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Sony Forums Challenges | all galleries >> Challenge 108: Look Up, Look Down (hosted by Roberta Fair & Helen Betts) >> Challenge 108: Demo Folder > edit image
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18-DEC-2005

Patty88 - 'Trees with light'

A levels (mainly) rework of 'Trees with light' in the Eligible gallery.

Patty, a couple of points. Firstly, this would look much more spectacular at a larger size rather than the 489x509 pixel upload seen here.
Remember that your image need only fit into an 800x800 matrix to conform with Challenge guidelines.

I thought it would look better with the lights brought out more, and this was what I did (using Photoshop, but that's largely immaterial):

1. I applied a moderate Unsharp Mask which, as well as helping the slightly motion-blurred lights, always brightens points of light such as these.

2. Saturation increased, to restore the colour typically lost by sharpening small lights like these.

3. Further brightening of highlights using the Levels dialog -- move the upper highlights slider to the left.
I also lightened the mid-tones somewhat by moving the mid-point slider to the left.

These adjustments are very arbitrary (which is why I haven't quoted actual numbers), especially the mid-point treatment.
Some people would prefer it with the houses showing, while I'm sure some would see them as distracting and clone various bits to near-black.

-- Mike F.

Sony DSC-H1
1/8s f/2.8 at 6.0mm iso320 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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