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through_the_lens | all galleries >> December Challenge: Go Small >> Past Challenges >> past_challenges >> TTL CHALLENGE for January 2011 BEFORE AND AFTER > Frank_After.jpg
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05-JAN-2011 Frank Kavanagh

Frank_After.jpg

Cheekpoint, County Waterford, Ireland.

First I tonemapped the image in Photomatix.
Then I brought the image into Photoshop, First I made a selection of the sky, feathered the selection and then opened a Levels Adjustment Layer, then brought the outer sliders to the edge of the histogram, I also upped the saturation a touch in another Levels Adjustment Layer.
Then I made a selection of the lower half of the image, made another Levels Adjustment Layer and brightened the bottom half a touch to show some detail in the shadows.
Then another selection was made on the water where I upped the saturation a touch, to show the reflected colour of the sky.

Note: when the image was tonemapped, it brought up the colours almost to what you see.
Almost all the adjustments in Photoshop were by doing selections in Levels Adjustment Layers.
Finally I sharpened the image in Unsharp Mask in Photoshop.
Hopefully you understand what I was doing.


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Frank Kavanagh Photography06-Jan-2011 17:50
Cindy, I use Photomatix when doing HDR work, or like this image I tonemapped the single image. The white balance I used was "cloud" to warm things up a bit.
I also under exposed the shot by a 1/2 stop, as I didn't want to burn out too much of the sky. I also shot in RAW and pulled the RAW file into Photomatix and then worked on it from there. I don't have any real technical info on Photomatix, so if anyone else can explain Photomatix with a bit more detail for Cindy, it would be appreciated.
Cindy Flood06-Jan-2011 15:53
Frank, You really used your artistry here. Your tutorial is very worthwhile. Maybe you could elaborate on Photomatrix. Is it a raw developer or do you shoot jpegs? I have never used Photomatix and would like to hear more about it. I would guess that one of the things that you did was start with a correct white balance. If you did not, increasing contrast and saturation would have lead to less pleasing results.
Terry_O06-Jan-2011 02:50
Thanks for this, Frank! You took a rather drab image, and turned it truly into
a work of art. This is the next best thing to doing a workshop one on one, and
exactly what I hoped for when I conceived this challenge. Thanks again. I have
a lot to learn!
Cindi Smith06-Jan-2011 02:42
Wow, you did awesome! I love how you tweaked this image. I know I can learn a lot from this!
hal 05-Jan-2011 22:25
Your work has made a huge difference Frank.
You really transformed this image into something really special.
Your description is very clear and well written.
Only the Photomatix part is unfamiliar as l have never used that program.
An outstanding photo and tutorial.