Sun Moon Lake, Art

[imported_artmar]

More moon than sun in this version --

Cheers,
Art

[imported_Tanja]

Hi Art,

wow, that's great!
The more of definition in the trees, is what I'm looking for.
How do you do that?

Greetings, Tanja

[imported_artmar]

Hi Tanja,

Thanks, glad you like it!

About the trees: after limited success with CM in that area, I decided to accept the help of a friend who lives in PSE -- Topaz Detail 3, sharpen shadows, with layer mask.

(This friend was very insistent, finally had to accept.)

Cheers,
Art

[ggroess]

I'll give it a run using CM and PSE 10 I think I can make that happen without the outside plug-in...we'll see what happens...

Greg

[imported_artmar]

Thanks -- very interested to see results.

Art

[ggroess]

Art,
This was done with only PSE and CM.

2 passes for Luminosity.
1 pass for color correctness
1 pass for Color Expansion
1 unsharp mask

As you can see there are many ways to get at this image and yours is no more correct than mine...Just another way of seeing the image.
I just wanted you to know that you can take the image much further in PSE than you might have thought.

Greg

[imported_artmar]

Thanks Greg,

Very interesting.

Did you do all of these steps in CM except the last?

Is there any way you can tell me (us) the steps you took so that I (we) can replicate them without taking a lot of your time?

(or maybe we can spend a few minutes on our next conference call on what you did here?)

Cheers,
Art

[ggroess]

Let me think about that...
The biggest thing I did was a lizard tale on both the shadow side and the highlight side after an initial pass in CM to get most of the Luminosity right. 

So the steps were as follows:
On a layer:
1) Adjust image in CM LAB for shadow and highlight using the edge of the CM frame thresholding .  Apply that change to the image, exit CM.

2) Flatten the layer and then make a new background copy layer.

3) Open in CM LAB again and add a lizard tale to the highlight end of the L curve and a lizard tail to the shadow end of the same curve to bring out the temple on the upper right.  You have to push this end of the curve pretty hard but with patience you can make it work.  Make a mid-tone contrast move if you feel the image needs it.  Set the contrast pins manually so you do not create the LAB L channel bug we saw yesterday I focused on the tree line near where it hits the water.  I found it lacking in overall contrast so I went after that.  Apply your curve in CM and then change the layer to Luminosity Mode and flatten and create a new layer again.

4)Open in CM using RGB and do a by the numbers shadow and highlight correction; then find a reasonable neutral out on the water similar to the Lab correction we did on Friday.  Finish the by the numbers correction for the mid-tone neutral, apply the curves and then change the layer mode to color. Flatten and create a new Layer in PSE.

5) in CM again, LAB color expansion moves.  Set an anchor point in the water near the fishing boat and then adjust the B channel of LAB first.  The expansion is very near to the center of the curve so be aware of not crossing the 0,0 point.  Expand the yellows pretty hard and hold back the blue side as needed to prevent too much color noise from infecting the image. 

In regular Photoshop I might switch the image to LAB mode and blur the a and B channels to reduce the color noise; since I am in PSE I have to accept some of that as an issue.

Switch to the A channel when you have enough color in b and instead of using the contrast pin. reset only the a channel so you have no pins on it.  Rotate the entire channel like you would for a contrast pin but have no points on the curve line.  This is like using the saturation slider but only effecting the a channel.  When you start to see magenta and red in the trees in the middle right by the water stop and pin the green side of the curve using the "pin curve" command.  Reduce the slope of the red side of the a channel to your taste in how much red you want in the trees.

Apply the curves and flatten in PSE.

On a new Layer: Use unsharp mask from the image enhance drop down and adjust the sliders until you have sharpness without halos in the upper tree line along the sky.  DO NOT over sharpen. Adjust the layer transparency to taste and flatten.

It took me a few times through this to figure out what I needed to do so do not be frustrated if you have issues with the image.
Greg

[imported_artmar]

Many thanks for all of the details Greg, this is going to be an excellent exercise!

Cheers,
Art

[imported_Tanja]

Thanks from me too, Greg!
Two litzard tales...where is the smiley, who beats himself on the forehead?  :D

Greetings, Tanja