Kierzkow wrote:
Hello Joshua,
I have stopped praising your photos because any complement just sounds banal.
But how do you get these incredible results? Are you ready to reveal your secrets?
How do you process them?
Best wishes for now.
Henryk (Kierzkow)
Henry, thank you! To begin with, the file was captured using the Smooth Reflection App (SRA) and as such, it seems to have a little more dynamic range but lower noise.
I processed my files in 3 stages. The first stage was a simple LR import, basic and minor adjustment in LR, contrast, highlight/shadow adjustment, etc. Again, the very basic simple adjustment. Then I use PS, mostly using Nik/Google software. Here, I do have my own recipes but they are simple, too. Mostly my recipes consist of varying levels of "tonal contrast", "detail extractor", and "pro contrast" (these are filters in Color Efex Pro, which is a part of the Nik/Google software). The software can handle all those filters one after the other in a single click and it may take a minute or two for the process to finish. After it has been saved, I use LR again to make the final adjustment, which includes color balance, some brush adjustment for suppressing highlights or enhancing shadows, add some graduate effect here and there depending on needs or I just use the brush adjustment.
It may sound complicated but it is actually not. If there is no need to do any retouching (more for portraits), the whole process takes about 5 minutes, I would say. Again, I do have various pre-made recipes in Nik Software and I have expanded it to include a wide number of situations.
I hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions.
rji2goleez wrote:
Joshua - you found a nice spot for this image . . . spectacular . . . next time I go . . .
Thank you, Bob! That's very near the previous spot, about 2 bridges down but facing a different direction.
Here is another one from the general neighborhood; also an SRA file.
Joshua,
Thank you very much.
Here we go again: simply outstanding capture.
Will get the Smooth Reflection App. I also use the Nik Collection, especially Viveza and Color Efex Pro.
Thank you again.
H.
Wow, Dave! The color and contrast look just terrific. Nice shot. I keep seeing great shots with this lens, besides yours, for Joshua Ong and Fred. I may have to consider this over the Laowa, even though it is much slower. It is smaller at least!
darbo wrote:
Voigtlander Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6 Aspherical III:
Hi All! Almost half year total break from photography - hopefully it did good for motivation and inspiration Just few days ago transferred last summer photos from SD-cards, which still were inside cameras . Now I wish I would have written down somewhere, which lenses I used, and also I have no idea of few locations - yet, google knows most likely knows where I have been... Some detective work needed to find out which lenses I used as 95% of my lenses are not electronically connected to camera and I don't think I used Zeiss ZE-lenses, so most likely images don't have any focal length and aperture data.
While I'm figuring out lenses used and other metadata, here are some brutal sunny winter pictures from Helsinki, Finland. This far this is "the most Zeiss" lens from Leica I have seen, pretty nice rendering on focus plane and in boke as well. I shot only few times this lens last summer, nice to see how it does nature photos, hopefully it's good also on those.
Excellent work as always, everyones. This thread just keeps going strong. Just managed to go through the last few pages and suffice to say, used the like button a lot.
Here is one from my trusty 55 1.8 taken at a zoo. The lens was stopped down a bit for DOF, as the penguins came pretty close. Don't be fooled, these guys/gals are not as cute as they look like: It's better to not get too close, as they will peck and their beaks are quite dart-like. Staff told me all the penguin keepers suffer plenty of wounds/marks all the time.
Gunzorro wrote:
Wow, Dave! The color and contrast look just terrific. Nice shot. I keep seeing great shots with this lens, besides yours, for Joshua Ong and Fred. I may have to consider this over the Laowa, even though it is much slower. It is smaller at least!
Thanks!
They have a different rendering and I really like both of them. The Laowa has a smoother rendering that makes me think in the direction of a TS-E 17mm. The CV has a rendering that seems to really accentuate detail and gives me a sense of a Distagon T* 2.8/21mm rendering. I can't keep both - will probably keep the CV 12mm since it's small - perfect for my little TT Urban Approach 5 bag.
