depending upon the lighting, aperture, and resulting Depth of Field, the number of images could be fewer or more. The focus stacking software doesn’t care if you have 2 images or 20 images (or more) so you have a lot of latitude when it comes to getting a good exposure, even at multi-second exposures.

Processing the Focus Image Stack:

I opened Photoshop's Bridge and selected all of the images, then in the File menu, selected Open in Camera Raw. This works whether the images are RAW or JPG. I use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) to do the basic image settings identically across all images in the stack.

In ACR, I change the settings as appropriate. Most of the time I am just touching up the Exposure and Recovery for the highlights and the Fill Light and Fill Light and Blacks for the shadows while watching the histogram. I Select All and Synchronize to apply the settings to all of the images in ACR then close ACR. Back in Bridge, I still have all of the images selected so I go to Tools menu, Photoshop, Load Files into Photoshop Layers and this takes me into Photoshop.

In Photoshop, I select all of the layers and in the Edit menu, Auto-Align Layers, Auto, and click OK. I then go back to the Edit menu, Auto-Blend Layers, Stack Images and click OK. Your Layers window should look something like this:

http://i61.tinypic.com/2i12jiv.jpg

For those of you just learning to use Masks, Photoshop has attached a mask to each layer. Only the white part of the mask reveals what is on that layer and the black part of the mask is transparent for that layer.

Photoshop has looked at each image to find the sharpest part of that image and painted the mask white for that part. Like a puzzle, when all the white parts are combined, you have a complete image that uses only the sharpest parts from the entire set of images. Our display window now shows the combined parts as a single sharp image.

We want to consolidate all 9 images into a single image layer that will be easier to work with so we use Stamp Visible (Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E) to ‘stamp’ one layer of all that is ‘visible’ in the display window. By default, it names this layer ‘Layer 1’ but you can click on the text and change the name to something more appropriate.

Finishing the Image:

To complete the image, we need to address different parts of the image separately from other parts of the image. We’re not too fond of the kitchen in the background so we can create a Layer Mask that reveals only the flower and makes the background transparent. We’ll change the background later. We also want to change the look of just the back-lit part of the flower as it lacks texture and detail at its current brightness. To accomplish this, we’ll create a layer mask for just the center flower.

There are a number of ways to create Layer Masks. They are interchangeable with Selections and there are a number of tools to do selections in the Tools menu. Quick Select, Lasso, Magic Wand, and a number of Shapes tools can be experimented with. For this image Quick Select might be a good choice as it can adapt itself to irregular shapes and works best with high contrast edges, such as we have here.

Once you have a selection, you can apply it to a layer mask by highlighting the layer you want to apply it to and use the Add Vector Mask icon at the bottom of the layers window. Selections can’t be saved in the PSD file but layer masks can. Because we can make a selection from a layer mask by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on the layer mask, we can easily switch between Selections and Layer Masks.

You can also create a mask to match the flower by simply painting with a Black Brush on a white mask, or painting with a White Brush on a black mask. Remember, White shows what is on this layer and Black is transparent so it shows what is on the layer(s) below it. You can invert the mask, make Black, White and what is White, Black, by highlighting the Mask and clicking (Ctrl+I).

http://i61.tinypic.com/15mnv6a.jpg

Here you can see the Black Mask with a White hole that matches the shape of the flower. The layer below is a 50% Grey so that is what shows through the Black transparent part of the mask. In this version of the flower, I had already made adjustments to bring out the details in the pedals and by using the mask, these changes apply only to the central blossom and not to the rest of the flower or the background.

Now, by using a similar mask for the entire flower, I can put two layers below it using the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layer window. I’ll then use the Edit menu, Fill, and Color to fill one of the layers with a sky blue and the other with a bright white. Now the layers look like this.

http://i57.tinypic.com/jaxw60.jpg

So? How are we going to get the white layer to show through the blue layer? With a layer mask of course!

In the Tool menu on the left is a Gradient Tool. When selected, in the menu at the top there is a Diamond Gradient option. If we add a layer mask to the blue layer using the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layer window, we can select the mask and draw the gradient on the display window.

http://i57.tinypic.com/ajmljb.jpg

The Gradient tool gives you a crosshair that you can click a starting point, drag, and the ending point. For this image I started in the center of the flower and dragged up and right. The angle determines the angle of the gradient and the length of the line determines the size of the gradient.

http://i58.tinypic.com/jzwhso.jpg

When you release the mouse button, the gradient is applied to the mask with the following result.

