Storm Exit
Usually the photos I cherish the most are those which I had never intended to develop into anything wonderful.
With that in mind, I didn't have the highest of expectations when I took this shot. Some photographs, like this, are taken more as a reminder of where I've travelled, and no so much as an artistic capture.
This photo didn't strike me as anything impressive at first. It wasn't until I started aimlessly playing with the hues in Photoshop once I got home did I realise it had a certain potential.
The original photo was too grey and a little too dark. Due to a prolonged exposure and high ISO, the clouds where excessively white and the photo contained too much noise.
This shot was taken whilst we were exploring the surrounding hills after finishing at a family lunch, so I didn't have a suitable memory card or tripod with me at the time. Also, the camera was set to auto-adjust the image, and no manual settings were made.
I started by running the NoiseNinja plug-in by PictureCode. I use the NoiseNinja plug-in religiously, as it not only removes a significant amount of camera noise, but it also has a fairly impressive contrast and "unsharp mask" sharpening algorithm, which I think helps to bring out all the finer details better than Photoshop's filter.
However, the settings of this photo as well as the small dimensions meant that there was quite a lot of camera noise. Whilst at website dimensions it is fine, this photo would never be suitable for print.
The next step involved using a "Curves" adjustment layer to increase the mid-tones of the image. I then increased the contrast slightly with a "Brightness\Contrast" adjustment layer.
Next I wanted to change most of the green to burnt-orange.
I'll probably never see this area in such a hue, as most of these plants are evergreen and the ones which are deciduous go from green to brown, skipping orange.
I could have used a "Hue\Saturation" adjustment layer, but I opted for a "Selective Colour" adjustment layer instead.
There are quite a few differences between the two. I prefer to use a "Selective Colour" over a "Hue\Saturation" where possible, as the "Selective Colour" tends to produce better colour changes without leaving any as many colour abnormalities. However, only sometimes does "Selective Colour" match the colours that I want, so like all adjustments, its purely trial and error.
The "Selective Colour" adjustment layer was used to isolate the green and yellow hues of the image and decrease the cyan component and increase the magenta component. Causing the yellow and orange hues. The white component was also darkened and had its yellow component reduced.
Finally, a "Hue\Saturation" adjustment layer was used to slightly increase the saturation of the orange and yellow hues as well as completely de-saturate the blue (due to the long exposure, the sky became white, but the edges of the leaves retained an ugly blue outline).
This is most notable in the water, were the reflection of the sky went from cyan to white.
Admittedly, I was rather impressed when I managed to make something out of this shot. But obviously, with all manipulation, there is a line. Which is why this photo was included in the Lies section, as the line may have been crossed.
We can't post-produce every photograph we take. Some just can't be salvaged, no matter what the work. I thought this shot just had enough potential to be worthy of a gallery position. But, for every decent shot I take, there are at least 50 more which will never see the light-of-day, or for that matter, the toolbox of Photoshop.
That and I felt kind of guilty showing a beautiful autumn scene when, though actually autumn, the scene was nothing like what is shown in the gallery. I hope that by showing the stages, I can demonstrate, at the very least, how vital colour can be to some subjects and ideas.