Salvageable with conversion?

[limr33 3]

In another thread about lens filters, I mentioned a silly mistake I'd made that resulted in this dismally-tinted image:



I was shooting Kodak Gold 100 in a Zorki 6 and I was psyched because a) Kodak Gold 100 is no longer available (at least in the U.S. I believe) and it was a fluke that I'd found any, and b) the colors of the Maine coast are beautiful and I wanted to practice my color photography.

Since I tend to shoot b&w in the Zorki, I usually have a filter on it. When I switched rolls to the Gold 100, I forgot about the yellow filter. For the entire roll. As someone said in the other thread, it looks like it has been 'soaked in pee'.

Grrrrr.

So I tried a b&w conversion. How do ya'll think it works as monochrome?



I did adjust tones just a bit but I'm not used to conversion so I'm wondering how I did.

I think that shot above can work in b&w, but some of the other shots just need color. Here's an example:

Jaundiced version:



(Those buoys were so beautiful and colorful, it's killing me that they're all red and yellow now!)

B&W conversion:



Am I right? Does this second one not work as b&w? Or maybe it would if I had done a better conversion?

 

[KenC]

The first conversion works well. In the second, I'd use the magenta slider to make the magenta areas darker.

I've never tried it, but in principle, since you know the whole thing is uniformly shifted to the yellow, wouldn't a color balance adjustment layer with the Y-B slider moved towards blue straighten it out? You'd have to do it for shadows, mid-tones and highlights, not necessarily by the same amount.

 

[limr33 3]

The first conversion works well. In the second, I'd use the magenta slider to make the magenta areas darker.

I've never tried it, but in principle, since you know the whole thing is uniformly shifted to the yellow, wouldn't a color balance adjustment layer with the Y-B slider moved towards blue straighten it out? You'd have to do it for shadows, mid-tones and highlights, not necessarily by the same amount.

I think you're right and I might even know what tool to use in my Corel software. I just don't spend a lot of time with PP software, so when I tried it, it never really looked right. But I never really knew if it wasn't really possible or if I just sucked at it Maybe I'll poke around a bit more and post a corrected color version.

 

[deeky]

I won't post it here because you don't allow editing, but I got somewhat close on the first one. I shifted the yellow channel slightly to blue and dropped the yellow saturation quite a ways. It stills definitely looks processed, but it started out soaked in pee. It will definitely give you a better image if that's the look you want, but I probably like the b&w better.

 

[limr33 3]

I won't post it here because you don't allow editing, but I got somewhat close on the first one. I shifted the yellow channel slightly to blue and dropped the yellow saturation quite a ways. It stills definitely looks processed, but it started out soaked in pee. It will definitely give you a better image if that's the look you want, but I probably like the b&w better.

Do I have to change my settings or something to allow it or just give permission for the purposes of this thread. I'd love to see how you managed with it so I could compare it to what I tried with it.

 

[runnah]

These could be hot conversions.

You are a Mainer or just a visitor?

 

[limr33 3]

Not a Mainer but a wannabe I live in NY but visit Maine whenever I get a chance. I've so far mostly stuck to the coast in and around Portland. If I could figure out a job and convince my boyfriend (who also likes it as much as I do, but who is more resistant to change) then I would definitely move. I love the Hudson Valley but Maine definitely tugs at the heart strings (and less at the purse strings!)

What would you suggest for the second conversion? Like I said, I'm not sure if the shot just needs color or if I need to tweak the conversion more.

 

[amolitor]

Tradition suggests that if you tell someone 'have at it' with respect to a particular picture, that person's edits can be posted without the moderators complaining.

Fiddling around a little myself suggests that there may be too much lost color information to correct this back with much luck. You could potentially make something with unsaturated or somewhat "off" colors, a bit of that vintage/old polaroid look, perhaps. Which would actually suit the pictures pretty well, maybe, and might give you sufficient color back to make sense of them. But it also might not be your thing at all.

 

[pixmedic1 1]

Do I have to change my settings or something to allow it or just give permission for the purposes of this thread. I'd love to see how you managed with it so I could compare it to what I tried with it.

You can give permission for editing that particular photo in this thread without changing your "edit" options.

 

[limr33 3]

Cool.

For the purpose of this thread, then, have at it, folks!

