Curvemeister Forum

I feel like this image is haunting me!

In comparing what I've done this week with last week's effort, it's much better - with the exception of the decking, which had better colour last week. I tried without success to address this, but couldn't do so without messing up the trees - so, I stole the decking from last week, and have layered it into this week's attempt. It feels like a bit of a cop-out, but this picture is giving me grey hairs - so I'm doing it in the interests of my sanity ;)

I'm a complete convert to leaving images 24-hours before deciding if they're ready. The only difficulty is that it's tricky trying to remember what my corrections have been :). I began yesterday by attacking the cast with two sets of RGB curves. I then applied the red channel in luminosity mode (through a sky mask that I made in CS5) at 80% to add a little detail to the clouds. I then ran Shadow/Highlights to accentuate this, and rescue the dark tree on the left of the image.

I followed these up with a Lab curve to boost saturation - but I replaced that today with a new set of curves (yesterday's left the cloud reflections in the water magenta).

I then sharpened the file, before comparing it with the images I posted last week, to see if this attempt was any better. As I mentioned, I thought that the decking was better last week - so I 'borrowed' that (using the Blend If sliders in Lab, in combination with a few masks).

I can't shake the feeling that I should be able to do more with fewer curves - but I'm sure that I'll improve...

Lee.

Considering that this was just a "make the sky look better" assignment...you have really done well...

As I was reading your post before I even got to the end of the first paragraph I said to myself..."Steal the dock from the other image then..."  Part of the CM 201 course is going to be the realization that CM is powerful but not the only tool in the box.  Many people begin to think that the tools they brought into the class are insufficient now that they know curves...I would say Curves enhances all the tools you have and you just have to think out of the box a bit to see where you can apply them...

I ran into one last night that is very similar..I'll post it for you later today as a bonus image...I ended up making a two image sandwich with masking and CM to fix it...I was actually surprised how much I had to put into it...

Greg

Now that the course is coming to an end I'm beginning to think about how I can use what I've learnt here in combination with the techniques that I normally use. Although I've done some channel blending on the course, I have tried where possible to use curves - it kind of defeats the purpose of the course to do otherwise ;) but now comes the question of what to use, when?

I was thinking yesterday about how I had used five separate curves on a single image. Part of me was thinking "I should be able to do this with fewer curves", but the other part of me just felt really proud that I've gained the confidence to do something like that! In the past when I've tried to colour correct with curves I have cancelled the whole thing if it didn't work exactly as planned straight away, but you've given me so much confidence. Now, if the first set of curves don't fix everything I just click apply and head back in ;D.

I do wonder though if I am trying to do things with curves that might be better accomplished with other methods. I'm not proficient enough a curve writer to know whether I'm struggling with images because my curves are bad, or because I should be doing something else. I think that this absolutely has a place in the CM 201 course. For people like me who might take the 201 course immediately after the 101 course, we would lack the experience to recognise whether our curve writing abilities or our methods were causing us trouble. Also, you mentioned how when I write more than one curve they can sometimes counteract each other; it would be great for me to be able to recognise this - and to know when to tweak what I have already written, and when to just start over.

Lee.

That is the tough part...knowing when you are working against yourself 

The goal should always be the same a better image...It does kind of come down to some of the thought behind the order of operations in a work flow like PPW.  There are things you do that "hurt" the image but overall put you in a better place to fix it later.

A lot of the PPW work flow can be condensed down when you have a tool like curves.  The channel access and the ability to switch image mode without PhotoShop is huge...Mike and I have been trying to think of a way to illustrate just how easy it can be...trouble is the PPW is so variable it is like a snake wrapped on your arm...you just about have it and then it moves a bit...

The Compare button is really your friend at that point as is the smart filter and simply using a layer that you can click on and off.  This stage is really normal; you have a greater understanding but now what?? 

I would go back and revisit some older images from earlier this year or even this class as you have been.. and see if you can work them out better...go to the boat image from the beginning of the class...do something in under 5 minutes that greatly improves the image and then feel great about that...

Greg