Week 1 Flowers Compared.

[ggroess]

One of the ideas we are hoping to get out to everyone is the many different ways you can use CM to help do things just a bit differently and possibly add value to your work flow in Photoshop.  This is a bit of a leap for some of the class but I wanted to get you thinking.

Below is a comparison of the Flower image from Week 1.  The first image is done using a layer mask and a copy of the red channel  in multiply mode to enhance the highlight details of the flowers.  This in turn allows me to make the yellow brighter without blowing out the highlight details.

Go slow and try to think about new ways of working on images using masks and CM to add to your work flow.  Please ask questions and please do try this to see if you like the results. This technique can have a varied effect depending on your choices so your image will certainly look different from mine.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

R channel layer multiply blurred mask.With edge sharpening to control the ghost images of the stems and a final sat boost in HSB.GregM
HSB seemed to give a suggestion of color to the defocused blooms in the background.Downloaded image went first for a noise removal pass in Neat Image.

[mikemeister_admin]

Greg,at this step I get a better result with a low opacity than high?I would think the image would be lightest(the effect strongest?)at 100% op.

[ggroess]

Greg,
Did you make any changes to the background image between steps??  i'm mostly curious at this point.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

No,this is the step after you move up from the background(with the white over the yellow)to the copy layer.
I don't know if it is related but this is what happens when I set a highlight in RGB(I can threshold Ok).I also don't get cmyk readings except in the background layer.I've uninstalled and reinstalled CM 3.0.12 several times.GregM

[ggroess]

You would not get any CMYK values on the mask layer. 
It would be just the R channel in Monochrome.  Unless you flatten; you are looking at the mask layer unless the background is selected.

Setting the highlight might be tricky if you have the sample size set real small.  The image has so few pixels at this resolution an accurate highlight might be tricky if you are set to say 3 pixels for the sample.  I'd threshold this one using this method.  Move the threshold until you just get the bright spots; then back off until they just all go away. I would not show any highlight points on this one...

Actual mileage may vary..
Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

The proplem with setting the highlight happens with all images ,at different sample sizes?GregM

[ggroess]

Sometimes the pins can smack the curves around a bit.  What happens as you move the pin around?
Does the color snap around really wild? 

I see this every once in awhile and I usually close CM and PS then re-open and the problems seems to go away.  I have complained to the management but the trouble is not re-creatable.  If you can make it do this 100% mike can make it go away. 

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Greg, I'll get back to you in a day or so on this.GregM