Waterfall In High Def

[smoke665]

Experimenting with a quick and easy non-destructive, method of sharpening and bringing out the detail in the shadows post, that doesn't look over cooked like HDR. C&C ????

Anna Ruby Falls07212017_695.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

 

[yaopey]

Is this an HDR?

The shadows look clipped. Otherwise, good overall sharpness and composition

 

[smoke665]

Is this an HDR?

The shadows look clipped. Otherwise, good overall sharpness and composition

Yeah the shadows were clipped already in the original, thought I'd recovered but the process has a tendency to accentuate the shadows, so really deep ones, get clipped even more. Though on my monitor, they aren't as clipped as they appear in the JPEG conversion, and on Flickr. Something to remember when I use this again. It's not an HDR, or composite. It's one image, with a detail group of two layers in PS, set to "Overlay". The first layer of the group is inverted, changed to "vivid light", converted for smart filter and a surface blur applied. No other sharpening has been applied. Opacity adjusted for effect. It's another way to bring out the details without the processed look of HDR, in a fraction of the time.

 

[Derrel]

I think the whites of the water in the shady parts, especially on the left side, need some reduction of the green tinge that's there. Shooting under green-rich trees in the woods like this has always introduced some green pollutiuon, most-easily seen in what ought to be pure whites. I've strugged with this issue myself off and on for along time.

 

[smoke665]

I think the whites of the water in the shady parts, especially on the left side, need some reduction of the green tinge that's there. Shooting under green-rich trees in the woods like this has always introduced some green pollutiuon, most-easily seen in what ought to be pure whites. I've strugged with this issue myself off and on for along time.

Strange that you mentioned that, because this was in a deep ravine, just down from the main falls, so it gets a lot of mist rolling down. Add the overhanging tree canopy and you have what could best be described as an eerily "Green World". I swear even the air seemed to have a green cast to it!! I corrected the WB in LR with a white target at the start of the shots, but even that seemed to fail in the "Green World".

 

[Derrel]

You can literally "see the green" in such scenarios....because...the light is greeeeeen!

 

[smoke665]

You can literally "see the green" in such scenarios....because...the light is greeeeeen!

You can!!! I thought I was crazy, I've been in deep woods before where everything has a green covering, but never have I seen green light!! LOL

 

[Derrel]

Whaddaya' mean, you've never seen green light? We have it here in abundance....Big Leaf Maple is the absolute WORST offender here! Huge, thin, green leaves, that pass on not much but green light. It's AWFUL!

Color slide film was horrible under Big Leaf Maple...my first experience with green light was when I tried to shoot some portraits in a maple woods back in 1982...sooooooo greeen! I later acquired a set of light-orange filters to try to counteract it, then a few years later, I went tobetter solution, a set of Kodak Wratten Gelatin filters, and using 20 to 30 cc (cc=color-correcting) units of Magenta was pretty normal for me in this maple woods near my home back in those days, soooo long ago!

 

[smoke665]

Maple is the asbolute WORST offender here!

That's the difference, predominantly Pine trees here. In the spring when they bloom the air takes on a horrible yellow color, everything is coated in fine yellow pollen, and the number of sinus infections quadruples. Think I'd prefer your green light!!! FYI fixed the color cast, meant to do that earlier.

 

[JonA_CT]

Do you have NIK collection installed in Photoshop?

I ran your photo Color EFEX Pro "Detail Extractor" (literally just imported, clicked that preset, and exported). Just an idea of what might help the clipped shadows while not making everything too crispy. It's completely adjustable and it is it's own layer, so you can adjust the opacity to suit as well. Just a thought...I love NIK for all of my landscape type work. Saves a ton of time and fiddling.

EDIT: Obviously, the conversion will go a lot better with your RAW file.

 

[smoke665]

Just an idea of what might help the clipped shadows while not making everything too crispy.

Yup I have the Nik collection installed and use it quite often. However in this case it was a learning experiment with a new technique that I saw, the whole idea behind which "is" to bring out maximum "crispy", though it's easily toned down, with an opacity adjustment to the group (or in the smart filter). The other thing is that with this setup as an action I can do this in less than half the time it takes for NIK to even load, it's way faster! Using surface blur to sharpen just sounds counter to what you want, but it works. Once you fiddle with the settings a few times, it doesn't change much between images.

 

[Light Guru]

The title of the post says High Def but your post talks about HDR.

The HD is HDR does NOT stand for High Def.

Perhaps you should read up on what HDR is and why it is used.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JonA_CT]

Just an idea of what might help the clipped shadows while not making everything too crispy.

Yup I have the Nik collection installed and use it quite often. However in this case it was a learning experiment with a new technique that I saw, the whole idea behind which "is" to bring out maximum "crispy", though it's easily toned down, with an opacity adjustment to the group (or in the smart filter). The other thing is that with this setup as an action I can do this in less than half the time it takes for NIK to even load, it's way faster! Using surface blur to sharpen just sounds counter to what you want, but it works. Once you fiddle with the settings a few times, it doesn't change much between images.

NIK loads pretty quickly for me, but I probably should learn other techniques! Where do you pick them up? Youtube?

 

[smoke665]

The title of the post says High Def but your post talks about HDR.

The HD is HDR does NOT stand for High Def.

Perhaps you should read up on what HDR is and why it is used.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And perhaps you need to re-read my OP about how this is a method to quickly "sharpen and enhance details". The use of the term HD was a reference to the increased detail in the image from this particular technique and never intended to refer to High Dynamic Range. I'll pass on the reading up on HDR as I'm quite familiar with the process having posted several on here in the past, both multiple image composites and one image HDR effect images.

 

[smoke665]

NIK loads pretty quickly for me, but I probably should learn other techniques! Where do you pick them up? Youtube?

That and reading every book, article and other information I can find. This came as a side note from a video on creating dodging and burning masks. As I become more familiar with various techniques, I'm also starting to develop my own using bits and pieces from one or another.