wgCMYK example 1

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Whchung has requested an example using wgCMYK, so here are two of them.  I hope they will be of interest.

One of the main strengths of wgCMYK is the ability to control shadows without affecting lighter parts of the image, and without changing colors.  I started by placing a neutral on the stone area behind the gorilla as a neutral, which I remembered as being gray when I took the image - the curve points for the neutral are indicated by tick marks on the graph.  Then I moved the black end of the K curve in to get a good shadow, and make the K steeper overall.  I added another couple of points to the K curve to bring out the fur texture some more.

I'd suggest that you experiment with the original image, first correcting it in whatever way you feel most comfortable.  Then try to recreate your results using wgCMYK. 

I did not use Lab or RGB for this image, and you may well find that you get a more pleasing result in one of the other color spaces.

[mikemeister_admin]

I think your version is a bit yellow and its only my personal taste. I post below my version.

[mikemeister_admin]

After a direct comparison, I found there's not much difference between my version and yours :o

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Very nice!  I like the texture you got in the fur.

[mikemeister_admin]

I started with your settings and made a few minor adjustments until I was satisfied with the image.  Then sharpened with unsharp mask carefully adjusting the amount and radius -- ended up with amount = 100, radius = .6 and threshold = 0.

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Thanks for your example.  We don't cover this in the class, since the emphasis is on curves, but yes, USM is an important step in finishing up an image.  I generally use the same radius setting that you do, and an even higher percentage, 150 or even 200.  With the radius set larger, the percentage should be kept lower.