Rhonda Fruit window week 3

[mikemeister_admin]

I set several neutrals in RGB and played around to equalize them.  I don't think the result is nearly as good as the LAB version I submitted for week 2.  All colors were much more natural in LAB.

[ggroess]

Indeed you have made too much gray...Specifically the 83 to 113 range is too close together. 
When you set a neutral you cannot move the individual channels, the samples so close together by the numbers you create "flatness" in the image because the curves cannot bend sharply enough. 

If you do this without setting the neutral you might have better results..
Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

"If you do this without setting the neutral you might have better results.."  Sorry--I missed you on this--I was trying to set multiple neutrals since I thought the assignment was to do that.  I see what you mean about the two being too close together--did you mean to simply adjust the numbers from the hue clock and not by creating a neutral?  And then reserve your neutral settings for points that are farther apart on the curve?

[ggroess]

Ok...Let me try it this way...If you set a neutral...
Then set another... in a tonal range close to the first one...

you create flatness in the image. 

The object is to use multiple neutrals to reduce the color casts in the image...
the problem is that some of the image has a very similar tonal range and setting neutrals too close together causes problems.

Your task is to find a tonal range that allows you to use multiple neutrals to reduce the cast without making the image too flat.  I know It does not say it that way in the assignment but the practical problem makes itself quite evident when you set the neutrals too close.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

I'm going to give up on this one.  I worked for about an hour, after setting two neutrals, one on the frost and one in the bottom left.  I got close, with several hue clocks without casts.  Then I did something--don't know what--and the whole thing went kaplooey--bonkers.  Ah--reset the red curve and am back close to what I had.  I still have a problem in that if I get the frost and the three places along the bottom of the frame somewhat equalized, there is a magenta cast on the top of the frame and near the man.  Can't mess with those numbers without making the rest of the curve.  Both the ones with the magenta cast show that the green is low, but the green point in those two hue clocks is too close to the green points on the frame--working with the green in the clocks with magenta really blows the equality of the numbers along the bottom of the frame.  Unfortunately, I still can't look at either the photo or the hue clocks or the curves themselves to know where to go from here.  I'm still bouncing from hue clock to hue clock.  To me, the image looks a little dark.  I really don't know what to do if an image looks flat--don't even know what flat is except perhaps without zing or saturation.  I had no luck at all by using the multiple neutrals and adjusting them up or down to improve the image.  I believe that this image is as bad (worse!) as my earlier attempt, just in a different way!  A tad discouraging that I'm still at this stage--you'd think I'd get more of the big picture.  Sorry!

Afterthought--I think I forgot to set a shadow and highlight--would that have made an obvious difference in brightening it up?  (Don't mean that to be a "duh..")  I'm not going back to it.  It's now been 2 hours. 

[ggroess]

Actually the S/H settings make a decent improvement to the image...You have fought well...let it go...I think you have learned more than you think about this process...you are pretty close...Sometimes we have to accept some cast in the image to get a better overall result.
Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Yes, I'm definitely ready to let it go!  Knowing that LAB worked for this one quite well is a great result overall.  Again, do you think that setting the highlight first (which I normally do) would have given this image more pop?  Thanks again!

[ggroess]

Yes it does effect the overall look of the image if you add a highlight and shadow point...