I need help re-the 2 pics below.

[dales]

Have I overworked one or both of these? Please give me your thoughts. This was shot in RAW. The original was not adjusted at all so you can see that I worked w/exposure correction in raw to improve it enough to take further steps w/it.
Thanks

Original Pic

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/18i6l1Y2pKXTRWZ2bTrtPrLqsL2u6V0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=18i6l1Y2pKXTRWZ2bTrtPrLqsL2u6V0)





http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1mIbAp9g6DTXIL9m8oqx3CokyuWt1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1mIbAp9g6DTXIL9m8oqx3CokyuWt1)



http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1NeLnFQOTXuFvhR79RCbM25QcExLm40_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1NeLnFQOTXuFvhR79RCbM25QcExLm40)

[SharLamb]

The lower one, with the mist, looks more believable to me, but it depends on the look you're going for. It's a gorgeous photo. I'd like to see what the original looked like before any tweaking.
Shar

[Chesney]

I have to agree w/ Shar - the lower one looks more believable, but, with that being said I need to say I love the over saturated image - even though it is not realistic it is eye catching - I always love the saturated colors though...

[Juergen D]

How about something like this?

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1mcilmEnlpy9yUw3loRQWmv39fY73_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1mcilmEnlpy9yUw3loRQWmv39fY73)

Juergen

[dales]

Yes, that's more like what I was looking for Juergen. It looks like you just worked w/levels, is that correct? Thanks for the input.

[SharLamb]

Wow! Juergen! I hope you plan a tut on how you did THAT! It is simply stunning.
Shar

[frank abramonte]

dales:
Here's another version.
I duplicated the background image and changed the mode to Screen at 100%.
You then can continue duplicating it to get it lighter making it as dramatic as you wish. This version was duplicated 5 times. The more you duplicate it the lighter it will get.
You then apply any other adjustments you wish.


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/18qBz9bDIGQEdRUlFIwkbmYzkTwWmN0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=18qBz9bDIGQEdRUlFIwkbmYzkTwWmN0)

This with a little Curves adjustment>

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1gvfyXAbBL81IVnP0wE5ynjH71OHqm1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1gvfyXAbBL81IVnP0wE5ynjH71OHqm1)

[Juergen D]

Thank you!

Not really a tut, but here are the steps I took:

Opened the original as Camera Raw and made the adjustments as shown below.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1U1qvasVBpsKllHtqr2L21p2hMukg_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1U1qvasVBpsKllHtqr2L21p2hMukg)

Next I opened the image in the Editor.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1bJPPEhYrC6DHOgeSMqUZGD3QYo6b_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1bJPPEhYrC6DHOgeSMqUZGD3QYo6b)

Duplicated the Background layer and applied a 1.5px Gaussian Blur, masked everything but the farthest point with a Radial Gradient. To keep the effect fairly subtle I took the layer's opacity down to 50%.

Placed a Hue/Sat Adj. layer on top and increased the saturation of the red/yellow, sampled from the leaves in the upper center, by +20.

Layer 1 is Merged Visible with a light Auto FX Dreamy Effect applied.

Layer 1 copy is a duplicate of Layer 1, set to Screen at 35% opacity to lighten things up some.

Juergen

[dales]

Thanks so much Frank & Juergen for passing on the methods you used to come up w/what I was hopping to do w/this picture. Very much appreciated.

[SharLamb]

Okay, Juergen, I'm stymied on the first sentence. How do you open up someone else's photo? I've seen several of you edit others' photos, and don't understand how you get them on your cpu in editable form.

Another "dumb" question: My camera doesn't shoot in Raw, so I have never done that. So I guess this question is really an extension of the first one: Can I open up that photo in Camera Raw and fiddle with it?

Thanks,
Shar

[nu2scene]

Here's my attempt

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1e3E4XjKJs3Bp7a5Eetn8m5AQVNax1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1e3E4XjKJs3Bp7a5Eetn8m5AQVNax1)

[SharLamb]

Rob, you are a quick study. Beautiful results! I'd like to go there this afternoon!
Shar

[nu2scene]

Thank you Shar. I've been practicing. It's amazing what Elements can do. I like playing around and trying different things out. Sooo much to learn.

[dales]

My final results. I am relatively happy w/this. Thanks to all of you for the great, helpful input.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1W9r0du3snojMk60sIyK2HGT3sptdH_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1W9r0du3snojMk60sIyK2HGT3sptdH)

[SharLamb]

I just love how PSE can help us to create any mood we want! Just gorgeous.
Shar

[ljameso1]

Shar to get the raw image to play with just click and drag it to your desktop, then open with pse to launch raw processor.

[SharLamb]

Linda, Thank you. Who knew it was so easy?! Oh yeah. Once again, several of you did! LOL How fun! I was able to do Frank's tut, but, Juergen, yours was too complex for me. Are you using PSE or the full version of PS?

Anyway, thanks to all of you. It is so much fun to learn these things.

Shar, who is tired of making junior football layouts!

[SharLamb]

Oh, one more thing. I notice when I just dragged the photo to my desktop, then opened it in PSE, it was VERY pixelated. Is that just the way it is, or is there something I can do to improve that?

Shar

[Juergen D]

Shar,

Right click on a photo that is posted on the Net, in this case in Pixentral, press CTRL-C, open the Elements Editor and go >File >New >Image from Clipboard.

If you want to open a JPEG as Camera Raw, save it to some place on your PC, like the Desktop, then in Editor go >File >Open As >Camera Raw.

Juergen

[frank abramonte]

Rob, nice interpretation.

[nu2scene]

Thank you Frank.

