Post processing - before and after

[AT06]

Just interested to see how people have changed/improved their photos in post processing, so if you would like to post before and after images (and the stages you went through if you want) then that would be great.

[acearchie]

Originally Posted by AT06

Just interested to see how people have changed/improved their photos in post processing, so if you would like to post before and after images (and the stages you went through if you want) then that would be great.

I posted a similar thread a few years ago if you want a head start but I would be interested in revisiting this topic as I know that my processes have improved a lot over the last few years.

I do mostly all my processing in Lightroom but as I am trying to get more into retouching I am starting to take shots into photoshop but I still have a lot to learn!

Here is an example of a shot that I took just to practice my processing and attempting at some retouching:

Before:



After: (EDIT: I've noticed that the compression and uploading has hurt the quality of this image in terms of saturation, exposure and a slight shift in hue)
(EDIT2: I realised I had this picture on Flickr all along so switched it to that.)


Flo by acearchie, on Flickr

It's quite extreme but that's what I was going for.

[AT06]

Originally Posted by acearchie

I posted a similar thread a few years ago if you want a head start but I would be interested in revisiting this topic as I know that my processes have improved a lot over the last few years.

I saw the thread and it was very interesting to see the changes so I thought I would start a new one. Thanks for posting the images - I can definately see what your intentions were. I will post some images I took today some time tomorrow - I'm relatively new to photography so any feedback would be great .

[acearchie]

I'm currently getting rid of shots I don't need from my library and this is another one that I came upon.

I uploaded the first shots to imgur.com and these ones to imageshack.us. Don't really want to upload them to Flickr as they are one offs but the colour reproduction from these two sites is frankly awful!

Before:


After:


For Comparison here is the Flickr upload, the colours are still quite a bit off from my Lightroom image:

Kath & Will by acearchie, on Flickr

[snberk103]

OK, I'll bite...

A bit extreme for what I usually do, not as extreme as I sometimes go...

[snberk103]

Originally Posted by acearchie

I posted a similar thread a few years ago if you want a head start but I would be interested in revisiting this topic as I know that my processes have improved a lot over the last few years.
....

It's quite extreme but that's what I was going for.

Hello Archie...

I hope you don't mind...but I had some fun with one of your images. You said it was quite extreme, and I thought you could have gone further. So I spent a few minutes with it.

I like where you are going, and I know these are old images... at least I think that is what you said.... So take this as constructive criticism.

Pay more attention to wispy hair. Your image that I played with, I removed some of the wisps. I only spent a few minutes so it's not a great job. If you are going to have wispy hair - and there are times when it is appropriate - there needs to be a reason for it.

Pay more attention to lighting your backgrounds when you shoot. There is a lot you can do in post processing, but it is much much easier to work with something that is already there than to create it from scratch.

The image (your image) that I played with was entirely worked on in Lr 4, except for the hair.

If you are uncomfortable let me know - privately or publicly - and I'll delete it. It is your image after all.....

[genshi]

Here is an older photo of mine that I had to do a lot of processing with. Usually I try to get the best image I can in-camera, but this was such a quick, spur of the moment shot with no time to change my camera settings; and with really difficult lighting, but I eventually got it to where I liked it. I recently revisited this photo to give it an oil paint feel. All three versions are below -

BEFORE


AFTER


OIL PAINT VERSION

[AT06]

Originally Posted by genshi

Here is an older photo of mine that I had to do a lot of processing with. Usually I try to get the best image I can in-camera, but this was such a quick, spur of the moment shot with no time to change my camera settings; and with really difficult lighting, but I eventually got it to where I liked it. I recently revisited this photo to give it an oil paint feel. All three versions are below -

Looks very good - definately has that oil painting look to it.

[acearchie]

Originally Posted by snberk103

Hello Archie...

I hope you don't mind...but I had some fun with one of your images. You said it was quite extreme, and I thought you could have gone further. So I spent a few minutes with it.

No problem! I licence all my images on Flickr with Creative Commons so as long as you don't make money of of it I am pretty much happy!

I do agree about the hair. When I took this shot it was probably my first time opening photoshop and I hadn't really explored the best way to remove hair. In photoshop I focused on the liquify tool to align the eyes more and then I tucked in the upper arms on both sides to make them appear thinner. It's a pretty shoddy job as the straight chair has now become bent but I think unless you compare the two side by side you wouldn't notice.

Originally Posted by genshi

Here is an older photo of mine that I had to do a lot of processing with.

BEFORE


AFTER

I find this a good shot to push in post because even the first image has quite an eerie feel to it and I can't quite figure out what's going on! If I'm honest I prefer the the "After" version as opposed to the Oil Painting one.

Here is another one from a shoot last week. I've done a lot of experimenting with how B&W can really rescue a shot with distracting colours.

Before:


After:

Bubbles by acearchie, on Flickr

[AT06]

Here are some of my before and afters - my first time using aperture! (usually just use the canon software). It was a pretty cold and miserable day, but a few outbreaks of sunshine.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

[TheBonk]

One of my better edits. The sky in the final image was cut from another photo I had that was junk except for the sky.

[steveash]

I've just done a blog post about a recent shoot in very gloomy conditions where Photoshop (and the planning for it) saved the day. Here are the before and after shots:



The brief was to keep the image looking "natural with the car as the hero", "lighting should be romantic and stir emotions". Hopefully not far short!

