Mission (Im)Possible

LDG luciledegodoy 33 Comments

My partner in crime Desley form Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist runs every second week of the month, the Image Reboot Challenge, where she shares her knowledge with post processing photos in LightRoom.

She posts both in her blog and in this blog, as a feature of the Photo Rehab. And I assure you that Desley knows how to masterfully transform frog photos into princes!  

I have selected one of the frog photos that I had rejected, when shooting at a busy crossing at Amsterdam city center. I was trying to use low shutter speed and have utterly failed. Here is the proof.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Here is my frog’s rescue operation:

As a first step I decided to improve the photo in RAW mode, still in color, by doing the following in LightRoom:

  • cropped
  • exposure to -0,25
  • contrast +61
  • highlights -77
  • whites -100
  • blacks +35
  • clarity +100
  • vibrancy +30

Here is the result, which didn’t make me yet happy, as it still looks dull and colorless.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I then edited the photo in Silver Efex Pro2 to make it monochrome. I applied a High Contrast and Structure Filter. I have also increased structure and reduced the soft contrast. It looks more dramatic and I liked it better, not just because I love drama!

What do you think?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

33 thoughts on “Mission (Im)Possible”

    • Lia, somehow I have double feelings about editing. It allows us to recover photos but it also serves to totally modify it, changing the elements of the composition, mixing photos, and much more that makes the original photo not recognizable and unreal.
      I don’t know yet how to use photoshop well so I’ll see what I can learn to transform photos without overdoing it.
      Thank you dearest Lia.

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      • I agree that editing does modify the original pic and I used to be afraid of using it…I try to keep edits minimal and not to change too much — but I find it brings out the brilliance in the color/light where my phone couldn’t…Yet I agree that too much editing takes away from the original and can look unreal…
        I love technology and what it allows us photographers to do:-)
        Many hugs!
        *Lia

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  5. Love it! I’m immediately drawn to the blurred cyclist in the left but then my eye travels that line of gorgeous buildings along the back. Such an amazing transformation. You rock, my Queen!!

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    • Thank you, Sally. Making the conversion is a mini class in photography, because it teaches so much on what I could have achieved, if I had used the right settings before shooting. I like post editing much more because of what I learn from it, as I’m not very much into overdoing with editing.

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  10. Love it! This is one of those times when all the work that can go into a great shot just sort of disappears, because the result is so good the viewer doesn’t even notice the process. I’m not sure that’s particularly clear, but I think I’m trying to say that part of good art is that it looks seamless. Or something 🙂

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