Fiddling around a little myself suggests that there may be too much lost color information to correct this back with much luck. You could potentially make something with unsaturated or somewhat "off" colors, a bit of that vintage/old polaroid look, perhaps. Which would actually suit the pictures pretty well, maybe, and might give you sufficient color back to make sense of them. But it also might not be your thing at all.

That's definitely an idea. It's funny you mention the vintage Polaroid look. I had just resurrected my father's 1965 Polaroid Land Camera 100 and was looking to take shots that had a vintage look. We had been through the town before and specifically chose cameras that would help us get a certain nostalgic feel to our shots because the town perfectly lends itself to that. My boyfriend had his Brownie Hawkeye and something else...I want to say his Rollei 35? I had the Land Camera and the Zorki. It was a comedy of errors on my part. The battery wire on the Land Camera broke just before I took my first shot of the pack film. I had the Zorki first loaded with 100 b&w but forgot and shot 1/3 of the roll exposed for 400. Then came the Kodak Gold/yellow filter disaster. You'd think I never held a camera before in my life!

But yes...maybe I can try to edit the color pictures to look more like the Poloroid would have, and less the vivid tones of the Gold. Hrm...*strokes imaginary beard in thought*

 

[amolitor]

So, this is with GIMP.

I sampled the lightest tone in the sky, and removed a little blue from it and added a little red and green. This is to try to "capture" the color of the filter -- sky with the sky's actual blue removed.

Then I duped the layer with the picture, and added a layer mask which is "greyscale copy of the layer" which means that the original will "show throw" more where the original is darker.

Then I replaced the actual picture in the new layer, the one with the mask, with the yellow color I had mixed up. Then I INVERTed that, and set the layer blend mode to "additive".

The effect of this is that the new layer is cancelling out the effect of the filter, but the mask makes it do this more where the original picture is lighter, and less (almost none) where the original picture is darker.

Then I adjusted the contrast on the layer MASK to affect how much this 'more where it's darker and less where it's lighter' until it looked good. This basically meant flattening the contrast IN THE MASK ITSELF out a bit, so the "cancellation" effect applied more to the darker areas -- lift the black point in the mask, or whatever.

Photoshop can do all this too, and the steps will be similar, but not the same.



There seems to be a bit too much magenta in some places, and the sky is still a touch too yellow. I think. Anyways.

 

[runnah]

Not a Mainer but a wannabe I live in NY but visit Maine whenever I get a chance. I've so far mostly stuck to the coast in and around Portland. If I could figure out a job and convince my boyfriend (who also likes it as much as I do, but who is more resistant to change) then I would definitely move. I love the Hudson Valley but Maine definitely tugs at the heart strings (and less at the purse strings!)

What would you suggest for the second conversion? Like I said, I'm not sure if the shot just needs color or if I need to tweak the conversion more.

My wife's folks live in the Catskills.

Portland is the most job and activity friendly area in the state. Where I live is very poor, boring and conservative.

 

[limr33 3]

Even with a bit too much magenta, it looks a lot better tinted in wine than soaked in pee The instructions really help. I'm using Corel and will try to figure out how to do the same sorts of steps. I'm really really a novice when it comes to doing things like layers and masks. I've got pretty good at cloning (lots of practice getting rid of dust marks on scanned film) and mostly deal with curves and such, but I've been remiss in learning more advanced techniques. I just get frustrated much more easily when working on a photo on the computer. I can't help but think that if I need to do that much PP, then perhaps I should just spend more time with the camera and learn how to do it better in the first place. I know not everyone does or even should feel the same way, but it's the reason why trying out those techniques is probably going to take me about an hour or so

runnnah - that's not too far north from where I am. On a clear day from certain vantage points, I can see the Catskills from near my house.

 

[limr33 3]

Ugh! I got home from work at about 8:30 and spent more than half an hour of trying to learn about layers and masks and figuring out how to use the various channel mixers...and I still have absolutely no idea how to use them. It did my head in. Seriously. Head.Done.In. It was making me mad at everything. I think I even cursed at the air. I don't know how y'all have patience for this stuff.

I did some more conversions, though. That, I understand a little better.

 

[deeky]

Here's what I came up with.


Fishing%20yellow%20filterA by breckmiller, on Flickr