Nikon DSLR "Picture Of The Day"

Interesting temple shot. I still prefer color, although Mono does work.
DPR;
You need to watch out, she is already good. Wait until she is an adult and able to shoot with her OWN gear. She's gonna put all of us old geezers out of work.

Yes DPRob, your daughter is following your foot steps closely behind.

Regarding temple shots, have fun every one. It's open season on my photos, until you have a chance to be there yourselves. On one condition though... please tell me what you did: upping contrast only, contrast/sharpen; etc. That way I also learn new techniques and perspectives.

Trying to remember what I did ten.

B&W conversion in CS6, reducing the green slider and maybe the blue but paying careful attention to the yellow as it really affected the image. Then I added a tint and just moved the colour of it till I liked the result. A slight increase in clarity, a fair bit of sharpness and some noise reduction. Topped it all of with a slight curves adjustment in the shadows and mid tones.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tim11

Thanks DPRoberts and Rooz.
I can see the difference. Yes your version pop up much better.
Rooz: Did you add more contrast? Did you sharpen it further?

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tim, i used a global contrast and sharpening adjustment and then painted on some dodging and burning. in selected areas.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8074/8...ee664c4c_b.jpg
Untitled by .Chris.K, on Flickr

Man.... why can't there be a straight forward technique? LOL.
Thanks you both of you for the tips.

Just a little bit of green shading on the pond and trees using the NX2 spot tool, and a little fiddling with contrast and sharpening.

Once you get used to all of the software it gets easier as you know what works (most of the time). I'm usually a minimalist (work with the image as you shot it), but sometimes you just have to have some fun.

When you get that plyable image (like the one you posted) it's just fun to play with it. That is the sign that it's a great image.:)

Thanks Tim.

Rooz;
I can see you having trouble with these two at home. Great expressions, looks like they were having a lot of fun at the pool.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tim11

Man.... why can't there be a straight forward technique? LOL.
Thanks you both of you for the tips.

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lol ha ! there are so many different styles and techniques its not funny. PP has become an artform in and of itself. Theres 2 or 3 guys on this forum who are gobsmackingly good at it. but it all depends on the photo. if you shoot raw or standard picture control jpeg the your pictures will always look flat cos that's the intention of the file. Ie: Make it a flat foundation to build on in post. If you have a landscape photo the you almost always will bump contrast and sharpening. Not so much with portraits but typically they may still need a quick touch up.

I'm personally very lazy and really dislike spending time in post, (plus i suck at it lol), so I have my shots adjusted in camera, I crank up contrast, sharpening and saturation for landscapes and macros for example. Maybe 1 in every 50 shots ill spend some time on. With the d800e I turn down sharpening a pinch for portraits. It all depends on your camera and what you shoot.

Like Rooz I crank up to vivid and adjust in-camera settings for the type of shot.

For most shots, I just do a once over in NX2 which is relatively quick and easy. Seems the more I do in post processing the further away I get from what I saw through the viewfinder.