Reminds you of a hot summer day, no? Well it was actually taken in Spring, weeks before there were even leaves on the trees. I didn’t do a lot of post processing, so there’s not much to share in that regard. Nonetheless…

Here’s what I did:

• Reduced contrast using a Brightness/Contrast layer
• Created a Selective Color layer; slightly shifted the hue of the black color range to red
• Added a warming photo filter layer
• Created a curves layer and set it to soft light for a subtle contrast addition
• Cloned the original image, brightened it up a bit, and cut out all the grass using a color range selection. I put it above all other layers, which is why the chair remains unaffected by the warming filter, etc.
• Added a black vignette around the outside of the image, set to Overlay.
• Copied all yellow data from the original and put it on top of everything else. This makes the grass, and especially the dandelions, stand out.

I really like duplicating layers and excluding parts of them, as I find that it gives me the opportunity to use multiple types of processing to my advantage instead of just one. I rarely ever manipulate the original image directly; I prefer just using adjustment layers or edited duplicates of the original. If I lose the original, I sometimes find myself deviating so far from it that the photograph becomes a different work entirely.

When I did this picture I was still learning how to use Curves layers to alter colors. At the time, I usually just used Selective Color adjustment layers instead of Curves. Once I realized that people use Curves layers to get those artsy subtle color undertones, I started learning how to do it myself.

I used a pretty interesting post processing technique to add detail to the cloud in this photo while reducing 100% of the graininess previously seen in the sky behind it. Most of the clouds around here are extremely low to the ground due to the high land elevation, and as such aren’t really much to look at. This was a pleasant exception.

First of all, let me mention the new look for the site. I happened to run across a WordPress theme called AutoFocus, which is what you’re looking at now. It’s so simplistic and beautiful that it has perhaps solely inspired me to start blogging again. I haven’t been actively updating this website for several months, partly because I haven’t been able to find a theme I wish to settle on, and partly (mostly) because I just haven’t been doing anything interesting enough to blog about. That will change soon.

Back to the photo. I shot it with a Nikon D70, and as with most Nikons I’ve encountered, there’s usually some significant noise in the photos. The technique I’m going to mention has proven very useful to me for reducing background noise and in some cases simulating sharper depth of field.

So here’s what I did: First of all I adjusted the colors by using a simple curves adjustment layer in Photoshop, which I set to auto. Doing so darkened the sky some and added a bit of orange to the clouds. It’s important to make adjustments first, or else you’ll have to do it twice later.

After getting the colors, brightness, and contrast how I wanted them, I duplicated the layer so I had two identical images. I heavily blurred the top layer using a plugin called Topaz Adjust, although you could get the same effect without it. I then sharpened the bottom layer, which made the clouds look great but the sky even more grainy.

Once the top layer was sufficiently blurred and the bottom layer sufficiently sharpened, I used the erase tool on the top layer to erase any area of the photograph that I wanted to have more details. It’s basically like using the sharpen tool on steroids. The purpose is to make a hole in the blurry layer to allow details to show through from the sharper layer beneath it.

The challenge is the compromise between bringing out details and hiding noise. Too much of either one seems to make the photo look strange, and in cases like this, I think the photo would lose its appeal if it appeared to be tampered with. Sometimes that “photoshopped” look can be a good thing, but other times I prefer that “I literally just took this off my memory card and uploaded it without editing it at all because I am an awesome photographer…” look. You could also benefit from using a third layer with the unmodified original image to allow for a more healthy balance between blur and sharpness.

So there it is. The technique isn’t that complex or groundbreaking, but all the photos I’ve used it on have received compliments on how clear and sharp they are. It may be a little more work than using noise reduction software, but in my opinion it’s worth the increased detail. Maybe I just haven’t tried enough of them, but I’ve never found a noise removal plugin I liked.