Ydelta From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2012, 0 posts, RR: 0 Posted (11 years 7 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2111 times:
I've read in another post that some of you guys spend a lot of time in order to finalize a raw picture either from a scanned slide/print or from a digital camera file. Apart from the traditionnal tools (crop/resize, unsharp, noise reduction etc), I suspect that some use advanced techniques to "push" fade colors or even rotate a non-level pic
Consequently, I am curious to know on many minutes/hours you spend on average on each photo before you upload it ?
Furthermore, I recently met a famous Australian spotter who never use doctoring tools to process his scans. He even told me that cropping a photo to center a non centered plane is 'cheating'...
What do you think ? Is there also purist photographers who never use Photoshop or similar before submitting it to the impitoyable screeners
AviationIvi From Germany, joined Feb 2001, 777 posts, RR: 8 Reply 1, posted (11 years 7 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2006 times:
Hi,
since I have a slide-scanner I need about 3 minutes per picture until everything is perfect.
I used to work more than 30 minutes on a picture when I used my old flatbed...
Ckw From UK - England, joined Aug 2010, 529 posts, RR: 18 Reply 2, posted (11 years 7 months 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2003 times:
It can take a while, though normally for an A.net shot, if it's taking too much time (eg. 15 minutes+ then the shot is probably too far gone to bother with). Hardcopy is a different matter, and it can take a good while to get the colour balance perfect on a printer.
As to cheats. Well I do nothing which would not be standard practice in a real darkroom OR is a compensation for problems in the digital process. Roughly it goes like this ... starting from the basic scan, normally to full frame:
1 - crop, and rotate as necessary. Standard darkroom stuff
2 Exposure adjustments: overall (= length of exposure), local (= 'dodging' and 'burning') and contrast (= choice of paper grade)
3 Colour balance - anyone who has used a colour darkroom will know that prints from slides ALWAYS need colour adjustment
4 Dust/scratch spotting = good 'ol brush and pen work!
Image is now resampled to required a.net size and
5 Sharpened - no darkroom equivalent here, but is really only useful to restore edge definition lost in the scan and resampling process - there is really no way to get an out of focus original to look sharp.
6 Sometimes noise reduction - esp. in the sky. This isn't really grain (though often described as such), but a result of the scan process on large areas of a similar tone, esp. blue. In otherwords, a digital artifact which I feel totally justified in removing if possible.
While I don't advocate digital "cheating" (and there are some grey areas here) , I also see no special merit in not making any further adjustments to the image recorded on the film. The darkroom has always been an integral part of the photographic process - pressing the shutter is just one step in the process. The great photographers have for the most part not only visualised the scene as they took it, but also visualised how the manner in which the scene was being recorded (lighting, contrast etc.) would be translated to a finished print in the darkroom.
EDIpic From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (11 years 7 months 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1961 times:
Hi!
Even when using manipulating my digital shots with The GIMP for Windows
it takes about 10 mins per shot.
1) Rotate to correct the horizon.
2) Roughly crop to look acceptable.
3) Adjust levels/lightness if necessary, albeit very little adjustment usually.
4) I do use the clone too if I feel necessary (Me, a cheat?)
5) De-compose the picture into HSV (Hue/Saturation/Value) components.
6) Appy my unsharp masking to the Value component only: 1/ 0.60/9
7) Re-compose HSV components back to the colour image.
8) Resize to 950px or 1000px wide.
9) De-compose again and apply unsharp mask: 1/0.09/9 to the Value.
10) Re-compose HSV back to colour image.
11) Final crop to get a 950 x 650 or a 1000 x 700 frame
12) Export as a low compression JPEG.
Cheers
Gerry/EDI
(Does anyone else de-compose their shots into HSV greyscale images?)
Mirage From Portugal, joined May 1999, 3120 posts, RR: 16 Reply 7, posted (11 years 7 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 1947 times:
On average I spent 7 minutes per scanning and about that australian spotter comment, well even what we see through the viewfinder is not the real image we'll obtain...
Wietse From Netherlands, joined Oct 2001, 3809 posts, RR: 57 Reply 8, posted (11 years 7 months 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 1934 times:
I Scan everything with 500 dpi, with my flatbed, then I sharpen the picture, smoothen it a bit, after that I resize it to height 768, and check for sharpness, if i'm satisfied, i'm done, if not, a little more sharpening.
Da fwog From United Kingdom, joined Aug 1999, 867 posts, RR: 9 Reply 12, posted (11 years 7 months 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1891 times:
"He even told me that cropping a photo to center a non centered plane is 'cheating'... "
a bizarre statement for anyone who has ever used a darkroom, but I guess a perfectly reasonable one for someone who only ever takes and trades slides....
I guess it takes from 2 minutes for an "easy" shot up to about 10 for a tricky one for me to turn a raw image from the D30 into something I can upload to A.N.
Thom@s From Norway, joined Oct 2000, 11949 posts, RR: 51 Reply 15, posted (11 years 7 months 23 hours ago) and read 1864 times:
After scanning, I can't resize or use the unsharpen mask, simply coz I dunno how they work. (Where to press, what to press next) I have Corel Photoshop, can anyone advice me how to use the diffrerent tools?
btw, I use bout 3-5 min per shot.
I only sharpen 10% and done. Afterwards I remove dust and upload.
Thom@s
"If guns don't kill people, people kill people - does that mean toasters don't toast toast, toast toast toast?"
Jasonm From Australia, joined May 2000, 238 posts, RR: 6 Reply 16, posted (11 years 7 months 23 hours ago) and read 1863 times:
Hi,
On a scanned slide or neg I spend anywhere up to 10 minutes on it in Photoshop 6. Sometimes a bit more depending on the condition. The shots from the digital look pretty good straight out of the camera and require little (if any) adjustments at all.
I can't understand how someone would upload their work without ANY adjustments (sharpening, levels etc)at all. If they want to display their work and be taken seriously, then why not present your work to us all with the respect it deserves?
Glenn From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2005, 0 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (11 years 7 months 21 hours ago) and read 1847 times:
Ydelta
You Said
Furthermore, I recently met a famous Australian spotter who never use doctoring tools to process his scans. He even told me that cropping a photo to center a non centered plane is 'cheating'...
This guy might be a famous Australian ( I have no idea who you are talking about) But he doesn't sound like a serious photographer. POsting to this site is probably OK to some but in the real world..........................
Even if he submitted photos for publication, they would be touched up.
Ydelta From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2012, 0 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (11 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 1809 times:
Glenn,
This guy might be a famous Australian ( I have no idea who you are talking about) But he doesn't sound like a serious photographer. POsting to this site is probably OK to some but in the real world..........................
Hehe, this guy is probably not as famous as you
I guess the main reason for what he told me is that he is not fluent with digital imaging tools. I suspect he is not even aware that all the photographers here do some photoshop work in order to get the best of their raw pics.
Cheers
Yann
PS : BTW, you did not contribute yet to the other thread re best pics Are you shy ?
Lugonza_2001 From Spain, joined Oct 2001, 315 posts, RR: 1 Reply 19, posted (11 years 6 months 3 weeks 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 1778 times:
Hi!
I only have to say that transforming a picture with tools is not fine, i don´t say it´s cheating, but by doing it you are "saying" that the REAL picture you took is not valid. You are transforming reality.
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