You can see the gradient on the blue layer mask. The top layer is the merging of the layers below it using Stamp Visible (Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E).

http://i57.tinypic.com/2808955.jpg

I did not go into the details of making a Selection as there are a number of ways this can be done and there are numerous tutorials on how to do this. Plus, you can create the mask with nothing more than the Brush tool so selections aren’t even required, but are very handy if you are just getting started.

If you learn easier by the use of a Video Tutorial, this one is excellent for grasping the basics.

I hope this gives encouragement to those that are ready to move beyond global post processing techniques to using Layers and Masking to accurately change and control specific parts of an image. You can use these techniques with sharpness/blur, contrast, brightness, color, ...virtually any adjustment that can be applied to an image.

Very nice Frank,i love the back lighting!

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Originally Posted by deetheturk

Very nice Frank,i love the back lighting!

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Thank you David! I'm glad that you do. :D

Hi Frank,
Just to say that this is a great thread. Very long but I intend to view it in more detail, later at my leisure.

During my quick view I didn't notice the editing/creation of any high or low key images. Something I would like to learn to do. If you have any such images I would love to learn this, and if not I'd be delighted to send you a couple photographed that way that I don't know what to do with... only if it is something of interest to you.

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Originally Posted by Christina S

Hi Frank,
Just to say that this is a great thread. Very long but I intend to view it in more detail, later at my leisure.

During my quick view I didn't notice the editing/creation of any high or low key images. Something I would like to learn to do. If you have any such images I would love to learn this, and if not I'd be delighted to send you a couple photographed that way that I don't know what to do with... only if it is something of interest to you.

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Hi Christina, thank you for viewing and commenting!

I've tried high and low key images from time to time but they always come out flat and a bit boring. I suspect that I would need a very special image to make it look better than normal processing and perhaps I just haven't found the right image - or I just haven't learned the technique.

And thank you for starting this thread.

Good to know so thank you for sharing that. If you ever come across an image that works as high or low key I would love to see your version.:)

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Originally Posted by FrankMi

Hi Christina, thank you for viewing and commenting!

I've tried high and low key images from time to time but they always come out flat and a bit boring. I suspect that I would need a very special image to make it look better than normal processing and perhaps I just haven't found the right image - or I just haven't learned the technique.

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The purpose of this week’s exercise is do some night photography. Normally that would mean a static scene, long exposures, tripod, mirror lock-up, and a cable release. This will be a bit different as I’ll be trying my best to shoot aerial acrobatics, synchronized swimming, and high diving.

At the back of the Oasis of the Seas is an 18 foot deep Aqua Theater Pool with twin 60 foot high dive towers.

The kidney shaped pool has three platforms that can be individually raised above the water level to create a stage. In the following image, there is no water in the pool and the center stage is raised. In the back of the left side you can see access ports where swimmers can enter or leave the pool underwater from backstage. It is not uncommon for folks sitting in the front three rows to get thoroughly soaked during a performance.

http://i57.tinypic.com/rkng2w.jpg

In this image we can see the pool is filled and the platforms have been lowered. We are standing on the 16th deck overlooking the Boardwalk. The zip-line is just out of sight over our heads.

http://i62.tinypic.com/ipxo5i.jpg

Shooting images of the synchronized swimming, aerial acrobatics, and high dive performances was quite a challenge, particularly at the night performances. Many of the night shots taken at this performance were at ISO 1600, F3.5, and 1/20 sec. Needless to say they are grainy at best and have significant motion blur.

Normally I would Auto-Align all 7 layers for this image at once but this time I experimented with aligning just 2 images at a time until all 7 images were merged into one. To make this work, I did a rough alignment of 2 images by setting the opacity of the top image to 50%, then using Free Transform, aligned the 2 images as close as I could before using Auto-Align. This seemed to help where the 2 images weren’t close. If needed, I would use the same process after Auto-Align to fine tune the alignment but after turning on Free Transform, I used the arrow keys to nudge the 2 images closer, one pixel at a time.

http://i57.tinypic.com/15yi35k.jpg

To get a different perspective of the event, here is the start of the high dives shot from above the pool. In the lower right hand corner you can see an aerial acrobat performing on the high wire. And yes, the railing you see towards the bottom of the image is all that is between me and a 120 foot plunge to the pool, if I were to be able to make it that far out from this location!

http://i57.tinypic.com/ibi3ar.jpg

It was almost impossible to catch the divers in mid-air without significant motion blur so I had to settle for images where the motion was more subdued. On the other hand, I find these images to be a great way to recall the excitement and grandeur of the events.

Nicely captured, the event lighting really adds to the look.

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Originally Posted by Shadowman

Nicely captured, the event lighting really adds to the look.

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Your comments are very much appreciated John. Here is a link to a video that can give you a better feel for the action.