windmill (which one?)

[Davey]

some partially processed versions of same shot but unsure what one I prefer most. If I had the time I'd like to process each completely until I was reasonably satified and then chose one but I can't decide hmmm.

Any help on which one people prefer and why and just as helpful which they don't like and why (even if it is all of them that is disliked the why is useful to me ).

I aim to address the banding introduced by the b&w processing (in pshop, the orig if a raw file from a fuji s5600), also spend time with dodge and burn brushes and selective sharpening but want to decide which version to work on first. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[carregwen]

I think the middle one is better, but it's hard to tell with a small size. On the left shot on the right side of the mill the sky looks very patchy - what is that? And there is a bad shadow in the top right of all the shots. Not sure what that is? Did you shoot this in RAW?

[arith]

I like all of them.

[Davey]

the patch is down to using a cpl and very quick n dirty edit, shot is raw yeah (fuji .raf). That patchiness is because I used extreme values for blues and cyans in particular in pshop b&w filter to darken the sky hence noise is made horrendous artifacts. I will clone it out on the one I decide to go with

If I was to work on it properly I wouldn't take them down severly that way but would get half way with b&w filter and then layer mask and use curves and burn brush to get same tone but without banding, streaks and patchiness. Denoise a little more carefully and selectively instead of global blitzing (foreground looks plastic and too smooth- see orig below) and re-add noise grain at end if need be to give natural and none "artifacted to death" look. Processed that way very quickly to visually decide what way to go to give me rough idea......... but being the usual ME couldn't decide I'm mainly stuck on "sails bright against dark sky" or "sails dark against bright sky" look and how much brighter to go on the body of the windmill.

Once decided I will reprocess the raw file patiently and carefully because I actually like the shot but didn't want to go all out making 3 seperate versions I am happy with because compared to regualr mortals I work Sllloooowwwww hence often do very rough photo processes and so on before deciding what route to go. I even pen and paper sketch ideas for graphic stuff with none photographic stuff before I hit a computer or I find I sit there all day working on something only to get 3 hours in and think I don't like this idea, yeah I'm that person everyone else hates to work with hehehe.

The left most is principly yellow filter but severly cutting down blue and cyan, mid is orange filter (tweaked a little) and far right is yellow filter. A jpeg from the original in full size with denoise, capture sharp and small amount of creative sharp and no colour adjustments looks like this (open on its own to see full size rather than click and view within cic)

note = exif should be intact if interested

[Donald]

Davey

I'd go with Rob and say the middle of the three is the one I'd prefer. Why? It's not just because Rob's a very, very nice man and I want to be his friend!!

It's because the other two are too harsh, too contrasty, too 'hard' for my personal taste (and remember that is what it is). The middle one has, for me, a more gentle balance of tone across the image. The windmill is more 'harmonious' with its setting. In the other two it looks like a something stuck brutally into the landscape which, when you think about it, is exactly what it is and which is what you may be seeking to portray. But if you're after a gentler, rural scene in which the building 'fits' in its landscape, then the middle one.

You'll have established by now that I don't go for the technical analysis (probably don't know enough to do that). It's all done on the 'feeling' and the 'emotion' generated.