Help Big G

[Moriath]

@Big G Hi hope you can help me .. just playing at photo editing and stuffs

I originally got Corel Aftershot but seems everyone is using lightroom so looks like its a sub for that.

I downloaded the lightroom CC .. not realising it wasnt classic which is what i really wanted .. damn adobe

Anyhow the two attached images are before and after what i played with. Am i along the right lines ? Any hints ?

 

[old.user4556]

Hi Moriath.

It really depends on what you're trying to achieve - are you wanting to put your own artistic spin on the view that you saw, or are you trying to replicate the image as you saw it? The scene you've captured has a good lead-in and is nicely framed, but the detail and highlights are a distraction; bright sun and trees / branches can cause quite strong dynamic ranges and are hard to tame. The foreground rocks and leaves are also out of focus, so make sure your depth-of-field is calculated properly for these sorts of images (you may need a tripod if you're stopped down to f/11). Also, not sure what you've done to the clouds, but they look unnatural and compressed. The image is also very underexposed (probably because the camera metering is compensating for the sky being so bright) and has a very heavy green tint. Is your monitor fully calibrated? If not, photo processing is worthless.

Try a square crop to tighten things up, I've also tried my best to correct the green cast and the underexposure but there's only so much can be done with a JPG.

 

[Moriath]

Hi Moriath.

It really depends on what you're trying to achieve - are you wanting to put your own artistic spin on the view that you saw, or are you trying to replicate the image as you saw it? The scene you've captured has a good lead-in and is nicely framed, but the detail and highlights are a distraction; bright sun and trees / branches can cause quite strong dynamic ranges and are hard to tame. The foreground rocks and leaves are also out of focus, so make sure your depth-of-field is calculated properly for these sorts of images (you may need a tripod if you're stopped down to f/11). Also, not sure what you've done to the clouds, but they look unnatural and compressed. The image is also very underexposed (probably because the camera metering is compensating for the sky being so bright) and has a very heavy green tint. Is your monitor fully calibrated? If not, photo processing is worthless.

Try a square crop to tighten things up, I've also tried my best to correct the green cast and the underexposure but there's only so much can be done with a JPG.

View attachment 38882

View attachment 38883

Heya. Yeah i know couldnt post the raw. Do you use lightroom? Is it worth the sub? Cheers

 

[Deebs]

Heya. Yeah i know couldnt post the raw. Do you use lightroom? Is it worth the sub? Cheers

What is the file extension of the RAW file so I can enable it?

 

[caLLous]

What is the file extension of the RAW file so I can enable it?

If it's a Canon, .CR2 would be likely (or the newer .CR3). Not sure what the file size limits are but it could be a big (30+ MB) file, depending on the camera's number of megapixels.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

What is the file extension of the RAW file so I can enable it?

Each manufacturer has Their own, .nef is the Nikon one for instance. What you could do though is accept .dng files, this is an Adobe standard and lightroom will automatically change the proprietary extensions into this format when you upload images. I always do this.

 

[Moriath]

What is the file extension of the RAW file so I can enable it?

More that is like around 30mb so didnt want to post that bigger files. But its .NEF . If that file size is ok

 

[Moriath]

Each manufacturer has Their own, .nef is the Nikon one for instance. What you could do though is accept .dng files, this is an Adobe standard and lightroom will automatically change the proprietary extensions into this format when you upload images. I always do this.

So you use lightroom? You think its worth the sub or are you using version 6 still?

 

[Deebs]

If it's a Canon, .CR2 would be likely (or the newer .CR3). Not sure what the file size limits are but it could be a big (30+ MB) file, depending on the camera's number of megapixels.

Each manufacturer has Their own, .nef is the Nikon one for instance. What you could do though is accept .dng files, this is an Adobe standard and lightroom will automatically change the proprietary extensions into this format when you upload images. I always do this.

I know hence why I asked for the extension. I already have the 3 Canon formats enabled.

More that is like around 30mb so didnt want to post that bigger files. But its .NEF . If that file size is ok

I've enabled NEF and 30mb is fine, give it a go.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

So you use lightroom? You think its worth the sub or are you using version 6 still?

I pay between £8 and £9 per month and get Lightroom and Photoshop for that. I've done this since it started and don't notice the money. I guess it's up to you whether you would notice that or not, but I am happy paying it. I've used PS for years, not legitimately and like the fact that it is now completely legal, that and I know I've always got the most up to date version.

