Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/05/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Douglas I'll llook into all that. Thanks for the advice. V On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 10:11 AM, Douglas Sharp <douglas.sharp at gmx.de>wrote: > Vince, > > First off: > > there's a good, and reasonably easy, trick in PS to give most photos a kick > in the right direction before doing any more complex stuff. > > Load your image into PS (I have CS2, but I think this applies even to > Elements) > > Go to Adjustments > Go to Levels > > When the levels box is open, click on the white eyedropper (right) and move > it to what you think should be white (the insulators for instance on the > full frame shot, or the white rectangle behind the tree between the groups > of people in the third) > > Click on the white bit you think is right > > Then take the black eyedropper (left) and do the same for what you think > should be black (the triangular window under the roof or a part of the > clothing of the woman in the left group of people) > > You'll find that the balance, contrast and brightness now looks much > improved. > > Secondly: > > There is also room for improvement in the sharpening, it is possible to get > a decent rendition of the diagonal mesh behind the people - I use a PS > plug-in called Focus Magic - it's pretty much one of the best there is - > but > it can still be improved in PS. > > Be careful though, it is very easy to ruin a shot with too much sharpening. > > Another plug-in you could play around with is a thing called "Auto Enhance" > from DCETools or their "ColorCast Remover" - they often work wonders. > > If you want something with a more intuitive approach, I think (and many > will agree) that Adobe Lightroom is the way to go. It does almost all of > the > steps you generally need in PS, but they are all shown in one panel with > all > the sliders and buttons. Since I bought it, CS2 only gets used for really > complicated stuff with layers and the like. > > Cheers > Douglas > > > On 16.05.2010 07:16, Vince Passaro wrote: > >> Dr. Ted I know you're out there -- a savage hound on the dark moor -- but >> I >> want to ask all you others, do you remember a discussion thread about a >> month or so back on the Nikon 200 f/4 prime? As I recollect Jim Laird (?) >> was constructing a shoulder brace for use with this lens. Doug advised >> him. >> Several others kibbutzed, including me, to the effect that the lens is >> quite >> light. Well today it was so lovely I was testing my 200mm lenses out the >> front window. We live up the hill from a park with a big pond in it and >> the >> living room overlooks it. Tested Nikkor AF 70-210 1:4-5.6 D; Nikkor >> 80-200 >> 1:4.5 AI-S ; and the Nikkor 200 1:4 AI-S as previously mentioned. All at >> F8. RAW. ISO 400 because I was too dumb to remember to change it and >> since >> I used to shoot Tri-X almost exclusively I tend to leave it at 400 most of >> the time and not think about it. Roughly 1/500th of a second though this >> varied a little because the metering on the D40x is a little too bright so >> with the AF-D lens -- the only one with which the D40 can provide metering >> and aperture priority -- one keeps the EV adjusted to -.7. >> >> I swear to God Dr. Ted I was thinking about Leicas the whole time. I was >> thinking about selling the new kid -- he was right there with me and damn >> cute -- so I could put a down payment on an M9. >> >> Anyway the 200/4 knocked my socks off. Here are three images from one >> shot: >> The first just a JPEG straight up from the RAW file. The second cropped >> and >> enlarged almost to 100 percent and slightly adjusted in PS Camera Raw. The >> third cropped the same but with more work fixing the highlights, working >> out >> a bit of fringing, color adjustment, sharpening, etc. >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/toast+eatin_+bog+man/nikon+200mm+f4/ >> >> Opinions, criticisms and advice most welcome. Particularly welcome is >> advice >> on the processing. Everything I know how to do is in camera raw. I have >> hardly tried PS itself yet. >> >> Vince >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >