I was once playing around in Lightroom and made some interesting 'over-processed' yet interestingly compelling images, as it make the metal surfaces look liquid, and accentuates reflections.

Then a few weeks or months later I saw a thread about it, where apparently it was already known as an established named technique ... So what's this called?

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Not too outrageous



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Get'n a bit outrageous, but still works (IMO)



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It's get'n... It's get'n... It's get'n kind'a hectic
It's get'n... It's get'n... It's get'n kind'a hectic ...




...yes, it is a 2009 Factory JCW MINI...

[rmtagg]

In lightroom (or ACR?):

Recovery 100%
Fill Light 100%
Contrast 100%
Clarity 100%

Adjust brightness/black value to place the curve where you want it.

Steve

hm, I dont have light room but it is very interesting to keep learning!

[tux08902]

Those are some nice images, although the last one's HDR is overdone. HDR takes a bit of work, and I've yet to master multiple exposures.

[m8o]

LOL ...tap tap tap .... is this thing on?

No, it's not nor intended to be HDR (these were single handheld shots)... I and stevebrot both mentioned the technique. Some sort of 'high key' finishing. ....trying to find it's name, if it has a name; I thought it did, but that may have just been something someone made up that I read one time.

[m8o]

Ok, Ok... A more conventional treatment, between the 'drabish' originals hardly processed, and the intentionally over processed ones. A keeper? Halo'ing seems controlled to me...

[dave sz]

and what steps did u take to get that image?

[m8o]

and what steps did u take to get that image?

Rotated & cropped
Auto WB based on the white of the license plate
Exposure 0
Recovery +75
Fill Light +75
Blacks +33
Brightness +75
Contrast +80
Clarity +51
Vibrance +75
Saturation -25
Tone Curve : Highlights:0; Lights +17; Darks: -17; Shadows: 0
Sharpening - Landscape
Even tho shot @ ISO100, about +30 or more Noise Reduction to counter all the boosting.

[Miserere]

m8o, tap tap, is MY mic on? This is HDR, albeit a poor (lazy?) man's version. You are bringing out the shadows and reigning in the highlights, which is what you do when you create a HDR image out of multiple exposures. At the end you increase local contrast via the clarity slider (only affects the luminance, not colour channels).

You can call this m8o's mini-on-LSD technique if you want, but it's still a form of HDR

And your last version of the mini is certainly the best, I like it a lot.

[m8o]

No, it wasn't before. Meaning, no, I didn't "hear" [understand] you. Thanx for persisting tho.

That's an interesting point. I'm having trouble with it, but it certainly shifts the "semantics" I apply to the acronym HDR. I guess it's that this is starting w/a source already having a smaller dynamic range then is usually used in HDR... I think this technique really is " variable compression" actually, isn't it... ? I believe in HDR you can better achieve my last result, w/o the side effect of the edge haloing that comes with using extensive Fill-light & Recovery.

I very much think of this technique in a way that's analogous to audio compressors and limiters w/a soft transition envelope applied to music.
- The audio limiter analogy -- where extremely loud sounds are softened & flattened -- is compared to pushing the recovery slider towards 100. Where what's 'loud' (bright) is made 'softer' (darker), letting you "hear" ("see through") the bright areas better.
- The audio compressor analogy -- soft sounds are made louder, and loud sounds softer -- squishing more information into the 'center' of the dynamic range -- I compare to the fill-light going to 100, letting you "hear into" ("see into") the dark areas better.

Then by re-increasing contrast, altering bright & darks and the contrast curve, you essentially darken the squished information just below center, and lighten the squished information just above center; but the far extremes are still shifted towards the better visible center than before in the unaltered original.

In both analogous ways... in the music domain making it sound more colorful ; in the photography domain making it look more colorful. ...in both instances tho with looking/sounding "sweeter", it also looks/sounds "less natural".

[Miserere]

m8o, like I said, it's a poor man's HDR (that works damn well if you're working in RAW). And your analogies are pretty much spot on, I'd say it's the same thing you're describing in audio.

As for the halos, those should come mostly from boosting the clarity slider to 100%. Can you post two comparison shots with clarity at 100% and 0% for people to see?

I still like m8o's mini-on-LSD technique as a name, though.

[m8o]

Well, all three definitely produce it (halo'ing), in different ways. Tho I do think clarity alone, produces it least. I find halo'ing to be most objectionable when I am processing shots of my dogs and their hair has light surfaces (or sky) behind them. I'll do some 200% crops of the permutations of all three applied and not; just not tonight.

[Nowhere Matt]

Rotated & cropped
Auto WB based on the white of the license plate
Exposure 0
Recovery +75
Fill Light +75
Blacks +33
Brightness +75
Contrast +80
Clarity +51
Vibrance +75
Saturation -25
Tone Curve : Highlights:0; Lights +17; Darks: -17; Shadows: 0
Sharpening - Landscape
Even tho shot @ ISO100, about +30 or more Noise Reduction to counter all the boosting.

Or you could just cut yerself a piece o' transparent vinyl about yeah big, lay it over top'n yer kompuder screen and commence ta colorin' the pictchure yerself with some good smellin' magic markers, like. An' be sure'n ta try ta stay inside the linez