Mini Competition #53

[ScoutR]

You're correct, it is closed. As much for other's benefit; it says, in grey text beneath the coloured bars, one of 3 things; "you have/have not voted", or "poll closed".

Yes, I see it now, you have to be logged in or it does not show, that's where I went wrong. I don't usually log in unless I want to post something.

No, no tripod, I'm too lazy to cart one around and too self-conscious to set it up and use it 'in public' anyway

I was kind of hoping you would say that.

Why is it 'smooth'? Well in this case, probably because I used Neat Image and deliberately over-cooked it, knowing the subject was more about shape than texture (unlike my trees shot), but I would suggest 'wanging' those ACR Noise Reduction sliders to teh right yourself

I'll start working with these settings. So far any sharpening that I do at the edit stage just seem to make things worse, but I'm probably doing things in the wrong order and right now I'm not sure what kind of Capture sharpening is being applied in Lightroom. I'm also not sure about the sharpening that Lightroom does when I export to jpg.
For noise, I'll have to check out Neat Image. I don't notice much difference when I use the Lightroom noise reduction.

Your tree shot is closer to the kind of result that I usually get (especially the red shrubs along the bank) The colours are nice but I always want to get things clearer, I can't quite tell why those shrubs are such a different colour, they look like they are the same as the others, but I can't make them out except for the colour. I'm following that one and hope you get some more feedback on it because it will also help me for the same type of shot.

Good, I'm glad you're not worried because, unless the laws of physics are different in Canada, for the same focal length (105mm) and field of view, same given aperture (f8) and crop factor (1.5), you must get the same DoF on your D3000

LOL, it just seems that even with the lens opened right up, my backgrounds always come in way sharper than I want them to. I don't do the math, I just want blurred backgrounds and opening up the lens is supposed to do that. I understand now that because of the sensor size or something in digital cameras, I won't get the same effect that I got with film.

Thanks for the detailed steps. I've put them in my notes, and will use them as a starting point for my "Smooth" experiments.

Wendy

[Dave Humphries]

I'll start working with these settings. So far any sharpening that I do at the edit stage just seem to make things worse, but I'm probably doing things in the wrong order and right now I'm not sure what kind of Capture sharpening is being applied in Lightroom. I'm also not sure about the sharpening that Lightroom does when I export to jpg.

Hi Wendy,

Sharpening, I let it go through with the settings above on the Detail tab in ACR, then add capture sharpening in Elements, usually not as high as Colin's 300/0.3 because it has had the earlier dose. I do it based on picture content. Obviously I can't advise on LR's jpg export sharpening

As to the order of workflow, this is mine.

Effectively everything applied in LR/ACR is simultaneous, so in there, I don't think it matters too much which order you make the adjustments. However, it does matter when you get to Elements though.

From the begining ....
ACR for WB, exposure and black level adjustments (all non-destructive and RAW maximum bit resolution), then, ensuring you are in 16 bit mode, click the Open Image button. Sometimes I'll leave some headroom/footroom (blank areas at top and bottom of histogram) because I know when the LCE is applied, it will push pixels into white/black clipping if they have no room to expand.

In Elements:
Noise reduce (Optional, but if needed, do it first - why sharpen the noise)
Crop (why spend time on what's not going to be in shot)
and Rotate (get them horizons horizontal!!!)
Capture sharpen: USM 100% - 300% at no more than 0.3 radius, set a threshold to suit image noise which is probably linked to the iso used. Try iso/200 as a rule of thumb formula, so 1 for iso upto 200, 2 for 400iso, 4 for 800iso, etc.
Local Contrast Enhance USM 10 - 25%, 150 - 30px radius (note the opposing ranges), threshold isn't important, as noise isn't that big a radius, so 0 (This is the "LCE" mentioned above)
Any whole picture colour or exposure tweaks still necessary
Any perspective corrections/transforms, etc. - in Elements, this will force you to 8-bit mode
Any part picture adjustments; e.g. Cloning, desat, blurring, localised content sharpening, etc. - in Elements, these will force you to 8-bit mode, if not already there
Image re-size for web (bicubic)
Final (Output) Sharpen USM, depending on downsize ratio, the capture sharpen settings maybe OK, definitely keep radius below 0.7, or the edges will become visible

That said, there will be times when some or all of the above doesn't apply!

For noise, I'll have to check out Neat Image. I don't notice much difference when I use the Lightroom noise reduction.

That's why they both need to be set at 100 (maximum) in ACR
Neat Image is better though, but the other is worth doing, if saved as a default, it just gets automatically applied to every picture with no further action necessary.

Cheers,

[ScoutR]

Thanks Dave: I hope you just had to copy and paste and not type that all out. I have added this to the info from your last post and hope to try it out in the next couple days when I have some time to sit down uninterrupted and have another go at Elements.

Wendy

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks Dave: I hope you just had to copy and paste and not type that all out. I have added this to the info from your last post and hope to try it out in the next couple days when I have some time to sit down uninterrupted and have another go at Elements.

No; I even had to thunk it up, but I might re-use it in future

Slight admission, I found the EXIF for the original picture and in that I see I didn't do the WB in ACR as stated above (that experience was, it seems, only in the "dramatic reconstruction") - but I should have for the original, so I won't change the text above.

Cheers,