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Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House
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SPOILER ALERT! I've already run this image through photoshop, so this message contains the full before-and-after with all of my steps detailed. I'd love to see what other people can do with it, so if you'd like to photoshop it as well, DO NOT scroll below the first image. The first image in this message is the straight-from-camera file, cropped to match the finished image.


I spent some time today looking through my archives, seeking out the images that I would have printed way back when. Here's one of my favourites, revisited eight months and ten days after I took it.

The first image is the straight-from-camera jpeg, a 1024x768 capture. I've cropped it to match the printed version, but otherwise made no changes. It was taken at -0.5EV to protect the highlights on the door frame, at f9.5, iso100, handheld at 1/250 at a 56mm-e focal length.



[Image: yellowhouse-original-5071.jpg]



The second image is a resized version of the printed file, which was not resharpened (d`ope!) for web use. Incidentally, both images were saved at 50% compression, the first creating a 57KB file, the second increasing to 82KB.



[Image: yellowhouse-8x10-5071.jpg]


So here's what changed....

The print file was converted from my E-1's full-sized 5MP RAW capture using the free 'Olympus Viewer' software. WB was changed from "auto" to "cloudy" for the extra warmth, and the saturation was increased from "3" to "4", the maximum. A compensating +0.5EV adjustment was applied (I didn't need it in the first place) and it was exported to Photoshop 7 as a maximum-quality JPEG.

A duplicate layer took care of the cleanup duties; the diagonal paths were removed, as were some of the more prominent dandelions. Next, I selected the sky (magic wand, low threshold and lots of clicking) and reduced its brightness and increased its contrast by 30% with an adjustment layer. A Curves layer added contrast, darkening the grass and really bringing out the yellow, but brightened the sky to a distinct shade of cyan. A graduated fill mask took care of the sky, and some pen-and-tablet work removed the mask from the house.

Dodging and burning makes a subtle but powerful difference, and that was my next step. A new layer, set to "overlay" and filled with 50% grey is my favourite way to do this. With a graduated fill set to 15% opacity black, I darkened about half of the foreground grass and the very top of the sky. I then selected the middle ground, from the grass that wasn't darkened up to the top of the fence, and switched the marquee tool to exclude the house from the selection. I was able to do a white graduated fill that gradually brightened the grass toward the house, and reached its full 10% intensity to brighten the fence. More brushwork lightened the tree. It may seem finicky to fuss around with 10-15% differences, but it completely changes the lighting. In this case, I think it adds tremendous depth and really makes the house "pop".

A quick Levels adjustment layer showed that my brightest point was at 250, which was easily fixed.

Finally, sharpening. I rarely use the "Unsharp Mask" tool. Instead, a duplicate layer took a "High Pass" filter, with an output set for 1 pixel. (For web images, I use 0.3-0.5.) A "Soft Light" blend mode produces a nice brightening on the highlights, but wasn't quite enough, so I simply duplicated the high-pass layer. If this is too much, the effect can be reduced by lowering the opacity, or altered by selecting another layer blend mode.

And that's the whole process. I used eight layers, it took about an hour to do, and the end product is a print that will last 20+ years; one I would happily sell. Thank you, Epson and Olympus.

Now I need to go buy another frame.

matthewpiers.com • @matthewpiers | robertsonphoto.blogspot.com | @thewsreviews • thewsreviews.com
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Messages In This Thread
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by matthew - May 26, 2006, 21:27
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by Toad - May 26, 2006, 22:04
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by Russt - May 26, 2006, 23:51
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by wulinka - May 27, 2006, 19:37
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by matthew - May 27, 2006, 20:19
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by smarti77 - May 27, 2006, 23:01
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by Pops - Jun 6, 2006, 11:14
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by matthew - Jun 6, 2006, 21:11
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by Pops - Jun 7, 2006, 12:00
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by Pat - Jun 7, 2006, 20:55
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by wulinka - Jun 11, 2006, 21:42
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by bythelake - Jul 23, 2006, 09:04
Photoshop Polishing: Yellow House - by bythelake - Jul 23, 2006, 09:10

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