Photo editing before and afters.

[tony64]

I've only just got my Dslr and this is the first picture I have edited. I was using the free nikon software which came with the camera and it was nowhere near as difficult to get a much better picture than I'd thought it would be.

The original was shot in raw and it was easy to fix the underexposer in the foreground, by brightnening and D-lignhting HS and sharpening the picture.
So I thought a before and after thread with short discription of the changes made may help people take that first step.

So here's mine let's see yours.

before

After

I know I got the sizing wrong but you can see that at least it was savable and I didn't have to hit the delete button.

 

[Boss Hogg]

It is amazing what you can achieve post-processing pics. The beauty is that you can change the pic to your personal taste and get the colours how you like 'em.

Also, you can crop and clone things out which further enhances the shots. Can make good pics, fantastic!

Without knowing the Nikon software, it may be worth getting Photoshop as I suspect that it will offer much more flexibility.

 

[extreme8]

Here's one I'm working on now. Still a lot of work to do, but I think it will be OK in the end.
It was a great opportunity to get a clear shot of the castle, but as I got ready to take the shot some people stepped into the frame. There was a crowd coming up Main Street, so it was now or never.

This is a crop of the full sized image. I adjusted levels & Curves, played with the contrast some, and... Oh yeah, deleted some people and parts of others. I'll get rid of the rest of 'em soon.

Original

Work in progress

 

[Boss Hogg]

Extreme - OMG you've decapitated people! Good job on the cloning, I am sure you'll end up with a good pic. You deserve it if you've managed to get a time when there was no-one in front of the castle!

 

[tony64]

I was thinking of doing an evening clas in Photoshop.
Anyone done one and do you think it's worthwhile???????

 

[elizke]

I love photo editing! All those years being stuck with what I happened to shoot in the moment, and now I have so much control!! I can't afford super fancy cameras, and I am an emotional shooter who does not have time to think or fuss with settings in the moment, so I love being able to mold it later into what I want. In other words, afterthought is my forte.

Here's one from a family wedding we went to last year in Tampa, which was the trip that led me to WDW and this forum. My son was being a goof, and I kept shooting and finally got one where my DS was just smiling, and Stepson blinks! Also I was laughing too hard to properly change the setting on the cam to overcome the bright window lights. Worth a save so I cloned a head from another shot and made other adjustments.

Before...

After...

And another, also the same trip. My MIL and FIL blurred so I used one of my favorite plug-ins, Focus Magic....
Before...

After...

Another from the same trip, just a quick snap of my nephew that came out bad (think maybe I'd had a few by then?), and fixed him into a Marlboro man...
Before...

After...

I use Paintshop Pro v9 and love it.


Nice job on yours too OP. Don't you love that what would have been ruined can be saved?

 

[fitzperry]

And another, also the same trip. My MIL and FIL blurred so I used one of my favorite plug-ins, Focus Magic....

I've never seen this--wow! I always figured out of focus shots were beyond help. That's amazing. Is it expensive?

I've done the cutting and pasting thing to get pics of both my kids looking like normal human beings too! Works pretty well sometimes.

Nice work!

 

[CA_Stitch]

Nice jobs...

 

[boBQuincy]

This is encouraging.

Some "photographers" feel if the image isn't just as the camera delivered it, then you aren't much of a photographer. I agree with the others, "you don't take a photograph, you make one."

To me, it's all part of the photographic process, pressing the button is only one step on the way to a fine photograph.

 

[manning]

Found their site

http://www.focusmagic.com/

 

[Michele]

I LOVE this thread!!!!! Clone painting is so fun. Here are a couple of mine.

This first one was very simple, but such a dramatic difference in the photos.

This one was harder, I had to clone part of the car from another picture.

 

[CA_Stitch]

This is encouraging.

Some "photographers" feel if the image isn't just as the camera delivered it, then you aren't much of a photographer. I agree with the others, "you don't take a photograph, you make one."

To me, it's all part of the photographic process, pressing the button is only one step on the way to a fine photograph.

Agreed.

IMO - Digital Photography is a new frontier to be explored.... by all of us, each in our own ways...

Painters used to look at photographers as not real artists... afterall they said, what's artistic about capturing what is, using technolgy? .. and yet look how far we have gone, how many memories we have preserved, how many historic events we have captured... Digital is opening new doors for Imagination.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Virgo10]

Too pretty for wires to get in the way.

But I did like the plant growing up the telephone pole.

 

[fitzperry]

Found their site

http://www.focusmagic.com/

Thanks! My photography wish list is way too long.

 

[geetey]

I was thinking of doing an evening clas in Photoshop.
Anyone done one and do you think it's worthwhile???????

I'll be able to answer that after my 6 week class. I have signed up to take a class on PSE 4. Then I can stop bugging people with.... "how did you do that?!?!"

 

[jann1033]

I'll be able to answer that after my 6 week class. I have signed up to take a class on PSE 4. Then I can stop bugging people with.... "how did you do that?!?!"

is it online or someplace you have to go?

 

[handicap18]

I'm not real big on photo editing. I like to try and get the pic as I see it the first time with the camera. Also I don't like spending time editing pictures (plus with 3 kids 4 and under, alone time is hard to come by and I'd rather do other things on the computer when I do have the time). However, there are times when some digital editing does come in handy. Here is one from our last trip to the world.

Before:

After:

Photographer wasn't that far away. This was taken with my camera and I only had the pop-up flash. I did also get a pic taken with the Disney Photographers camera (pretty sure it was the same as mine, a D50), but he had speedlight flash. When I checked out the pics at Photo Pass it didn't look much different than mine. Maybe he didn't have it set properly, becuase when I use my speedlight it does make a difference. But this subject is a bit different.

I thought about it afterwards, it was pretty stupid to have Darth Vader pose in this spot. Him being in a black costume and the background also black. Later in the day when it got busier (this was taken during EMH) they did move George Steinbrenner, I mean Darth Vader into the room behind us which looks to have a bit better background light.

 

[JR6ooo4]

yes editing is way cool! And I thought a missed focus shot was a not fixable.

Mikeeee

 

[Dan Murphy]

Very nice edits, good thread.

 

[UKDEB]

Before...

After...

That's incredible! I've immediately gone to the Focus Magic website and ordered. I can see I'm going to be spending the entire weekend recovering photos from my 'trash' folder. Just as well, I can't bring myself to permanently delete.