Would anyone be willing?

Hopefully this type of request hasn't been posted before so here goes.

I've seen alot of very outstanding photos posted in this forum. As a relatively new convert to the digital world, I'm beginning to see the craft involved that starts once the image has been downloaded to the computer. That being said, I'm really hoping to see how you folks take the raw image and transform it to the final cut. In other words, would anyone be willing to post the original, right out of the camera image along side the final cut as you see it?? I just think this would be a valuable lesson to some of us newer to the digital struggle!

Thanks in advance

Rob

I can do one for ya, but it'll have to wait until tomorow since I left my laptop at work, which has the image that I wanted to show the before/after on

sure thing rob, I've got a little while before I have to head back to school. I'll have one up within the hr. I'll post my entire workflow actually. I generally shoot JPEG though, so I won't be able to help you out with the RAW aspect. I find for what I need, jpeg is fine, and I can fit 4x more files on one card that way.

we warned, the following post has a lot of images.


here's my workflow. This is generally what I do for every image. I have posted my flow that allows for tweaking, as I usually just run an action to upload to my website if I don't need to have that much precision.

1) open your image
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir573...55206_1446.jpg

2)select all (command+a) transform (command+t) then rotate to straighten horizon
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir573...55209_9260.jpg

3) using the crop tool, define your selection then once selected, hit return to crop.
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55210_9559.jpg

4) Open curves using command m, then adjust the curve accordingly. I usually shoot in such a way that a bump in the middle of the curve and a drop on the left does what I want for the whites/darks. I also like bright whites, so this part is governed by how you want the image to look, your personal preference.
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55211_4701.jpg

5)I then use levels adjustment (again, preference, some people prefer curves) to correct color. Always try auto levels first to see if it gives you the effect you desire. In this case, it did. Auto levels is shift command L.
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55212_2920.jpg

6) It still had a little bit of a green tint, so I pulled up hue/saturation adjustment, and slid the hue a bit to the left. left=pink/red, right=green.
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55213_1057.jpg

7) I then run unsharp mask once I am done everything else. These are my personal settings for my 1d image, so they won't necessarily work for you.
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55216_8867.jpg

8) Then change image size. 72 ppi, usually 600 pix at widest edge, bicubic adjustment
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55217_9289.jpg

9) I then sharpen again. I sharpened this file a bit too much IMO, but always resharpen after you resize. you may prefer to not sharpen before you resize, but always sharpen after resize.
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55218_7160.jpg

10) Then I convert the color profile to sRGB since thats how colors are displayed on the web. Always remember to do this step, or you can use the "save for web" command, as it will save as sRGB as well.
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55935_8707.jpg



so the original
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55936_5245.jpg

edited
http://imgplace.com/directory/dir574...55937_5948.jpg


and as I said previously, a lot of these things depend on personal preference. there is no best workflow, only one you like the best. as i said, i think i sharpened too much, and should have just applied an USM after resizing, and it just demonstrates every image is different. Hope this helped!

Brent that's a good work up of your work flow. I'm working on one to put up, but it's interesting to see what others do as well. I could only imagine seeing what PJ would do with a problematic image.

Brent -

Thanks very much for the the time and effort. That was fantastic and it really will be a great help. By the way, I was up in your neck of the wood this weekend photographing a soccer tournament in Raymond NH.. First time I every took pictures of a soccer game in the middle of a snow storm!

Many thanks!

Rob

Wow , Thanks , I'm taking some notes from that too.

oh and i forgot to add, most of that work can be done in layers as well, if you don't feel like working on your original image. I always save as a copy, so I just work as jpeg.

Very helpful Brent thanks for posting it:)
Jimmy B