Week 5: Example 7 - Flower Vendor

This is the forum for posting to the June 2010 CM 101 Class
leeharper_admin
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Postby leeharper_admin » Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:02 am

Of everything that's been thrown at us, this image is the one I most want to see the solution for! I've tried this a number of different ways - and have been in and out of CurveMeister, adding curve upon curve...

My first attempt took 5 curves; the version I am posting here only took two - an RGB curve, followed by HSB.

This image really makes the case for applying CM as a Smart Filter. As I progressed I found that I could turn intermediate curves off, and compensate by modifying other curves within the stack that I had created.

I'm not very happy with this correction. After six weeks of corrections I feel that I should be able to do a better job with this image. In addition to more practice, I think that I will definitely be needing a CM 201 course to get me to that next level. ;)

Any suggestions about this correction would be very gratefully received :)
Lee.
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ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:39 pm

Lee it is a really fine result and if it were anyone else I would accept it as is....but since you asked...

The only improvements I would even think of are in the attached ACV file.  Trouble is found in a few key areas that give the correction away.  The tone of the stone...is improved by the A channel move for the skin tones.  The Grass is improved by the B channel adjustment.

Overall the image gets a bit "warmer" if you move the shadow end of the curve slightly...
I'm not even sure I would go as far as I did but I wanted you to be able to see the changes as well...

Greg
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leeharper_admin
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Postby leeharper_admin » Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:21 am

Thanks so much for attaching that curve file :) I love looking at the curves that you write - it's so interesting to see what you are choosing to affect, and what you're locking down. These a and b curves are great. It's a really good learning experience to move your points about/remove them to see what everything is doing, and what is being affected.

I really like the bump in the a curve that you've placed to improve the skin tone. I had wanted to make the skin tone better, but couldn't see how to do it without wrecking everything else - I'm obviously not locking things down enough ;). The tweak for the yellow shop sign had me scratching my head for a minute, until I noticed what it was doing, too :).

One of the best learning tools that I've benefitted from during this course has been these curve files - I appreciate that you've been kind enough to share them with me.

Thanks so much,
Lee.

ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Tue Jul 20, 2010 1:58 pm

The ACV files can be a godsend.  They can also confuse...I'm really glad you play with them...It does help.

The skin tone in LAB is a good trick. I used the color worm and watched the width of the worm..I tried to limit the change to the very narrow area of the image where the skin tones live...I would usually not go this way but I was in LAB and the correction did not effect the rest of the image.  I started to make the switch to RGB but the tweak held up. I also found that after your correction I was better able to make those adjustments. 

I consider these corrections to be a "polishing"  I have the significant advantage when I do them in that you have done the heavy lifting and I get to come in to save the day.  I'm not asking you to do this for the class images...but remember the 24 hour rule.  I think some of the stuff you appear to be missing would fall into that over looking part of the correction.  You get into a correction so far and you need to walk away...have your lovely wife drag you away or better yet...ask her opinion.  I use my wife all the time in this way...She will say to me " what are you looking for?"  I always say "does it look real?"...I show her a before and after and then I shut up and listen....

Greg

leeharper_admin
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Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:39 pm

Postby leeharper_admin » Tue Jul 20, 2010 4:00 pm

The 24-hour rule will be one of the big takeaways from this course for me :). I've not often had the luxury of being able to apply it to the course exercises, but it's a brilliant idea, and it's something that I am definitely going to do with all of the images I will be using with my students this coming academic year. I'm just starting to sift through my image files to choose which images I will use in my teaching sessions, and when I have narrowed them down I will correct them in CurveMeister.

I am working on exercise two now (the park image), and though I like what I've done, I'm going to keep hold of it until tomorrow to see what the 24-hour rule can do for me ;).

Also, thanks for the color worm explanation - I was wondering how you chose where to place your control points (I'd been putting it down to supernatural abilities!)

Lee.


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