This is a nice Bright sunny image but it does need a bit of help.
Have Fun...
Greg
Image 2 from Mexico
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leeharper_admin
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- Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:39 pm
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leeharper_admin
- Posts: 263
- Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:39 pm
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leeharper_admin
- Posts: 263
- Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:39 pm
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leeharper_admin
- Posts: 263
- Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:39 pm
Thanks Greg ;D
I was going to post this step-by-step last night, but got distracted by my new phone!
1: By the Numbers color correction...
As you can see from my screenshot, I placed quite a few hue clocks onto the image. The neutral point that I set in the clouds helped to cut the cast out of the image, but still left the shadows (in the umbrella, and underneath the kayaks) slightly too magenta. Because everything except the shadows seemed in fairly good shape, I corrected the shadow cast using RGB rather than Lab. Whilst I was working on these curves, I tweaked them a bit to improve elsewhere where I could. Having applied these curves, I used (Edit > Fade...) to recover the image's original luminosity (by setting the blend mode to 'Color').
I have uploaded my BtN RGB curves so that you can all have a look at them (click the 'Load' button in the lower-right of the CurveMeister interface)
2: Tonal enhancement...
I think that this is where the bulk of the success of the correction came from. Looking (in Photoshop) at the Red, Green and Blue channels, it was clear that the Blue channel needed a lot of help. Steps 2 and 3 (screenshot attached) used (Image > Apply Image - in Photoshop) to add more variation to each of the RGB channels; as you can see from the 'Apply Image' dialog on the left of the screenshot, the Blue channel - inverted - made a useful mask for lightening the umbrella in the Green channel (though having done this, I replaced the Blue channel with the Red channel).
The umbrella was still too dark - and the sand too light - so I used the 'Shadow/Highlight' adjustment on the Red and Green channels to improve these areas (Steps 4 and 5).
In Step 6, I blend the sky and umbrella from the Red channel into the Green channel (see screenshot); these two layers are then merged, and finally set to 'Luminosity' (the tonal enhancement steps were created on a 'Background copy' layer.
Having done this, I turned the 'Tonal Enhancement' layer on and off and discovered that the Red Kayak and Purple backrests looked worse than in the original file - so a quick trip to Lab (in Photoshop) allowed me to repair this (by using the 'Blend If' sliders - see screenshot).
3: Color Enhancement
I felt that the only area of the image that could stand a saturation boost (and some more hue variation) was the sky and water; so before returning to CurveMeister I created a quick Alpha channel - to use as a mask in CM - using Photoshop's 'Select > Color Range...' command. Once in CurveMeister, I set this alpha channel as my mask, and used the contrast pin technique to work on the sea and sky (I set a hue clock on the clouds, to keep them natural).
So - quite a few steps, but it's a great image; it was fun imagining that I was in Mexico for a while ;)
Cheers,
Lee.
I was going to post this step-by-step last night, but got distracted by my new phone!
1: By the Numbers color correction...
As you can see from my screenshot, I placed quite a few hue clocks onto the image. The neutral point that I set in the clouds helped to cut the cast out of the image, but still left the shadows (in the umbrella, and underneath the kayaks) slightly too magenta. Because everything except the shadows seemed in fairly good shape, I corrected the shadow cast using RGB rather than Lab. Whilst I was working on these curves, I tweaked them a bit to improve elsewhere where I could. Having applied these curves, I used (Edit > Fade...) to recover the image's original luminosity (by setting the blend mode to 'Color').
I have uploaded my BtN RGB curves so that you can all have a look at them (click the 'Load' button in the lower-right of the CurveMeister interface)
2: Tonal enhancement...
I think that this is where the bulk of the success of the correction came from. Looking (in Photoshop) at the Red, Green and Blue channels, it was clear that the Blue channel needed a lot of help. Steps 2 and 3 (screenshot attached) used (Image > Apply Image - in Photoshop) to add more variation to each of the RGB channels; as you can see from the 'Apply Image' dialog on the left of the screenshot, the Blue channel - inverted - made a useful mask for lightening the umbrella in the Green channel (though having done this, I replaced the Blue channel with the Red channel).
The umbrella was still too dark - and the sand too light - so I used the 'Shadow/Highlight' adjustment on the Red and Green channels to improve these areas (Steps 4 and 5).
In Step 6, I blend the sky and umbrella from the Red channel into the Green channel (see screenshot); these two layers are then merged, and finally set to 'Luminosity' (the tonal enhancement steps were created on a 'Background copy' layer.
Having done this, I turned the 'Tonal Enhancement' layer on and off and discovered that the Red Kayak and Purple backrests looked worse than in the original file - so a quick trip to Lab (in Photoshop) allowed me to repair this (by using the 'Blend If' sliders - see screenshot).
3: Color Enhancement
I felt that the only area of the image that could stand a saturation boost (and some more hue variation) was the sky and water; so before returning to CurveMeister I created a quick Alpha channel - to use as a mask in CM - using Photoshop's 'Select > Color Range...' command. Once in CurveMeister, I set this alpha channel as my mask, and used the contrast pin technique to work on the sea and sky (I set a hue clock on the clouds, to keep them natural).
So - quite a few steps, but it's a great image; it was fun imagining that I was in Mexico for a while ;)
Cheers,
Lee.
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