Alcatraz

[FrankMi]

A shot of the southern end of Alcatraz as seen from San Francisco.

Taken with a Sony DSC-H1 Bridge P&S in 2005.
ISO 64
f 4
1/500 sec

This is the SOOC.



...and after PP. Moved the helicopter, added clouds to the sky, brightness and levels in four layers - foreground, island, background, and sky and cropped.



To me, the biggest difference is what you can now see (for better or worse) that wasn't obvious in the original.

[Donald]

You have GOT to look at that second one in the lightbox. Frank - I love that sky. That's my sort of sky. That is a beauty.

The initial reaction was that you've given too much water in the foreground. But that's nonsense. It's an island. You've made it just right. My compliments.

I think that's superb.

[FrankMi]

Thank you Donald. I wrestled with how much water to include but as the choice was more water & less sky or more sky and less water I decided to let the 'rule of thirds' have it's way. On this one I have room to move it in either direction.

As I'm using four adjustment layers, I'm hoping to get feedback on what is a reasonable amount of brightness and contrast for each layer (foreground, island, background, and sky) as that is primarily what was adjusted.

[FrankMi]

Looking for additional feedback. I'm using four adjustment layers in PS CS5. What is a reasonable amount of brightness and contrast for each layer (foreground, island, background, and sky) as that is primarily what was adjusted in this image.

Cheers!

[KeithH]

A lovely image following a great piece of editing Frank. Apart from needing about a 0.75 degree acw rotation to get things on an even keel everything looks fine to me.

[Bobobird]

Very nice shot and excellent processing. Well done.

[TobyMac]

awesome shot

[FrankMi]

Thanks guys.

Keith, the image may look more off level that it is given that the right hand side of the island is much close than the left. Actually, the island is about three times longer (front to back) than it is wide and we're seeing the south-eastern tip. The thing about perception though, is that it doesn't have to actually be level as long as it looks level. I should rotate it a bit ccw so that it looks right!

[Dizzy]

Frank, this definitely proves your theory about being able to take older .jpg's and
process them with improvements. Awesome editing work, and as Donald said..SUPERB!

Now you've got me wondering if I should try this on some of the hundreds of .jpg's
I've got stored up...(not like there isn't already a ton of processing to do on recent
pics..LOL)

Mike

[FrankMi]

Now you've got me wondering if I should try this on some of the hundreds of .jpg's
I've got stored up...

Someone once said that it may not be smart to post process all of your images from a shoot at once. Take one or two of the best and see what you can do with them. Being your best from that shoot, you will want to work on those until you get it right - or at least as 'right' as you can with your current level of post processing skill. Later on, when your post processing skill has improved, go back to the older shots and take one or two more. You'll be amazed at how much more there is to see in images that you may have written off.

I keep trying new things from tutorials I come across and learn little bit by little bit. For example, at one point I played with several tutorials on eye retouching. Now I rarely do portraits, BUT, I now play with eye retouching on a lot of the wildlife shots I take. It's subtle, but overall, it does make a difference.

In the end, for me, it's all about having fun!

[GeorgeM]

The only gig I would make is that the island now has a kind of yellowish cast, especially the building. Of course, that could be my monitor...

[FrankMi]

The only gig I would make is that the island now has a kind of yellowish cast, especially the building. Of course, that could be my monitor...

Interesting observation, George. Now that you mention it, I see it on my monitor as well. Perhaps someone more knowledgeble than I can explain it. The ONLY changes I made to the island were to change the levels to 43, 1.05, and 241, partially because the histogram curve didn't start until 25.

Why would, wait a minute..., I wonder if the island's White Balance could be off that much?

I think I need to use Willie's Bau's "Color correct an image using level adjustment layers by the numbers" and see if that addresses the issue.

Thanks for pointing that out, George!

[FrankMi]

Yup! That was it! The Color Balance was off and changing the Brightness and Contrast made it more apparent. Thanks everyone for the feedback!

[rpcrowe]

Really nice job Frank!