Alright, I just got back from my Yellowstone trip, and I have started post-processing. Here is a photo that I think is good, but can't seem to get it where I want it. I was thinking B&W, maybe monochrome.
If anybody is bored, and got an idea...go ahead flip it. Much appreciated for sure. List the steps of course, I'm always on for a learning thread.
Very, very difficult image. Not sharp, very undramatic light, underexposure in shadows hard to deal with. Here's a clumsy take on it, involving contrast masking, a glow layer added and faded way down, a draganized layer added and faded way down, lots of dodge and burn on a neutral overlay layer, gradients applied on an overlay layer to the edges, lots of USM. I can't say I'm very happy with this at all, but here it is:
The image does not work well in B/W IMO; it lacks the light and contrast for this.
It's a tough shot to work with. The haze or your lens kept the mountains fairly soft. I think for them to pop you need them to be sharp sharp sharp. I upped the USM, but had to use history brush on the top edge to keep a halo from appearing.
One thing you discovered, is that fir and pine trees are hard to make look good unless the light is just right. They quickly deteriorate into what I call a "muddled mess". That's not your fault, just part of shooting in the west. I haven't solved it yet, except to have strong light behind you and low.
I made the skies more dramatic by duplicating the later on multiply and then adding a gradient to keep the effect to the top 1/3rd of the photo. I upped the contrast to +20. In the B&W conversion I just used the red channel because it looked best.
One thing you discovered, is that fir and pine trees are hard to make look good unless the light is just right. They quickly deteriorate into what I call a "muddled mess". That's not your fault, just part of shooting in the west. I haven't solved it yet, except to have strong light behind you and low.
Yeah, that's the part that makes it "not want to be B/W in my mind. You did fine with the mountains and the sky.
Editing was working in a new layer, adjusting levels paying attention to a certain area only really, then erasing back the areas I didn't want affected. Did some toning in the color balance of highlights, midtones and shadows in a new layer, like bring the foliage more into the green realm, then erasing back areas I didn't want affected. Selected teh yellow stripe and did the color balance thing again until I got the color and shade of yellow I wanted, then erased up close to the lines to undo what wasn't the yellow line. Desaturated the highway to remove the blue & cyan cast. Did some selective adjustments to the blue & cyan channels to change the sky a bit and dropped the highlight levels in the sky. Added a light soft focus to the trees and foliage, erasing back any parts of the mountain and road, tehn did a strong unsharp mask in a new layer (I do all adjustments in a new layer, then flatten, then make a new layer again and keep repeating as necessary) faded back a bit until I got what I wanted, then erased back some of the road and foliage. About 15 minutes spent, no filters or actions, just CS2.
The Black & White was a stronger contrast of the final color version with a touch of yellow toning to give the platinum look.
Only problem is, I never know when to quit - usually go overboard huh?
What's fun, is to open the original in a new window, then open the edit in a new window,
then switch between them in the taskbar to see the changes.
