Okay, I am still waiting for my copy of Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Photoshop CS3. I was so thoroughly inspired by Shrew’s Photoshop adventures that I went ahead and ordered the book. And I don’t even have Photoshop CS3. Nor do I have the OS required for CS3. (Excuse my while I lament my situation.)
To make the wait a little more bearable, I went ahead and borrowed Scott Kelby’s The Photoshop Elements 3 Book for Digital Photographers from the local library. And no, I don’t have Photoshop Elements 3 either. (Feeling sorry for me yet?)
But if what I learned from reading that over the weekend is any indication, then I’m banking on at least quadrupling whatever I’ve managed to learn on my own using CS2. (Okay, I’m not that pitiful.)
So here are the mums from my previous post. Remember? The ones I said were perhaps the best straight out of the camera shots I’ve taken with my camera?
Here’s the before:
And here it is after some ninja Photoshopping. (Except this ninja often ends up nicking herself and overdoing things before she learns patience and self-control, but that’s beside the point.)
Thank you, Mr. Kelby, for including actual Unsharp Mask values to experiment with in your Elements book, because if you had simply told me to trust my eye, I’d still be sitting here with trackball in hand moving those sliders back and forth trying to figure out at what point it becomes too much.
Here’s another one before:
And here it is again after:
What do you think? Did I change it too much? I tried to be subtle and make only light changes to enhance the photo. Which one looks more real to you? Which one makes you want to get closer to your screen and sniff it? (I know these mums aren’t really known for their scent, but just play along with me for a while.) Which one makes you think, “Is that real? Did she go get some fake flowers and spray them with water? Does she have that much time and impish deceit in her life?”
And here’s another photo for you. Because I was bored, and it was dark outside, and I happened to be in the kitchen with my camera. (I know that sounds weird, but it’s all part of the playing-along-with-me thing.)
Pretty bubbles, eh?
That’s all for today! Thanks for playing along!
I think the changes you made were great. Any chance you’d give us some insight into the changes you made?
Hi Crux! Thanks for dropping by. The changes I did were pretty basic. I first altered the curves ever so slightly, then set contrast to around 6. Then I ran a noise reduction plug-in but just opted for a weak setting. Lastly, I sharpened the edges twice, then used Unsharp Mask, again only ever-so-slightly.
But what am I saying? I checked out your blog and your photo site, and the shots are simply … amazing. I am humbled.
Your restraint is amazing. I would have over saturated.
Actually, ordinarily I may have over saturated too. Except with these, I thought they looked so good out of the camera that I didn’t want to mess with the colors too much. In fact, I’m a bit on the fence with the second photo of the mums, because I’m not sure if I may have overdone it there.
But give me a photo that needs more work, and I’ll run the risk of going overboard with the sliders. Need to rein in those ninja moves.
I honestly can’t see that much difference (I guess that’s the point). I think the SOOC shots were fine as they were.
Alright… I had my coffee then came back to look again. I do see that the colors are slightly richer in the “after” shots. However it is very subtle. I don’t think either of them goes too far.
Did you sharpen the double mum shot? It feels a bit too sharp… like it lost a tiny bit of its softness in the translation. Ivory I don’t want this to come across as criticism. I know you and Shrew are just learning and playing. I assume you want our honest thoughts when you post these experiments.
BTW I love your water shot.
Brc, please don’t hesitate to give your opinion. It’s the only way I’ll learn. I’m always a bit unsure about trusting my eye just yet, especially since staring at the same photo for an extended period of time can really warp one’s perception.
Of the ones I posted, I was most unsure of that double mum shot. Interestingly, I used the exact same settings as I used for the first one, but somehow it seemed over-sharpened to me. I guess each photo really is its own mini-project, even though I shot those in the same light, from the same plant and only seconds apart from each other.
I am so glad my playing with the kitchen faucet wasn’t entirely in vain. I kinda like that water shot myself. :)
ivory – I am with brc – the second photo does look a little too sharp, but these really were gorgeous to start with.
I like the funky water shot! It took me awhile to understand what I was looking at, even though you said you were in the kitchen!
Yeah, I’ll re-work that photo. Look for an update post.
I really like what you did with that flower. It adds nice colours and a greater contrast without being “too much.” Good work.
Thanks, MLB! Now, which team would you be rooting for? You’re safe here, we have both Red Sox and Yankee fans around and we play nice with each other.