Marquinius Posted January 9, 2009 Share #1 Posted January 9, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) After having posted one of my Vietnam landscapes, Ben pushed me to work harder on the overall DPP iot get more details and depth. So Ben, thank you for the heads up! What I did: - bought Kelby's "Seven Point System" book - read it twice and kept it at hand during this DPP - started from scratch from the original DNG - after having "perfected" the color version in PS, converted to B&W - did final touch up and dual tone in LR, then exported The first picture is the one I posted originally, all done with best efforts at that time. I also felt something was lacking. The second picture is what I did after the little push. I'm sorry the sizes differ, but I set up a new export action. I'm sure I'm going to learn more. Marco Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 9, 2009 Posted January 9, 2009 Hi Marquinius, Take a look here what a little extra effort does .... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
roguewave Posted January 9, 2009 Share #2 Posted January 9, 2009 Marco, I think this is a big improvement. After reviewing your workflow, can you explain what the Duotone did for you? Is this how you make your final contrast calibrations? Just trying to learn how you got here & why? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marquinius Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share #3 Posted January 9, 2009 Marco, I think this is a big improvement. After reviewing your workflow, can you explain what the Duotone did for you? Is this how you make your final contrast calibrations? Just trying to learn how you got here & why? The duotone is really just there to slightly warm the overall picture. Some photo's really pop with cool tones, but for these somewhat old fasioned shots I go for a little extra tone. I use a VERY soft change and in fact it's not even a real duotone: I use two greys that are just a tad different. High Hue = 25 saturation 3% and shadows 55 with 3%. Really nothing. I think I could just as easily stick to one hue/saturation, ie 35/3% or something. So basically I finish all DPP in PS and LR and as a last item is the duotone, followed by export. The reason I do it in LR is that in PS I can't find that very soft change I'm looking for in PS. Last but not least: I worked quite some time to get the frame color right. It's NOT white and adds to the warmth. Marco Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted January 10, 2009 Share #4 Posted January 10, 2009 Marco, that is an interesting comparison. It strongly reminds me of the difference I see between an analog (darkroom) print and a digital print. I agree that the added warmth suits this subject. In some strange way, I kind of like the former, lower DR image, probably because it is reminiscent of the old way of printing which has its own charm despite the narrower DR. Perhaps there is just a little more 'mystery' surrounding that version. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marquinius Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share #5 Posted January 10, 2009 Erl, I really worked on the details in the photo: The earlier version is way to flat, even if it reminds of printing of days gone by. Now what would be interesting is to see what happens when you put it through a regular darkroom process. I mean not an inkjet print, but real photo paper etc. Next month I'll be in France at my fathers and perhaps I can get his wife (she's a photographer and dark room magician) to see if we can set upo something. That would be fun. Marco Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
archi4 Posted January 10, 2009 Share #6 Posted January 10, 2009 Marco, The foreground in your second picture is indeed beautifully rendered, but what I miss is the feeling of depth created in your first version by the diminishing detail rendering as the distance increases. Maurice Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted January 10, 2009 Share #7 Posted January 10, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Marco, I think Maurice is seeing what I am seeing. To do that excercise in your father's wife's darkroom will be a very interesting excercise, and fun. I believe you will see greatly heightened blacks and an enhancement of the 'mystery' element as the highlight detail drops out. That is the strange thing about darkroom printing. It does not deliver the DR of digital printing but I think it goes 'deeper' into the regions that it does penetrate. Magic stuff! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marquinius Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share #8 Posted January 11, 2009 Maurice, Erl, Thanks for getting deeper into this. Hmmm, food for thought. It is not really sharpness I'm after, but detail. Especially in the boats closer by. These were blackened out in the first try. I'll have another go at it later and see if I can get somewhere in the middle with that fading effect. Just to see what that does. It is all a lesson The darkroom experiment will be fun! I'm sure. Thanks again! Marco Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MV8 Posted January 11, 2009 Share #9 Posted January 11, 2009 wow! the original was nice but I see what you mean about the new one much more detail, contrast and range. Nice job. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest joewehry Posted January 11, 2009 Share #10 Posted January 11, 2009 It's difficult to evaluate this well on the web, and ideally, I'd do two prints and see which is closer to your intended results. Personally, off the web image, I like the atmosphere and feel of the first one better. The softness of the background encourages the viewer to focus on the sharper and closer boat and the blur gives a nice feel to the piece. The sharper detail of the second one encourages the eye to wander more and a somewhat forced increase in perceived depth of field. If you can strike a balance between the two.... : - ) Also, out of curiosity, have you tried flipping the image? I wonder how it would read from left to right, with the boat ending at the right edge? Just something for play. Have fun experimenting, it's a very nice image to work with! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
archi4 Posted January 11, 2009 Share #11 Posted January 11, 2009 Marco, I see you are in Almere. There as around Loosdrecht you often see (especially in morning mist), what I find so beautiful - something like theater decors behind each other, less detailed and mistier as they express distance. Your image is a beautiful one to work with. Maurice Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marquinius Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted January 12, 2009 Maurice: I know exactly what you mean. I call it "layered landscape" and it will stop my breath when I see a good example. In this case there was no layer and the softness was caused by fast working and not good thought. Dorothy: I'm sure I can find a middle way here, with two layers and some fiddling with slowly enhanced gausian blur. To do it right, I'd have to go back again to the original and start from there, as the thin rods on the boats in the distance tend to fragment due to the grain effect. So I'll keep your idea in mind and use what I learned on a next photo. About the flipping: I somehow don't feel comfortable with going so far ..will do that when nobody is around and peek from behind my hands. Marco Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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