18th century door

[DanK]

This is a shot of a door in an 18th century tavern along the route that the British troops took between Lexington and Concord MA the day the American revolution started. Much of the route has been turned into a narrow park, and a number of the structures, including this one, Hartwell Tavern, have been preserved and restored. I took this primarily for the textures, and I did more boosting of textures and color than I normally would do. C&C welcome, of course.

[bje07]

Nice, but I notice some noise, may be due to the transfer?

[DanK]

Nice, but I notice some noise, may be due to the transfer?

It's not noise. Blow it up in the lightbox and look at smooth surfaces on the handle and around the keyhole. They are smooth. I went back and checked each stage. What I think you are seeing is a speckling of the wood surfaces from aging, which is quite pronounced in the original raw capture. The processing I did was intended to draw out textures and color contrasts, and that processing makes the speckling even more pronounced.

This sort of image is one of the few for which I use Nik. The tonal contrast and pro contrast filters in Color Efex are very good at bringing out the detail and both color and tonal contrasts in images like this. I haven't been able to replicate the effect in photoshop. This image has both of those filters applied, as well has a hefty dose of the LR/ACR texture adjustment and a tad of the clarity adjustment.

[Manfred M]

I can see why you would want to bring out the textures, but I'm not sure if you've been 100% successful here. Yes, the textures are evident, but the image is starting to look "crunchy", i.e. over processed. I wonder if you are pushing too hard?

[DanK]

perhaps. The sharpening is not extreme: in lightoom, amount 80, radius 0.8, masking 40. The values for texture and clarity were +58 and +9, respectively, but they had very little impact, despite the fairly large number for texture. The only edits relevant to crunchiness in Photoshop were two Color Efex filters, a tad of dynamic contrast (12%) in the pro contrast filter and values of 34 and 39% respectively, for highlights and midtones in the tonal contrast filter.

[Manfred M]

perhaps. The sharpening is not extreme: in lightoom, amount 80, radius 0.8, masking 40. The values for texture and clarity were +58 and +9, respectively, but they had very little impact, despite the fairly large number for texture. The only edits relevant to crunchiness in Photoshop were two Color Efex filters, a tad of dynamic contrast (12%) in the pro contrast filter and values of 34 and 39% respectively, for highlights and midtones in the tonal contrast filter.

I suspected that you were trying to maintain a gentle touch. Unfortunately, the issue I have developed with Nik filters is that I don't always have a good feeling for what they are doing. We I do, I rarely ever use the Tonal Contrast filter as it introduces a poorly done HDRI look to the image quite easily. The other filter I play very gently with is the Detail Extractor and virtually never go above a value of 2% for very much the same reason.

Pro Contrast I sometimes turn to with a problematic image, but even there, values as high as you have used tend to push the image too hard. When I do use it, I generally don't apply it globally, but use in in conjunction with a Photoshop layer mask and apply it to just a few areas that need help. I find that the horizontal boards on the right are the most noticeable as being overdone.

[DanK]

I also largely avoid Nik filters for one of the reasons you mentioned: I don't know what's under the hood. However, I've found pro contrast and tonal contrast very useful for enhancing certain types of surfaces, in particular, rusty ones, and so far, I haven't been able to replicate the effect by assembling edits in Photoshop.

Re the specifics of the image: I think this boils down to taste. I posted this on the group site of a local photography group to which I belong, and the primary suggestion was precisely the opposite: to enhance the texture more, not less. So, I'll have to keep fussing to figure out where I fall on this continuum. I suspect I won't be able to decide until I try printing it. However, I do agree with your point about the relative strength of the effects on the two sides. I was primarily using the left side to guide my edits, as that side has less detail. I'll fiddle with reducing the strength of the edits on the right. Because I find Nik filters a black box, I often use them as smart filters so that I can easily go back and adjust them, and I did that in this case.

[Wavelength]

I would prefer trimming away the left frame wood so that the grip and partition are less towards the center

[purplehaze]

My first reaction to this image was that I could feel the dryness and roughness of the wood and so I found it quick realistic. My contractor (a carpenter and woodworker) was just telling me this morning that, as wood ages, it loses the very fine fibres on its surface, and I was reminded of this thread. I am not sure what that knowledge means for processing, if any, but thought I should at least share my first impression.

[DanK]

Janis,

Thanks. This wood is at least 250 years old, so there is a lot of weathering of that sort. What adds to it is that the surface has been treated at various times during its life. It looks as thought it is currently treated with some sort of pitch-based preservative, which is why the boards on the left have a dark brown appearance. What intrigued me about this, apart from the simple composition, was the differences in texture and color across the different pieces of wood. That's why I gave it a somewhat heavy-handed processing.

Dan

[DanK]

I let this sit for a while and then came back to it. I find that's often helpful.

Nandakumar--I agree with you. I'm going to crop the vertical wood off the left side.

Manfred--I went back to the processing, zeroing out edits and slowly bringing them out. I don't think there is crunchiness from overprocessing. I think the processing simply makes apparent the complex textures of the wood. I didn't find that the weaker edits were better. All a matter of taste. I'm going to print this and see what the processing looks like on paper. The relative coarseness of a computer display creates a different appearance.