Golden Crocodile

[polymoog]

Taken at Shark Reef @ Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. Shot through plexiglass ...

EXIF :

Pentax *ist DL + Sigma 17-70

1/30 sec
F 9
ISO 800
Focal Length 58mm
UV Filter

PS : Shadows/Highlights, Noise Reduction (Noiseware Professional), Sharpen

 

[Al-Wazeer]

nice photo ..

but it's little... foggy

 

[polymoog]

Yes I know .... I tried to get rid of as much of that as I could without changing the colours too much. I guess the plexiglass didn't help, I am not too experienced with taking photos through glass/plexi/plastic

 

[Overread]

for the foggy effect try running levels over the shot - use the auto settings and then try setting the layer to a luminosity one only - that should remove the haze without changing the colours.
As for levels try reading this site for some more info: Levels -- Part I

A good shot - I like it, the water is crystal clear!

 

[polymoog]

Cool, thanks for the advice Overread

Here's the original pic :

And here it is with auto levels applied to a new layer with luminosity as the setting :

I think the colours came out radically different, but on the other hand, that might be what was needed. I rarely used Levels because there is so much that can be done and I never seem to have the time/patience needed to understand what can be done.

 

[Overread]

I would really try to learn levels - even though I don't know much myself it does seem to be a very powerful editing tool and - used right - can really help make a shot get that added factor!
Also try layermasking and removing (either with a 100% brush or you can work with softer brushes for a less harsh effect) the level effect on white areas - I find that levels can sometimes make some areas appear more blown then in the original - masking over hides it up a bit

 

[Ls3D]

Neat shot.

Learn Levels? It is one of the more intuitive controls, slide and observe, stay away from over clamping (sliding left) the white point, usually you just want to slide the midpoint.

For this shot I would use Curves.. lock the middle with a new point and slide the bottom over to the right. Better yet force a camera RAW open and use the black levels et all to dial it all in.

I just tried it in top secrete photo lab and was able to retain more of the greens below the croc. Looks like you picked up some blue highlights in your edit as well.

-Shea

 

[polymoog]

Would you mind posting your version? Would be interesting to compare.

What is Top Secret Photo Lab, can it open RAW files, including those by Pentax? (.pef).

Is it like Lightroom?

 

[surfingfireman]

I agree learning levels is of huge importance, but I would have to say, for being shot through plexiglass, even the original post is pretty damn good.

 

[Ls3D]

I just said top secrete so you would know I'm aware of your preference not to republish without permission.

The blues look alright, I think the auto levels does individual channel levels, a bit of auto color..

Curves adjustment, then a bit of levels for better midpoint control.

And my new trick is just a workaround - process a JPG through adobe camera raw ACR. I just like the controls better, a whole set of develop settings that can be recalled and transfered to similar exposures.

Of course they shift a bit in the browser so open in PS for the more subtle characteristics.

-Shea

 

[polymoog]

Haha OK thanks, I appreciate that.

I like your workaround version better, the first one looks a little overprocessed, like my levels one. Of course I didn't make it easy for you because I just posted the resized jpeg, so I think you did a good job

It's always a bit of a procedure when I work on photos because I start with a pef, then save via Lightroom to a psd (which often causes a slight softening and darkening) then work on it from there because I like Photoshop better than Lightroom and then resize and save as high quality jpeg. If I installed a later version of Photoshop I could skip the whole Lightroom thing and just work on the pefs and save directly to jpeg because PS2 and 3 have support for Pentax raw files but those progs are slow and I don't like bogging my system down

 

[polymoog]

I agree learning levels is of huge importance, but I would have to say, for being shot through plexiglass, even the original post is pretty damn good.

Thanks, I got lucky that there wasn't too much reflection and the camera could "see through it"