Fifth Place

Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Canon SLR Challenges - FAQ >> CSLR - Best of... >> Best of 2008 > Fifth Place
"Spring Sunset"
by Jim H.


12-APR-2008	Jim H.

other sizes: small medium large original auto

Please do not delete, update, or otherwise edit others' entries
* Submitter retains all copyrights *

Canon DSLR Challenge		14-Apr-2008 19:28
I put what I think is my best attempt at making the sky better into Pending. I've explained what I dislike about what I did in a comment there. Thank you for posting what you used to get the effect you achieved. I might have to look into trying something like what you did. Don't worry about stressing me with this. I wouldn't be playing with it if it wasn't interesting and fun :) Jim H.

jnconradie		14-Apr-2008 18:56
The "hdr" version, to which referred in this comment has now also been posted to Pending, together with the workflow explanation. Purely for interest though. Feel free to delete. :-) Kind regards Nico

jnconradie		14-Apr-2008 10:07
Hi Guys Dear Traveller, I am totally OK with you not liking the "tweaked" version, I promise! :-) It was posted as a "different" version, not necessarily a "better" version. :-) Dear Jim, please don't stress about it too much. I used software called "Dynamic Photo HDR" http://www.mediachance.com/hdri/index.html) to turn your posted version into a pseudo-hdr version (which by itself did not really look like an improvement at all.) I then made the original and the hdr-version into two layers in Photoshop Elements and sort-of selectively deleted from the (top layer) original the bits and pieces where I (subjectively of course) felt the (underlying) hdr layer added some impact: most I used the clouds from the hdr version and the rest from the original.) I might also post the hdr-version to Pending later just so that you can look at that by itself, in case you are interested. And you are right, ideally, one should start off with the original, high-res and unsharpended version for best results. My "messing around" was truly not intended to be stress-inducing, I promise! :-) Leave it with what it really looked like. Your image is totally fine as it is!! Kind regards Nico

Canon DSLR Challenge		14-Apr-2008 07:38
I'm having a hard time with this one. I like the extra detail to the clouds in Nico's version, and since he had only the already sharpened and compressed version to work from, I figured I could do a better job starting with the RAW and working through it. But I've found it to be quite hard to get anything decent that brings out more detail in the sky without damaging other parts of the image the ways I've been trying. I may leave this alone for now because I really am having a hard time getting what I want without it leaving odd artifacts that bug me. Besides, I can always argue that this version really does look the way this scene really looked in "real life". I may play with things more if I get time and have some sort of post-processing inspiration. I'm ready to give up and have Nico tell me what he did to get his version :) Jim H.

Canon DSLR Challenge		13-Apr-2008 21:55
Jim, I still strongly prefer this view over Nico's...sorry to say this so openly, but my opinion. Traveller

Canon DSLR Challenge		13-Apr-2008 21:39
Great job Jim. Good use of perspective and composition to bring drama to an average subject. Love the color and hyper DOF as well. -Barry

Canon DSLR Challenge		13-Apr-2008 17:20
Wow, Nico. I like what you did with it. As odd as this shot may look, the thing is that it's had nothing much done to it. The RAW was processed with the saturation set to the middle and the WB set to 4500 degrees K. Other than that, it's pretty well untouched. But I love the extra details you got between the clouds and the blue sky. I will attempt to see if I can replicate that - no hints yet, I wanna see if I can figure out how to do it. Then I might beg to know what you did :) Thanks! Jim H.

Canon DSLR Challenge		13-Apr-2008 13:51
Highlighing the details in the sky (what Nico did) would surely not hurt this excellent post. Great job. Penny Street

jnconradie		13-Apr-2008 11:16
Jim, I trust I will be forgiven for downloading a copy and "messing" with it just a little. I wanted to try pulling a bit more detail from the sky to see what that you do to your already super image. My attempt in posted in Pending... and you can of course delete it from there whenever you wish. Needless to say, I like what you did here! :-) Regards Nico

jnconradie		13-Apr-2008 09:09
Stunning, Jim! :-) Regards Nico