old car

[ragman]

Izzie, you have helped me through this and certainly you have no reason to be sorry about anything. I was the one getting frustrated. In regards to fringing, the above photo was deliberately blurred because it was a chosen path to making something out of a difficult lighting situation. Is that blurred edge called fringing? Also...when I click on a pic from a file should I be using a raw picture. I shot both raw and jpeg. I get what seems to be a different tool bar with raw than when I click on the jpeg picture. The tool bar for JPEG is more complex and difficult to navigate through. Also, it concerns me that I might be modifying a raw picture permanently. I know these questions must seem pretty lame to everyone, but you have shown a willingness to help...therefore I blame you

[Manfred M]

manfred, thanks for your comments. The light was getting low in the sky and coming from behind the car. I took a series of shots from all angles but except for the light, I liked this angle best. The car obviously could not be moved and the view from the other side was less interesting. I will submit a shot from the light side that I doctored up. When all else fails crank up the special effects.

You might have cranked up the special effects, but the colour range looks really low (and gives you a very muddy looking image). I suspect you have posted a low quality jpeg as there are lots of artifacts in the image. Fixing the black point and white point will give your image a lot more "pop".

[ragman]

Hi Manfred. Thanks for your response. Because the lighting was poor on both sides of the image I bailed out on trying to fix it. It gets frustrating to work on a picture only to have it vanish or unable to find it in order to send. I was instead clicking on some of the effects options in an exploratory manner. I'm finding that photography has many facets like all art. P/P opens a whole new way to express yourself. Right now, I'm playing with it like it was a new toy. I've followed your postings here and greatly admire your work. I will always welcome remarks, that's why I'm here.
PS. Your changes to the picture are spot on.

[IzzieK]

Izzie, you have helped me through this and certainly you have no reason to be sorry about anything. I was the one getting frustrated. In regards to fringing, the above photo was deliberately blurred because it was a chosen path to making something out of a difficult lighting situation. Is that blurred edge called fringing?

If you clicked on the link that I sent you, you will know what "fringing" means. On your shot, you have that blue lines around the top of the car down to the front. Please read the tutorial that I linked you on to, even just to understand what I mean.

Also...when I click on a pic from a file should I be using a raw picture. I shot both raw and jpeg. I get what seems to be a different tool bar with raw than when I click on the jpeg picture. The tool bar for JPEG is more complex and difficult to navigate through.

Yes you clicked on NEF file and it will take you to ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) window. From there you do a little bit of editing e.g., pushing the brightness slider, contrast, highlights if any, and all the rest of it. Other people have a workflow (way of editing their image after loading it to their computer). I only use the sliders on Exposure, sometimes contrast, adjust backwards and forwards from shadow to exposure again if need be. Then on the Sharpening, I move the Luminance button to the right if need be to get rid of the noise if I have them because I used a high ISO in my shooting.

I leave the rest of the editing and when I clicked on Open Image, the image opens up in Photoshop. Then I go to Nik's software to finalize my editing, first Viveza 2, then Color Efex if necessary for special effects, if I want to maintain my image as a coloured image; Silver Efex for if I want to convert and put special effects as a black and white. As soon as the editing and/or conversion is finished, my image goes back to Photoshop and clicked on the layers to see if I like what I did. If not, I can delete that special effect/s I put in it, then save my file in a different name. The NEF file is not touched at all. I can go back to it if I need to or want to later on. (Please anyone correct me if I am wrong as this is what I do, you may be doing other methods than what I do...)

Also, it concerns me that I might be modifying a raw picture permanently. I know these questions must seem pretty lame to everyone, but you have shown a willingness to help...therefore I blame you

Please read reply above. I will help you as far as I can. Or others will too...Just ask away.

[ragman]

Again thanks so much Izzie. I did read up on fringing or chromatic aberration and understand the process of cleaning up edges for a sharper picture. The last car picture I posted that Manfred had whitened and improved was kind of ment to be fuzzy since I had given up on it due to lighting problems. Please keep in mind...you are dealing with a 5 year old when it comes to P/P. That link may have been a little over my head at this time, but now I understand this exists and can be cleaned up if desired. Also, I am glad to know making changes to a raw picture does not permanently change it in NEF. ( not sure what NEF stands for, but that's another day)

[IzzieK]

NEF is the RAW file equivalent in a Nikon camera. I do not know what the original file that came with in a Canon...

Again thanks so much Izzie. I did read up on fringing or chromatic aberration and understand the process of cleaning up edges for a sharper picture. The last car picture I posted that Manfred had whitened and improved was kind of ment to be fuzzy since I had given up on it due to lighting problems. Please keep in mind...you are dealing with a 5 year old when it comes to P/P. That link may have been a little over my head at this time, but now I understand this exists and can be cleaned up if desired. Also, I am glad to know making changes to a raw picture does not permanently change it in NEF. ( not sure what NEF stands for, but that's another day)

Just keep looking at other posts and looking at their images and very soon you will learn through the comments of others more knowledgeable than me (I am not...) what an image requires. When you encounter some terminologies you do not understand, google it and find an article that suits your understanding. It is one way of "growing" in photography.

If you have any more questions, just ask away. Good luck.

[Manfred M]

Ron - editing programs do not change the raw files, which in the Nikon world, have an NEF extension.

This file is just data that has to be interpreted to create a usable image file. The meta data say you are using Photoshop CC, which means any changes are saved as a .psd file. Any work you have done on it in Adobe Camera Raw of Lightroom will either be stored in a sidecar .xmp file or in the Lightroom catalogue (if this is how you have set things up).

[ragman]

Thanks Izzie. Good advise. I don't expect to pick up on all this stuff overnight. I have definitely caught the bug though.

[ragman]

Thanks Manfred. I can't actually claim to have things set up, actually it's a mess. I'm certain it can be sorted out at sometime down the road with everyone's help. Right now I plan to keep slugging along, picking up the pieces along the way. Everyone here has been great and I enjoy the mood of the site.