[jno]

As the title says, I'm trying to learn how to develop my photos.
I thought this turned out OK, but looking at it now, I want to make the yellowish moss/lichen on the rock edges more pronounced. Right now it's become almost invisible.
The trees in the top right with clouds in the background have lost some detail. Maybe I overdid the highlights? Maybe it's fine?


This is the out-of-camera jpeg (click for full size):





This is my attempt at developing it (click for full size):

[tuco]

The first one the color balance is way off. The clouds are really pinkish/redish on my monitor. I'd think the camera's auto white balance would do a better job. Perhaps try a manual color balance with a white card before taking the picture. And for RAW file editing, I'd think starting off with auto white balance would get better color than the first one too.

The color balance is much improved on the second image. But again, on my monitor, consider how "white" your highlights are. The white of the clouds near the edge of the frame matches the white of the background of the webpage meaning RGB = 255 (= over exposed). Of course that can be a personal choice but I feel you lose the gloomy, cloudy atmosphere on a mountain ridge in the scene. YMMV.

[kypfer]

This is the out-of-camera jpeg (click for full size):

This image isn't "out-of-the-camera", it's been edited/processed by dcraw v9.28 (see EXIF!)
Open this in IrfanView … press Shift-U (auto-adjust) … wind the magenta down a bit ... take it from there …

[angkymac]

First attempts at post processing are very much a tentative experiment; there are so very many things that interplay.
So, continue doing just what you are doing by adjusting one thing at a time.
As was posted above, the color balance and luminance appears to be something to work on next time.
Regarding your question about the rock-lining lichens, you are showing some definition there, which I think is great. Another way to handle it might be to work with contrast through the whole lower part of the image. If not taken too far, this will enhance the lichens while also doing a good thing to the details in the rock faces as well as the details in the trees. But must be handled carefully because you could also lose the misty environment.
I think that this is a good start you have made; you are in process of learning the skills. (By way of note, I have been working for two years on trying to post process properly, and I am only just barely able to enhance detail and color balancing is still beyond me; post processing is a very vast field to grow in! So keep up your good efforts!)
Angky.

[jno]

This image isn't "out-of-the-camera", it's been edited/processed by dcraw v9.28 (see EXIF!)
Open this in IrfanView … press Shift-U (auto-adjust) … wind the magenta down a bit ... take it from there …

That's just extracting it from the raw file (I've since changed to shooting raw+jpeg).

[kypfer]

That's just extracting it from the raw file (I've since changed to shooting raw+jpeg).

Try re-loading the RAW in the camera then save it as a JPG from there.
You'll be able to choose various "Custom Image" settings (much like you can with the Pentax-supplied Digital Camera Utility) and bypass any misinterpretation by the 3rd-party software.

[jno]

Thanks for the pointers.
As noted, the strong magenta tint is what the camera delivered. I'm pretty sure that was auto wb. I don't like it at all, and it doesn't convey the feeling I want.
The harsh, overblown highlights were a conscious choice. I probably overdid it, finding that balance between harsh and soft is hard!

[kypfer]

As noted, the strong magenta tint is what the camera delivered. I'm pretty sure that was auto wb.

Unfortunately, without a genuine out-of-the-camera image to examine, we'll never know

[MrB1]

The trees in the top right with clouds in the background have lost some detail. Maybe I overdid the highlights?

In addition to the colour cast which it is possible to edit, there doesn't appear to be any clear detail anywhere, and it's doubtful it would be possible to recover that from the original. A focus issue perhaps?

Philip

[jno]

Try re-loading the RAW in the camera then save it as a JPG from there.
You'll be able to choose various "Custom Image" settings (much like you can with the Pentax-supplied Digital Camera Utility) and bypass any misinterpretation by the 3rd-party software.

I tried that, but as far as I could see it didn't save a separate jpeg?
Anyway, the color cast is certainly there in the original image (which was indeed AWB), evident on my camera screen. I don't see that it's terribly important though? I got rid of it on purpose.

In addition to the colour cast which it is possible to edit, there doesn't appear to be any clear detail anywhere, and it's doubtful it would be possible to recover that from the original. A focus issue perhaps?

Philip

I found that (almost?) all my images from the trip with that lens were like that. I'm not sure if it is the lens (an old 135mm I bought cheap), or me that needs to work on manual focus (which is entirely possible). I've gotten sharp photos with it at home though, but that's much closer (<20m as opposed to >500m). Last night I tried some astrophotography, and as far as I could tell (using liveview) it was possible to get relatively sharp images even at F3.5, but even on the tripod it was super hard and it seemed like the slightest camera movement would make it lose focus.


I do kind of like this image even so, and will just have to make the best of it

[kypfer]

I tried that, but as far as I could see it didn't save a separate jpeg?

See p92 et seq in the Operating Manual … unusually for a Pentax handbook it covers the procedure in quite good detail

[MrB1]

I found that (almost?) all my images from the trip with that lens were like that. I'm not sure if it is the lens (an old 135mm I bought cheap), or me that needs to work on manual focus (which is entirely possible). I've gotten sharp photos with it at home though, but that's much closer (<20m as opposed to >500m). Last night I tried some astrophotography, and as far as I could tell (using liveview) it was possible to get relatively sharp images even at F3.5, but even on the tripod it was super hard and it seemed like the slightest camera movement would make it lose focus.

Did you manually focus? Assuming the lens isn't faulty I would have thought that, at that distance of over 500m, you could set the focus ring to infinity, aperture at f/8, and everything in that scene would be within the depth of field - hence sharp.

Philip

[jno]

Did you manually focus? Assuming the lens isn't faulty I would have thought that, at that distance of over 500m, you could set the focus ring to infinity, aperture at f/8, and everything in that scene would be within the depth of field - hence sharp.

Philip

It's a manual lens (this one). I might just have been sloppy.

[Fdooch]

Try the following method if you are using lightroom. Remove the saturation of all colors to -100 on the HSL tab. You will get a black and white image. Achieve the necessary lighting and contrast with the help of basic editing tools. And then HSL gradually returns colors and shades

[Michael Piziak]

I like the post processing very much.

I think you did very well!