Trees, Snow & Bokeh ~ Before & After

*eadaoin

I got a question on the random photo thread asking about these images, so I'm just starting a new thread to avoid hogging the other one talking about my own images!

So these are the two latest shots I posted up:






and these are the originals SOOC:







Both were processed using Canon's Digital Photo Professional and Photoshop Elements. Most of the post processing was just colour work, improving contrast slightly & of course the crop.

They were taken with a Canon 450D and 50mm f1.8 lens. Both were manual focus and are purposefully a little out of focus to get the bokeh looking just right

Thecageyone

Much prefer the originals, very nice.

Fajitas!

Do you use the camera/colour callibration panel for your toning?

*eadaoin

Fajitas! wrote: »

Do you use the camera/colour callibration panel for your toning?

No I use the Tone Curve Adjustment panel on the Tool Palette in DPP. No way to adjust curves properly in Elements (although I did read about some kind of plugin?) so I use the one in the Canon software instead.


Thecageyone my OH would agree with you, he generally doesn't like my colour adjustments very much!

Kintarō Hattori

While I like the originals I do prefer the processed images. Keep on doing what you're doing!

Thecageyone

*eadaoin wrote: »

Thecageyone my OH would agree with you, he generally doesn't like my colour adjustments very much!

I'm just not into the faded film look, or purple

Both versions are nice, but the originals are crisper, and more vibrant IMO.

DaireQuinlan

Damnit, it's as I suspected. They're good pictures to begin with . There goes my brilliant and thoroughly original plan of taking really crap pictures and then processing them into sublime masterpieces.

Heebie

I like the originals too. The edited versions have kind of an "old" feel too them like they've been sitting in the photo album fading for 30 years... kinda of warm-ish..but also kind of cool tones. The originals are definitely reasonably warm color-wise for pictures of snow!

AnimalRights

I'll confuse it even more....
Pic A I prefer the rework and Pic B the original!
If I had to pick overall though, the reworked ones.

Thecageyone

It really is just down to personal opinions. Like you said you hated my Sepia toned images AR, which is fair enough. Totally accept some will, where others love them. You can't make people love your stuff and you can't please everyone. Main thing is, 'I' like them

When I look at other people's images I often don't care how they got there, the final image is what counts, and that's what I'll judge it on. If I'd not seen the originals here I'd have said 'nice enough, but not fond of the purple wash' - after seeing the originals though IMO something got lost in the process ... oh, and I don't like frames or curved corners.

oshead

Love the shots eadaoin. I'm so jealous. I like the processed one's best. Is that magenta added in liberal amounts? I thought you might have used actions on them in PS.

*eadaoin

oshead wrote: »

Love the shots eadaoin. I'm so jealous. I like the processed one's best. Is that magenta added in liberal amounts? I thought you might have used actions on them in PS.

Thanks oshead, it's not actually a Photoshop action, but something similar. In DPP you can save 'recipes' which works the same as saving actions. Over time I have worked out several different curves variations I really like and I saved them as different recipes.

These shots have colour added from the red & blue curves, but I guess you could probably get the same effect from adding in more magenta etc on the colour silder thingies in Photoshop.


@thecageyone you are right in that it's all down to personal preference. One of the most amazing aspects of all art forms is how diverse they are & the variety of what people can create within one particular medium.

I am endlessly inspired by lo-fi photography and people who experiment with film (like Daire Quinlan & Humberklog on here) and aspects of different types of film photography seep into my digital stuff.

I'm also big fan of unusual tones, textures, things like ttv & soft rather than sharp images, but can equally appreciate good photography that uses none of these techniques. We only run into trouble when we denounce one anthother's work simply because we just don't like it.

sNarah

{Mod Note}

Can we all keep in mind that *eadaoin started this thread to respond to queries asked about the processing and to avoid the Random thread from clogging up.

We all know the French saying by now: "On peut pas discuter les gouts et les colours" (We cannot discuss taste and colour) and this is not the main point of this thread. *eadaoin was asked to elaborate about her processing, which is what she did and so let's try to keep that the main topic.

Thanks!

Thecageyone

It doesn't actually say in the first post that it was merely to elaborate on the processing, without discussion it'd be pointless. I looked at it as a C&C, either way I think my input makes sense.

Placebo

thanks for posting them up on my request, i much prefer the originals. The curved edges and purple highlights just make them seem like diana/holga* shots but the sharpness and quality of the image just point towards photoshop.
Thats just my opinion, i dont like to know if its post processed - especially when it comes to snaps [i.e not studio driven photos]

*now probably interchangeable with 'iphone'