This is one of several wharehouse window pics I took a year ago or so. In the spirit of FixMeUp I am posting it. I have worked on this image, or a very similar one, in the past, with results I am happy with and happy to show at some point. But I thought it would be interesting to see what people come up with.
I didn't try to bring much detail from the shadows. Just enough so that you can see it is a run down building. I think when you do bring it back it is not very pleasing so I kept it in shadow. I did the highlight recovery and the little bit of shadow recovery in Aperture, along with some saturation, and levels adjustments, then brought it into CS3 and did some cloning and a bit with layers to get the shadow areas more even.
Given the time, and maybee the raw file, I'd actually mask things properly, and also mask the .3 px gaussian blur so it only took care of the problematic bits, not all of the wall chunkiness
Cropping is a good idea that I didn't think of. I think I like my version cropped a bit better (I also fixed some poor cloning in the original one I posted). Here is the new version:
I'm curious what everyone thinks of the various versions posted.
Thank you all for "playing". I look forward to doing the same with some new material soon.
Bob, I think you did a fantastic job pulling detail from shadows and the highlights. A bit saturated for my taste, but I like a certain surreal quality it has.
Steve, your version is close to what I saw. The extremes of exposure were a huge challenge. Detail in the shadows and along the window edges is realistic.
ibilly, thanks for playing along as well. I think this scene is especially open to interpretation and the toning you have used adds to the aged, decayed subject matter.
Before I post, I'll just throw out another thought: What about a BW conversion?
Thanks Bob. I double-checked. Jpeg of original posted here. RAW of original sent to those requesting.
Prior to converting to BW I was able to extract quite a bit of detail in PS. I dont recall the BW conversion settings, but I'm pretty sure I experimented with several filters to optimize detail.
Curves work within the sky, dodging and burning along many edges (some what imprecisely, but I think it adds to a bit of glow in spots), sharpening, and more selective sharpening of the screen fragments after receiving input on the BW forum on a previous version).
Cropped, rotated to play with parallel lines, thirds, triangles.
Certainly my most processed image to date.
Fantastic !!! I don't know how to do any of the computer work here and am impressed. I Blown away by Jarman's brown pic. I agree with getting rid on the wire and, because it's a strong vertical pic, would like the front of the horizontal shelf darkened so that its light horizontal front doesn't divide the bottom of the pic. Overall, all of the post production work is just magic.
Thanks for the kind comment Stephen - truth if the matter is I don't/didn't (and still don't ) know how to do many of the things done here either until I started hanging around, reading, and playing.
There is such a wealth of experience available and I've not found anyone unwilling to spend the extra time or make the extra effort to help and share their knowledge. That is the power of the community (aka forum).
Stick around, read, experiment, and post - I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
