Incoming Storm over the Imperial Valley

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sjordan93436
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Postby sjordan93436 » Fri Mar 04, 2011 4:22 pm

(yet another farm / artichoke picture)

I stitched together a pano of a storm in California.  the foreground is an artichoke field, which is the subject.  I would like to improve this photo by fixing the color and contrast of the artichokes.  Also, I would like to bring out several artichokes.

Technical side, I shot in RAW and compressed the highlights and shadows to retain detail and spread it out.  It is 17 images and about 180 degrees and the light is challenging.

(I have some excuses for not doing a better job of composition.)
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mikemeister_admin
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Postby mikemeister_admin » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:58 am

With a HD sharpening action.The glare that results could be the sun reflecting off the leaves from the left.GregM
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sjordan93436
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Postby sjordan93436 » Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:05 am

Hey.  I just did another pass.  I added contrast to the right side.  My generic problem is that I focus on parts and leave off some obvious.  I got a green color in the clouds.

I tired a little spotlight on two artichokes in the bottom.  I also tried a little lab brightening, but the picture could not take it.  I also tried shadow highlights and got a little.

My brother, who is the artichoke breeder, wants a large print of this.  Not because it reminds him of Ansel, but because of the subject matter.
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ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:00 pm

I'll have a go at this as well.  just give me a bit of time with it.

Greg

sjordan93436
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Postby sjordan93436 » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:11 pm

Thanks, Greg.  This is a work in progress.  I had to mask out a shadow and enhance the artichokes.  Other than that no masks.  Considering where this photo started, that is good.  Masks may look okay on small images, but my brother wants this big.  There is an International Artichoke Congress in Italy next year (is it on your calendar yet?)and he also wants to give large prints to his collaborators.

At this point, the image is missing something.  I got detail in the clouds which were blocked and blown.  The color of the leaves are about right.  Perhaps more blacks and brighter. 

The board is quiet, perhaps I will post a few images.

ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:14 pm

Ok..

From where I see it the real problem is the lack of Reds in the Artichokes themselves.  Any color contrast you want to introduce has to account for that.  Trying to brighten them only makes the image look odd.  My approach was the following:

1) Start with a BTN color correction to make sure the image is balanced.  There are some slight issues in the shadows but otherwise it looks pretty good.

2) Knowing I have to control Saturation I create a L channel mask in CM and leave it for later.

3) Knowing that I need to find red in the image I looked at the artichokes as well as the bare ground on the left.  I opened the image in CM using LAB and selected the A channel.  I manually set up a contrast pin using the bare ground as one selection and the brightest part of a artichoke as the other end. 

4) Set a hue clock on a neutral part of the clouds on the right and used that as a home base marker to keep the color correct.  I adjusted the A channel using the contrast pin fairly violently.  I know I have to control saturation so I'm not going to worry about it just yet.

5) using the same contrast pins selected before I adjusted the B channel as well.  Again I was un-concerned with saturation as I know I have to fix that later.

6) Controlling the saturation:  This is a bit difficult as we are trying to protect the color separation from the saturation.  There are a few methods we can try including a saturation adjustment in HSB but I settled for an inverted  L channel mask in which I made a Parabolic Arch in the L channel mask to protect the brightest and darkest parts of the image from over saturation. Screen shot attached.

Steve...  The image is about the scene and the view I know the Artichokes are important but only in so much as you can see them as being there.  If you go to far in finding them the image will look false and "photo-shopped"  I think what makes the image special is the fact that a knowing eye will see the artichokes and yet appreciate the vista for what it is...a wonderful day for growing artichokes.

I attached a second version with more in the reds for the artichokes.  Not sure if it helps or not...
Greg

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sjordan93436
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Postby sjordan93436 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:52 am

A couple of questions...

What is BTN color adjustment?

You said the artichokes lacked red.  My hue clock said between 1 and 2.  Reddish side of yellow.  I thought that greenery should be between Y and G but close to Y.??

I pumped up the A and B curves then when they where linked I used the cursor to lower  a and B to get the neutrals close.

I think it is better.  Did I do it right?

Next attempt, I may try the Dan M color blending mode. 
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ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:10 am

Steve,
By the numbers is when we set the S/H/N using hue clocks and points in the image we choose to adjust the color manually.  This is a week 3 item if you want to refer to your class notes.  I checked the image when I downloaded it and found a slight color cast to the shadows so as I processed the image I removed it.  I also adjusted the individual channels to open the shadows.

As for the "red" in the Artichokes I was referring to the edge of the artichoke "petals" see shot1.  I wanted the reds to come out more so that I did not have to go looking for the "fruit" it would show up by having that color in the image.  You are correct in the leaves and grass should not have Red in them but there are always exceptions...

If I got it wrong it was bad assumptions on my part rather than your image.  I rather like the overall image by the way...By all means try various blending modes..my solution is not the end of the line...

The issue I see is the fact that the Artichokes are very close in color to the leaves and that makes masking them a very difficult process. Your choice in "Color Contrast" is limited to colors that are present in the artichokes but not present in the leaves; hence I went for the red which is not very strong throughout the image. 

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sjordan93436
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Postby sjordan93436 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:28 am

BTN - my duh.  I did not translate that to by the numbers.  I did fix the shadows, but they got worse.

They are green artichokes.  At this resolution, you might see some red and the base of those two artichokes, but the petals (actually bracts) are green

Here is another version that shows this process can be overdone.  This is overcooked in lightening up the greens.  I ran another s/h and did a channel mixer.  green channel - greens up 30% and blues down 30 %.  I did this on a smaller copy of the original.  So all work will have to be redone anyway. 

The clouds went green, so I went back to CM and messed with rgb.  The clouds at the left are now yellow.  Better than green.  The big blue spot of sky in the center is also over the top.

I will have to restart from almost the bottom soon.  For me this is an interesting experiment.  Shadow highlights have a big impact.
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ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:19 am

The Shadow Highlights can be tackled many different ways...

You could:

Adjust the exposure
Adjust the Gamma
Adjust the Separate Channels in CM using the Zone System Pins. Then Replace the Blue Channel with the Red or Green using Image> Apply Image.
Use the S/H tool in PS.
Use Screen on a Layer and Blend it back in.

Too many choices....I think It depends on the "look" you want to achieve.
I used the Adjust separate channels in CM for my versions.

Any additional instructions or Gaols would be helpful for us to figure out the corrections you might want.
Greg


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