Need help with Post-processing :)

MXM

I paid for this title
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
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Location
Finland
I see most of you use some kind of post-processing on your photos, or I'm just a very crappy photographer, because nothing I shoot looks as good :)

So I tried something on my own, and after spending almost 2 hours playing around with photoshop... I didn't do much anything :(

I ask you to try and do to this simple photo whatever you would usually do to your photos and explain what/why you did it (no need for step-by-step instructions, just basic "algorithm").

Original (resized): orig.jpg
Original (big, 1.5MB): DSC_0434.jpg

This is what I did (resized): edited.jpg

I cleaned up some dirt on car, then did 4 masks for car itself, for snow, for dark trees and for light trees and tried to adjust them separately (mostly curves).
Doesn't give that sharp and contrast effect as most of your lens flair photos :(

This is what pdanev did in few minutes: mytry.jpg

Show me your skillz plz :)
 
Alright this is what I got:

http://img143.imageshack.**/img143/6434/mytry3fl.th.jpg
I duplicated layer, then in blending options I went to overlay. After that I messed with Brightness/Contrast settings. Then I used a filter from the nik Color Efex Pro set to bring out the reflections a bit more.
 
Ongelmana t?ss? on se, ett? alkuper?inen kuva on huonossa valossa kuvattu. Autossa j??t?v?t heijastukset ja kirkas lumi, vaikea saada toimimaan. Auringon laskiessa kannattaa hakea kulmia joissa saisit v?hemm?n heijastuksia, ehk? illalla jonkun valotolpan alla tjsp. Valaistus on kaiken a ja o ;)
 
Made an edit too, but the original has some horrid reflections which really kill the lovely colour of the car.. I cropped it alot tighter to give the car more focus. Tried to eliminate the blueish hue from the snow too, but I fear it went too orange. Couldn't do much with the car for the above-mentioned reason, but I tried to clear up the windscreen a bit by brushing over it with a 20% blue.

http://www.isohali.net/kuvat/944.jpg
 
The glare is really bad :/

Great background though.

http://img454.imageshack.**/img454/3775/9445wm.th.jpg
 
Thanks, guys.

Why I asked this is basicly to see what options do I have, and could this photo with not perfect lighting as you mentioned, be brought to life :)

Car on jayjaya's photo looks nice, but backgorund is gone :( Skoshi's photo works really well, but maybe a bit surreal compared to what I had in mind :) And I can't see what Kip did :(

Anyway, it looked very nice on the place, live. Really :) I mean car is obviously the object, but I'd like to keep the scenery too...
 
ahh, ok.


@ burnsy

I overlay'ed the background, and raised the contrast on the car a bit. I didn't want it to as dark black because I think the car is actually grey, and making it really dark brings out that glare too much. And also makes it kinda fake :/


Might help taking the picture with your back against the sun if you didn't before.
 
Today I found sharpening filter :D

So I did this: edited2.jpg

It's ok I think, will not touch it further. If you see something that could be done better, tell me of course. So basicly I only used curves, levels and sharpening on this image (and some cloning to clean up car and slightly visible blue-ish lightpost on the background).
 
I think the background still looks a bit too.. grey. I would make it a bit darker and leave the lovely 944 as it is. :)

But thats just my opinion.. I like dark things.. :evil:
 
MXM; I think the last one you posted is the best so sar. All of the others peoples renderings are too dark so all shadow detail has been lost.

It depends what you want to achieve to begin with. Also shooting a very dark car on snow, backlit, with a row of dark trees behind is about the worst set-up you could have chosen to begin with! Try something out in the open, with less objects to reflect on the car and preferably not on snow! An overcast day will help reduce specular highlights, or otherwise shoot just after sunset_before sunrise.
 
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