(blog post here)

[TheDrift-]

Before



After


Wheel barrow by Shaun Wilkinson Photography, on Flickr

Process

• Cloned and healed
• Added detail
• Reduced noise
• Toned
• Selective colour
• Increased contrast
• Cropped
• Vignette

Should have done some D&B as well but didnt get round to it..

[MrGIS]

Originally Posted by acearchie

I posted a similar thread a few years ago if you want a head start but I would be interested in revisiting this topic as I know that my processes have improved a lot over the last few years.

I do mostly all my processing in Lightroom but as I am trying to get more into retouching I am starting to take shots into photoshop but I still have a lot to learn!

Here is an example of a shot that I took just to practice my processing and attempting at some retouching:

Before:

Image

After: (EDIT: I've noticed that the compression and uploading has hurt the quality of this image in terms of saturation, exposure and a slight shift in hue)
(EDIT2: I realised I had this picture on Flickr all along so switched it to that.)

Image
Flo by acearchie, on Flickr

It's quite extreme but that's what I was going for.

I prefer the original image in this case, looks much more natural..

[Mike in Kansas]

Originally Posted by TheDrift-

Before

Image

After

Image
Wheel barrow by Shaun Wilkinson Photography, on Flickr

Process

• Cloned and healed
• Added detail
• Reduced noise
• Toned
• Selective colour
• Increased contrast
• Cropped
• Vignette

Should have done some D&B as well but didnt get round to it..

Nice job.

[Laird Knox]

This is still an ongoing project. This week I want to revisit the entire process to take advantage of techniques I have learned in the past several months.

This is a stack of approximately 250 images and the original JPEGs off the camera looked like this:



I removed a few of the frames to get rid of the leading gap in the trails. I also removed airplanes, traffic trails and a telephone line from the individual frames.

While the camera was snapping away on these images I was experimenting with colored light inside the temple with another camera. As a result the interior was a bit washed out and lacked any interesting color. I picked the frame with the best color and removed the others. The one I chose had a red strobe to the right of the doorway with a translucent umbrella pointing to the left. In the center of the room is a fire pit and I placed a yellow strobe facing straight up inside it.

I then knocked down the solar lights a bit and a few of the highlights in the room. (If I get a chance to return I will, with permission, remove the lights for the shot.) Overall I did some levels and curves work.



I believe there is more that can be improved upon in this shot but overall I'm pretty happy with the results. This was my first try at doing star trails by stacking images and I really like the results. There is no way you would get nearly as clear an image if you were to do a single 98 minute exposure.

Note that I am having a few issues with my image serving software and am currently seeing a lot of JPEG artifacts - particularly in star trails. The actual image is much cleaner.

[someoldguy]

Before - just converted from RAW and resized


After cropping , editing image of stuff I didn't want , convert to b&w , tint ,resize

[Laird Knox]

Originally Posted by TheDrift-

Before



After


Wheel barrow by Shaun Wilkinson Photography, on Flickr

Process

• Cloned and healed
• Added detail
• Reduced noise
• Toned
• Selective colour
• Increased contrast
• Cropped
• Vignette

Should have done some D&B as well but didnt get round to it..

Normally I would consider the after image to be too overdone for my tastes. However, in this case it does suit the subject and gives it a bit of a vintage feel. You have done a good job to create an interesting image from a less than inspiring original.

[-hh]

Before (well, probably was cropped):



After Photoshop:




Image was from several years ago, a Canon A80 P&S (4MP) in the Canon housing. Depth was IIRC around 30fsw.


-hh

[genshi]

This is an older, fun one that I did as an experiment; made to look like a retro 1950s poster or ad. Shot at the infamous Vasquez Rocks where several episodes of the original Star Trek series were filmed.

[Phrasikleia]

^^^Really well done, genshi! Love it. Wherever did you get those classic costumes?!

[AlexH]

Originally Posted by genshi

This is an older, fun one that I did as an experiment; made to look like a retro 1950s poster or ad. Shot at the infamous Vasquez Rocks where several episodes of the original Star Trek series were filmed.

Image

That's a really cool shot!

[genshi]

Originally Posted by AlexH

That's a really cool shot!

Originally Posted by Phrasikleia

^^^Really well done, genshi! Love it. Wherever did you get those classic costumes?!

Thanks to the both of you!

The costumes we got at some cheap costume store in Hollywood, except for the helmets and accessories (hoses, belts, etc.) which we had a Hollywood Propmaker build, and the boots which were the costume designer's personal boots that we just spray painted silver.

That photo I took was actually a quick behind the scenes photo with the professional models, but the actual photoshoot was done by toy photographer Brian McCarty for my toy design the Broken Heart Robot seen here -

[ijohn.8.80]

One from last night, whilst I was set up and waiting for the lights to switch on there was this group of friends taking snapshots of each other with their phones, so I offered to take a shot of them all together. I asked them to all stay as still as possible for the 2 shots I took, but it didn't work out too good as can be seen from the following 2 photo's! Can anyone say "blurry people"?

You'll have to click them to see what I'm talking about.





The final picture below is made as a composite of the 2 pictures I took with everyone in as much focus as I could achieve from the originals. I've emailed it to them. Had I have thought about it, I could have used my flash to infill a bit, but, I didn't think it would be necessary at the time, now I see it would have frozen them nicely and given them some life.