I know hence why I asked for the extension. I already have the 3 Canon formats enabled.

I wasn't trying to teach you to suck eggs, perhaps you could enable .dng too? My Fuji uses .raf extensions but once I've got them in Lightroom all my RAW files are .dng

 

[Deebs]

I wasn't trying to teach you to suck eggs, perhaps you could enable .dng too? My Fuji uses .raf extensions but once I've got them in Lightroom all my RAW files are .dng

Sorry didn't mean to come across like that. I have enabled RAF and DNG now.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

No problem

 

[caLLous]

Also, for what it's worth, I use Adobe Bridge for organisation, Adobe Camera Raw for corrections and cropping and Photoshop for further editing.

 

[Moriath]

Test with the NEF

 

[Moriath]

@Big G The green tint is probably my fault from mesdsing around as i am still learning hehe .. By i have found a Spyder pro 2 and software on fleabay for 20 quid so gonna give that a bash when it gets here
thanks for the input .. learning fast and the photo was taken in Shade mode on the camera and not manual or Aperature mode as it was before i started reading into this stuff . I just liked the composition so was playing with it to see how good it could look getting really interesting now

If you guys dont mind i will probably pester you more over hte coming weeks hehehe.

@Deebs Thanks for the adjustment

 

[old.user4556]

Heya. Yeah i know couldnt post the raw. Do you use lightroom? Is it worth the sub? Cheers

I use Lightroom Classic, can still purchase one-off. Highly recommend it. Will have a play with the RAW when I get home.

 

[Moriath]

I use Lightroom Classic, can still purchase one-off. Highly recommend it. Will have a play with the RAW when I get home.

Yeah only version 6 and it wont support new stuff going forward so i dropped on the tenner a month for classic and pro see how it ges. Get the new cc too. But dont like that you can only edit from cloud and cant export in tiff.

 

[caLLous]

Adobe stuff is such a ripoff since they stopped doing proper "creative suites" in favour of the "creative cloud" nonsense. Autodesk (and others) are guilty of it too, mind you. I hate the idea of "subscribing" to an application, I just want to buy the thing outright (well, on a perpetual license).

 

[Moriath]

Adobe stuff is such a ripoff since they stopped doing proper "creative suites" in favour of the "creative cloud" nonsense. Autodesk (and others) are guilty of it too, mind you. I hate the idea of "subscribing" to an application, I just want to buy the thing outright (well, on a perpetual license).

Me also I dislike the sub model .. but the companies love it cause you pay more over time

 

[old.user4556]

I've had a play with the RAW and you're generally on the right track. It's a very contrasty image with blown highlights, so the processing is mostly about correcting those general errors. You may want to shoot these sorts of scenes with three exposures (-2EV, 0 and +2EV) and merge them in Lightroom later to allow you to balance the exposure that bit better. Here's my take on before and after.

 

[Moriath]

I've had a play with the RAW and you're generally on the right track. It's a very contrasty image with blown highlights, so the processing is mostly about correcting those general errors. You may want to shoot these sorts of scenes with three exposures (-2EV, 0 and +2EV) and merge them in Lightroom later to allow you to balance the exposure that bit better. Here's my take on before and after.

View attachment 38885

View attachment 38886

Thanks for the advice dude. And the effort. Appreciate it.

 

[Scouse]

Where is that? It looks like the sort of place I want to ride my bike, at speed

 

[Moriath]

Where is that? It looks like the sort of place I want to ride my bike, at speed

Dartmoor. Probably too flat for you lol

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Dartmoor. Probably too flat for you lol

Dartmoor flat?

 

[Moriath]

Dartmoor flat?

Compared to snowdonia yes. And this particular walk is pretty flat from the car park to the woods.

 

[caLLous]

Flat compared to what is basically a mountain range...

 

[Moriath]

Flat compared to what is basically a mountain range...

Which is where @Scouse does alot of cycling. So i compared it to that. Mkay?

 

[Rubber Bullets]

No I was only joking, but I have cycled quite a bit on Dartmoor, and the word flat never came immediately to mind

 

[caLLous]

The only bit I know well is South Brent, and that's anything but flat.

 

[Moriath]

It has hills and tors. But nothing like the mountains. And that particular route i was on was fairly flat as it ran along side a river