Pentax K3 ii Familiarisation Trip - Odd Effect

**UncleVanya** · 02-14-2017, 07:26 PM

Originally posted by Blokko

Please don't take this as being critical in a bad way.

Not at all - I value the feedback. I have to say that I'm no expert when it comes to playing around with the sliders when processing a RAW image. I have a couple of books that could probably help me to do this manipulation more scientifically rather than just playing around with the sliders 'by eye'. Unfortunately they are in storage in the UK, so not so easily accessible :-) My default option is to push the highlight and shadow compensation in opposite directions - maybe I need to be a bit more refined in this technique?? I'm sure there will be something on YouTube to show me the proper procedure for doing this...

Below is the RAW image with absolutely no post processing. Still seems to exhibit the 'popping' effect, but maybe it is not so pronounced as when I've played around with the image.

I think the concern was that you took highlights down 100 and then pumped whites back up. You brought the shadows up 100 and then took blacks back down. The drop of the highlights and bringing up the shadows is OK - but then you told it to do the opposite with whites and blacks.

stevebrot · 02-14-2017, 07:34 PM

Originally posted by Blokko

My default option is to push the highlight and shadow compensation in opposite directions - maybe I need to be a bit more refined in this technique??

Ummmmm...yes.

Both are usually used for fairly fine adjustments to shift the left and right "tails" of the histogram. The common use case is to back the highlights off to avoid clipping of details at the bright end. If your desire is to decrease global contrast, the contrast slider is the better solution rather than the highlights and shadows sliders.

Having not been there when the photo was taken, it is hard to know why some aspects of the scene seem to have unusually high "pop". Rather than global adjust, one might try a local adjust to the parts that don't look right. Raising the blacks and shadows for the tombstone faces only might decrease the "3-D" effect.

Steve

**southlander** · 02-15-2017, 05:21 AM

I must confess I'm no snow scene expert - might be related to the fact that it was 100-110 degrees F here last week to give you an indication of the climate in my neck of the woods.

The unprocessed image in the post a few ahead of this one looks pretty good for post processing work. The 'pop'I think is the use of a wide aperture that is throwing the background into a soft out of focus state against which the in focus tombstones stand out. It's on the way to the 3D effect people talk about. Just be gentle on the controls - if you have two controls that do similar things but they are set materially in different directions (eg blacks -50, shadows +50) then consider moving both back towards neutral and reconsider what is required. The effect of many sliders are interrelated so often you do need to go back to early adjustments and retune them in light of later adjustments. Contrast is one I often revisit after I see the effect of other adjustments.

For instructions - look on the Adobe website - they have heaps of very useful instructional videos for LR.

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02-14-2017, 07:26 PM	#16
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,467	Originally posted by Blokko Please don't take this as being critical in a bad way. Not at all - I value the feedback. I have to say that I'm no expert when it comes to playing around with the sliders when processing a RAW image. I have a couple of books that could probably help me to do this manipulation more scientifically rather than just playing around with the sliders 'by eye'. Unfortunately they are in storage in the UK, so not so easily accessible :-) My default option is to push the highlight and shadow compensation in opposite directions - maybe I need to be a bit more refined in this technique?? I'm sure there will be something on YouTube to show me the proper procedure for doing this... Below is the RAW image with absolutely no post processing. Still seems to exhibit the 'popping' effect, but maybe it is not so pronounced as when I've played around with the image. I think the concern was that you took highlights down 100 and then pumped whites back up. You brought the shadows up 100 and then took blacks back down. The drop of the highlights and bringing up the shadows is OK - but then you told it to do the opposite with whites and blacks.

02-14-2017, 07:34 PM	#17
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by Blokko My default option is to push the highlight and shadow compensation in opposite directions - maybe I need to be a bit more refined in this technique?? Ummmmm...yes. Both are usually used for fairly fine adjustments to shift the left and right "tails" of the histogram. The common use case is to back the highlights off to avoid clipping of details at the bright end. If your desire is to decrease global contrast, the contrast slider is the better solution rather than the highlights and shadows sliders. Having not been there when the photo was taken, it is hard to know why some aspects of the scene seem to have unusually high "pop". Rather than global adjust, one might try a local adjust to the parts that don't look right. Raising the blacks and shadows for the tombstone faces only might decrease the "3-D" effect. Steve

02-15-2017, 05:21 AM	#18
southlander Site Supporter Join Date: May 2012 Location: Adelaide Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,364	I must confess I'm no snow scene expert - might be related to the fact that it was 100-110 degrees F here last week to give you an indication of the climate in my neck of the woods. The unprocessed image in the post a few ahead of this one looks pretty good for post processing work. The 'pop'I think is the use of a wide aperture that is throwing the background into a soft out of focus state against which the in focus tombstones stand out. It's on the way to the 3D effect people talk about. Just be gentle on the controls - if you have two controls that do similar things but they are set materially in different directions (eg blacks -50, shadows +50) then consider moving both back towards neutral and reconsider what is required. The effect of many sliders are interrelated so often you do need to go back to early adjustments and retune them in light of later adjustments. Contrast is one I often revisit after I see the effect of other adjustments. For instructions - look on the Adobe website - they have heaps of very useful instructional videos for LR.