[BruceBanner]

unedited preview jpg

Welcome to Post Processing Challenge #226. Thanks Arizona Dave for last round, and thanks for selecting my edit!

I'm always interested in night light trails, especially the post processing part. There's quite a lot of options to tinker with, highlights, shadows, contrast, exposure, clarity, the list goes on.
I'd be interested to see what people do with this picture I took a couple of nights ago of a train track near my home, let's see what people come up with shall we

Download links -

DNG

JPG

A wee note for the winner, you'll need these deets for when it is your turn to host the challenge, login (to mediafire), create a folder, name it appropriately, bung in two files untouched, one raw and one jpg. Also resize an unedited jpg at no larger than 900 high for the post itself (a preview pic), and follow the general format that the other post processing challenge follows in terms of intro etc;

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The mediafire website is: mediafire.com
The login name is: pentaxchallenge@outlook.com
The password is: postprocessing

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Good luck everyone!

[Glenn5995]

Thank you BruceBanner for hosting this challenge and the fun image to work with.

I hope no one minds, but as I worked with the image a bit, I thought I would share the result, but respectfully ask I not be considered to host the next challenge. I will be starting a much needed vacation next week and would not be able to get the next challenge going until I return and I would not want to delay the challenge. I really enjoy these post processing challenges and look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

[Patriot]

Here is my take on this image...
Processing with Lightroom 6.1

[JHfwp]

Nice one Bruce!

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Last edited by JHfwp; 12-04-2017 at 01:13 AM.

[todd]

!

For the win! That's a fast track to follow!

[Tas]

Texturised versions: B&W and split toned






Tas

[Arizona Dave]

Night Train






Psychedelic Art (I don't even do drugs.)

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Last edited by Arizona Dave; 07-02-2017 at 12:36 PM.

[chunkiness]

That was seriously fun!

[Arizona Dave]

Bump.

[BruceBanner]

Hi all!
Sorry for my lack of absence over the past week, Aussie school holidays are upon us and coupled with that I have been feeling a little under the weather so haven't had the time or energy to respond to these yet

I must say, I wasn't sure if I chose a very good picture to begin with, perhaps not leaving many possibilities to the editing process but I must say I have enjoyed the results thus far and variation very much! There's a few more hours left till I choose a winner, so there's still time to submit some more entries xD

[BruceBanner]

Ok... time to decide on a winner! But first I'd like to make a few comments about some of the edits as I found this really tough to decide which artistic direction won.

First up, Glenn5995. I enjoyed this version, to my eyes it looks like you made the image cooler and punched the clarity whilst pulling back on the lights (highlights), it certainly makes the center of the image where most of the lights converge clearer.

Patroit, yours feels very similar approach to Glenn5995's, but instead going in the opposite direction and invoking warmer tones. Nicely done.

JHfwp, I really enjoyed these two versions, with the second one feeling more refined than the first. The 'squishing' of the aspect ratio I wasn't so sure about, till I saw the second one which had less emphasis in this regard, and I feel it really works well here. You also added stars (how did you manage that?!) and gave the whole scene a more dreamy/eerie sci fi feel, I love it! Well done.

todd, of the two you submitted I really liked the watery effect one, which piece of software did you use to manage this effect? I quite often like tinkering with Topaz Simplify plugin, and often remove some of the effects it creates to leave a contrast in the shot, I keep wondering if this watery effect could have been used to an even greater effect such as part of the light train/trail normal but heading into a weird and watery portal on the other side! It's a fun effect for sure.

Tas, I liked all three textured images you provided, I found it hard to pick one I liked the most. I was waiting on someone delivering an accurate b&w version and here you have done very well, the texture effect adding to the piece. It feels like a time line, b&w being the earliest, then a kinda 'polaroid' version and then a future version last. Great stuff!

jcomley, a pleasing edit here, similar to some others with what looks like even more punch and clarity as well as reduced highlights. Nicely done.

Arizona Dave, Another superb b&w variant, strong train trails and darken silhouette background emphasize the lights. I really really liked this one. The 'Psychedelic Art' one is pretty crazy but those colours are very striking and work really well together. Your last submission I feel closely resembles my own edit found here.

chunkiness, another superb take, once again moving far away from the original source to making something surreal and dreamlike.



I've never done anything like this before (pick a winner) especially from an artistic perspective, so I found it all the harder to judge and decide. In the end I found myself drawn back to JHfwp's second entry. The decision to change the aspect ratio (and a second time improve upon it) and then the added stars (something I aim to actually do for real at that same spot someday), and then the dreamy sci fi reduced clarity feel about it, I feel they all gelled together and really worked and moved quite far from the original shot, I am impressed. So yeh... this weeks winner shall be JHfwp's no.2 entry congrats!

Runners up are so close, I like to think one of Tas's would be there, as well as Arizona Dave's B&W edition.

[Arizona Dave]

Congratulations JHfwp.

Thanks BB for the fun image to play with.

[talgarik]

I downloaded the image but could not find a good idea making worth processing it, my fault, anyway: congratulations to JHfwp!

[Tas]

I downloaded the image but could not find a good idea making worth processing it, my fault, anyway: congratulations to JHfwp!

Never mind keep your eye out for the next challenge and give that one a go.

Well done on the work everyone, thanks for hosting and the comments BB, and congrats to JHfwp. 😊

Tas

[JHfwp]

Thanks guys. I felt everyone did excellent work this week and each of the entries evoked different emotions in me. I'm glad you saw something in my take on it, Bruce.

The sky was super easy in Photoshop. I just found a photo I liked (which I must confess to stealing from the Internet) and simply pasted it as a new layer. From there, I had to resize it a bit and then positioned it where I liked it. Since the tree line was so dark, I was able to use the "Blend If" sliders under the Layer Style/Blending options to quickly "unapply" (for lack of a better word) the stars from most of the dark tree area. Then I just used a layer mask to further mask out what I didn't want. I'm not very practiced at it but I still don't think it took more than three or four minutes total--and that's including my search for the photo. After that, I believe I used a curves adjustment layer along with the "create clipping mask" command so it just targeted the underlying "sky" layer. Then I believe I did the same to adjust the sky's hue. (If that doesn't make sense let me know and I'll try and explain it a bit better in a PM.)

Thanks again Bruce for hosting. Your challenge as well as all the entries were, to use a horrible pun, a real trip! (Told you it was bad.)

The next one is up here.