[Glenn5995]

Welcome to Post Processing Challenge #250!

I am going to shake things up a bit and try something different for this challenge, so pay attention as the rules have changed!

***** NEW FORMAT *****

For this challenge I thought rather than the next host being selected by the subjective opinion of one (current host), we would try for more input.

The next host for #251 will be the entry receiving the most likes. In the event of a tie for first, the current host (me) will cast the deciding vote.

I will allow 5 days for entries and close the challenge to new entries on the evening of Wednesday February 28. Two days will be permitted for likes and comments on the entries, with me declaring the winner on the evening of Friday March 2. You do not need to submit an entry to vote (like an entry). Any forum member may "like" a photo and thereby be casting their vote for that entry.

You may enter multiple entries, but please enter them separately so that likes may be cast for individual entries.

We will see how this works. The next host is under no obligation to continue this method and may return to the previous method.

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The subject for this challenge is a night photo of Kansas City Union Station. Union Station opened in 1914. With declining use, it closed in 1985. In 1996, a $250 million restoration project was begun, with the station reopening in 1999. In 2002 it once again operated as a train station with Amtrak providing public transportation through the station and it is currently the second busiest train station in Missouri. The refurbished station hosts theaters, museums and various events and attractions.

The station is illuminated by lights with changing colors. This was taken during the blue phase. It was windy, so there is motion blur with flags and trees. Let's see what you can do with it!

Camera: K3 Lens: FA 31mm f/1.8 Limited

JPEG Preview:




DNG Download


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A note to the winner: Please copy and post this info into the next challenge.

The mediafire website is: mediafire.com
The login name is: ppchallenge@tmphillips.com
The password is: postprocessing

[Tas]

I wasn't intending to participate for this challenge, but thought you know I'd like to look at a K3 and 31LTD image so next thing you know I'm downloading.



Of course once I got a closer look at the image I had to have a go. But that just got me to the point of wondering what one earth I'd do with this challenge. I had no idea and as the first race for the 2018 season of World Superbikes was starting at Phillip Island I wasn't going to find out straight away. Anyhoo, this is what I went with:

Square crop and a slight horizon adjustment to stop me feeling like I was falling over when looking at the blue building. Set white/black points, raise the shadows bring the saturation down a little. From here I decided just to play with the colours, so I used multiple colour channels and masks to select what would do what where. This allowed me to turn the orange glow to a devilish red, remove the purple from the light halos on the blue building and turn the magenta lights to red to minimise the number of colours present. I then added blur to everywhere I didn't really want people spending too much time looking at and applied some curves adjustments to darken or lighten parts. I don't like the big dark foreground but I wanted to keep the flag away from the borders more without cropping in too close.

Well, with the first Superbike race finished I thought I could throw some caution to the wind and have another go. This time I went with a 4:5 aspect ratio so the crop would remove a portion of the bland foreground and sky so the image is more concentrated on the Station. This time I played with the image less and the colours less intending to provide a more neutral look with light the emphasis for primary elements I wanted to draw the eye to. The WB change created some noticeable colour shifts as the jpeg was created.



Tas

[D1N0]

I decided to go for a skyline crop:

[BigMackCam]

What a beautiful scene. Lots to enjoy!

Here's my first attempt, but I may well come back and do a second run at it...

Attached Images

 

[davidreilly3207]

Went for a saturated Semi-panoramic crop.

[dlneubec]

How about a tighter crop on the building with a little glow.

[dlneubec]

Attempt 2, a little crisper take, same crop as my previous

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[todd]

Did this wider crop too but trying to keep to one entry and liked the tighter crop a little more...

[astonm]

Gotta love those old train stations!

[KC0PET]

This is my first try in the PP Challenge. I tried to go for a little glow in the colored lighting and a warmer overall color.

[Glenn5995]

The Challenge is now closed to new entries. Two days will be permitted for any additional "likes" to be cast and for any comments on the entries.

Great entries everyone! Thank you for your participation.

[D1N0]

I've dealt out my likes. (Sorry Todd )

[Glenn5995]

Well, it is time to wrap this up. Congratulations todd, it looks like you will be hosting the next challenge!

Well done everyone, great entries all around!

[todd]

Thanks for the votes and thanks Glenn for hosting yet another great round with an awesome image. I really enjoyed all the entries!

Overview of my pp steps: First Rawtherapee for basic adjustments/cropping/straightening/resizing then into seven exposures, -4 to +3. Dropped those into Photomatix and chose the 'Photographic' style. I didn't do any extra blending layer files there for multiple outputs at different exposures, but should have to contain the highlights a little better. I just forgot to do it, ironically, since that was the whole purpose for the seven exposures! Doh! haha... I think just got a little ahead of myself upon seeing the effect from the 'Photographic' style on the image, which I liked so wanted get on with it.... From there into Gimp for a little denoising (I use Topaz), then into NikCfx where I used a few instances of the Levels&Curves tool for RGB adjustments (Love that tool!). Did a fuzzy select and darkening curve of the sky, a little dodge.burn here and there, and cloned/healed that one sign blowout in the right side background.


For the next round: Should I keep going with the 'likes' method or back to traditional subjective government by the host? I could go either way, so will put it this way - unless there are a couple/few chiming in that they prefer we go back to the old format, I will just stick with the new 'likes' format for another round.

[Tas]

Should I keep going with the 'likes' method or back to traditional subjective government by the host?

Congrats todd.

I missed this one by the OP, but did add some Likes as I normally do anyway.

I probably won't be back anyway so no point offering an opinion.

Good luck with the next round.

Tas