Trouble in the ruins

We love a challenge! If you have an image that you think can be better, post it here and see what the rest of us can do with it.
ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:51 pm

During a recent class session Julie sent me this image for work during the conference call.  There are interesting issues going on here and it needs help. 

Things to note...

1) The floor is not white. According to Julie the floor tiles are an Okra color not quite orange but not grey or white.
2) The posts are not black.  They are rusted Iron.
3) The back wall concrete while appearing to be grey is not.

Crop and straighten as needed.  The back walls have a lot of burgundy to dark red in them.  The flesh tones are mostly real but a bit exaggerated.
Greg
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mikemeister_admin
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Postby mikemeister_admin » Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:43 pm

Well quite an impossible image - just for fun I tried Jacobs Ladder on it
Here is the result of the single curving, which one could then build on
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mikemeister_admin
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Postby mikemeister_admin » Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:49 pm

I then tried for 'real', just using Lab in CM.
3 passes - first two for colour & last for tones
Then 25pixels of Local Auto-levels to increase the contrast and finally straightening the image
I can honestly say, I'm not impressed!
I  look forward to some proper corrections, using RGB?
Think I need to go on a course!!!
ZOg

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ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:22 am

Chris...
I found this image quite tough as well. 
I was able to get closer with a very unconventional approach.

I'll post some work a bit later as I have not saved anything yet and have to re-create my process. 
I did use RGB and multiple passes to get the top half of the image into a solid place.  I then masked with a LAB b channel mask that I took out to PS on a layer.  I ended up using a wide soft brush at about 25% to feather the masking across the image.

Some things I found....
If you look very close at the poles in the foreground you can see some "black" paint on them.  A carefully placed neutral pin after the masking can really bring this back into a reasonable place.

In the back wall there are various colored stones and at least 1 concrete plug that serves as a solid neutral for the top half of the image.  There are bright teal/cyan borders on the fresco on the back wall you need to save them it is a lifeless image without them...

More to come and still more to try out on this very difficult image....
Greg

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Postby mikemeister_admin » Thu Aug 23, 2012 7:34 am

I look forward to seeing your steps Greg

I forgot to say that I used the b channel as the master for Jacob's Ladder and I also used the b channel as an inverted mask in the 1st CM pass in my 2nd posting
Zog

ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:04 pm

Everyone,
I'm going to hold off for a bit... I really hope others will take a hack at this...It is certainly a learning experience...

Don't be afraid...it will not bite you...  ;D
Greg

mikemeister_admin
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Postby mikemeister_admin » Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:21 pm

not too sure Greg - it could be a bee sting, not a bite, because I think the photo has died since it attacked my feeble mind!

ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:25 pm

Well Chris and everyone else...

Since no one excepted the challenge I will finally post my version. 
My correction is unconventional because I am going to sneak peek some up coming changes to the CM interface that we think you all will like very much!

THE VERSION OF CM I AM RUNNING IS A BETA BUILD AND THE FINAL FEATURES MAY LOOK DIFFERENT !!!!

Ok having said that here is what I did...

Shot 1) knowing that this was a mixed lighting situation I knew I would be masking and made no attempt to fix the bottom half of the frame.  I found a small piece of concrete patch in the back wall that was newer than the old wall and set my neutral on it.  I set two skin tone hue clocks to check to see if I was in a good spot for the neutral assuming that I had reasonable skin tones on the wall since I did not shoot the image...

Shot 2) I created a mask from the b channel of LAB and using the NEW blur slider...I blurred the mask as shown. 

Shot 3) Then I found a small paint patch on the pipe that I made the assumption was black and set a neutral there.  Since the effect was pretty large I used the NEW Fade slider to soften the effect and keep some of the original color in the image...

More in the next posting....

Greg
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ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:33 pm

Now for step 4 LAB Color:

Shot 4 shows the LAB curves I added to the image to make the following corrections...

a) I re-thresholded the image to adjust the brightness a bit
b) I added color variation to the b channel to make the yellows in the clothing on the wall pop out a bit more and to green up the boarder around the images that glows a bit.  I also added a bit more yellow to the floor with this...
c) added some color variation to the a channel in LAB to help the greens even more and to make the floor less magenta.

All that said, I think the actual color of the floor tile is behind the barrier somewhat and the main part of the floor can handle the blueish tint so long as it is not overpowering the rest of the image.  My initial pass at this was a dismal failure because I only look at it for a few seconds before diving in...When I took the time I needed and made good choices I was able to bring out a lot of subtle variations in some of the colors and restore the original colors to the scene...

A note about the Beta Build...
We are testing the build and will have more on it very soon.  Please be patient as we work out some functional issues and make sure we do not break anything we set out to fix...

Greg
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imported_julie
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Postby imported_julie » Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:32 am

Thanks to everyone

I am still having multiple attempts at this.
Its good to see what others have done.
I think there is a saying for this image- something about a silk purse from a sows ear.

Julie


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