[SharLamb]

Thanks Juergen. I will give it a try tomorrow.

I've never worked with camera raw before...should be interesting!

Shar

[dales]

Rob, your results on this pic. turned out great. Any special steps you took to achieve this???

[SharLamb]

Sorry to keep belaboring this, Juergen. But....you wrote:

If you want to open a JPEG as Camera Raw, save it to some place on your PC, like the Desktop, then in Editor go >File >Open As >Camera Raw.

When I do this, I can only get as far as "Open As." There is no "Camera Raw" option for me. I am using PSE 5. Could that be the problem?

Shar

[nu2scene]

Dales, I did a few things. I'll try to remember what it was.

First I always open every picture in ACR, JPG's as well. ACR has a lot of power to it. Most times if I don't have to clone or something I can almost not even bother doing much more after I'm done with ACR.

In your picture I first increased the exposure a lot. I just eye balled it till it was bright enough, I think just shy or +2 or something like that. Then once it was bright enough, I took the eye dropper, and used it to change the white balance. I sampled a few places from the white parts of the water, and just used the one I liked best. I usually just go down and slide all the sliders in ACR until I like what I see.

After doing ACR, I opened your pic in the editor. The first thing I did was adjust the levels a bit. After that I usually look at the pic and decide if there's something I want to change. For your pic, I think it's all about the colors on the leaves. So I saturated the colors a bit. I also burned in the top and edges to add to saturation as well.

Even thought I think the picture is all about the colors of the leaves, I thought I'd use the creek to move your eye into the picture. So then I dodged the branches on the ground. With those lightened up I think it catches your eye and moves it into the picture. I also dodged the whiter parts of the water to lighten them even more. I also lightened the branches on the ground all the way into the center part that leads all the way to the back.

I tried but I'm not totally convinced of the colors in the water up front. I wanted to get the orange colors into it. I did get a bit in there, but I wanted it more dramatic. Oh well...hehe.

Then finally I wanted to sharpen. But when I sharpened the whole picture I didn't like what it did to the leaves. It looked over sharpened. So I only selectively sharpened the creek.

I think that was basically it. I hope that makes some sense.

[Juergen D]

I am using PSE 5. Could that be the problem?
No, that is what I am using. You have to have a fairly new version of ACR, Adobe Camera Raw, best 4.6 (I should have mentioned that earlier). You can find it here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4044

Be sure to follow all instructions for downloading, unzipping, and installing. When you click on Open As, you will get this kind of dialog box:

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1SUEsbY10MDg9FaYSnuIHoj2gxpGW0_thumb.gif (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1SUEsbY10MDg9FaYSnuIHoj2gxpGW0)

Select Camera Raw from the bottom drop down menu and click on Open. That will have the JPEG opening in the Raw Converter, as I had posted earlier.

Juergen

[SharLamb]

Thanks so much Juergen. I owe you a dozen of my world famous peanut butter cookies!
Shar

[emkayess65]

No, that is what I am using. You have to have a fairly new version of ACR, Adobe Camera Raw, best 4.6 (I should have mentioned that earlier). You can find it here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4044

Be sure to follow all instructions for downloading, unzipping, and installing. When you click on Open As, you will get this kind of dialog box:

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1SUEsbY10MDg9FaYSnuIHoj2gxpGW0_thumb.gif (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1SUEsbY10MDg9FaYSnuIHoj2gxpGW0)

Select Camera Raw from the bottom drop down menu and click on Open. That will have the JPEG opening in the Raw Converter, as I had posted earlier.

Juergen

Juergen, thanks so much. That clears up a lot of things for me. I have V3 and CS2(the whole suite) but I got V5 with my Wacom. My camera does not shoot Raw and I have no intention of getting a new one. So this makes it possible for me to play in raw. Didn't know V5 was able to do it.

Sorry, don't have any cookies to offer. Don't bake anymore.
Who has time to bake with PSE???????? :D I need more hours in the day!!

But Thanks!:)
Great information I would have never known.

mks

SharLamb, thanks for asking the question.
mks

[Juergen D]

Great! I'm glad I could help.

Juergen

[SharLamb]

Well, I'm just having too much fun with this. All I can say is W O W regarding the Camera Raw editing possibilities. OMG! What a huge difference.

Are you ready for one more version????

After I made the photo look good, I decided to try it with the English Tea Can Effect tutorial that Tina B presented us with a few months ago. I think it worked well with this photo...very watercolor-looking.

Hasn't this been a hoot?

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1FTEHbN0MCNWa67TzbuwNI76EuBQFK0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1FTEHbN0MCNWa67TzbuwNI76EuBQFK0)

Thanks again, Juergen.

And I'd still love to visit this place.

Shar

[dales]

Shar, what a great effect. So many possibilities came thru on this picture. I really like the W/C effect. Nice job.

[SharLamb]

Thanks Dale. And thanks for starting this thread. I learned a LOT.

Shar

[mljrbg]

I still have a lot to learn!!!!! I can't get the Camera Raw Plugin installed. I downloaded and unzipped it > My Computer > C Drive > Program Files > Adobe > PSE 6.0 > Plugins > File Formats > opened PSE. I assume it is supposed to show up in the Filter Menu and it doesn't.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[SharLamb]

Mary Lou, it didn't come up for me the way Juergen's post showed. I had to dink around with it. What I did discover was that there was already a version of it installed, and it looked to me like the new one was the same as the old one. Anyway, try this:

While you are in PSE Editor, Click File>Open As.

When that is open, look down at the very bottom of the new window...just to the left of the CANCEL button. In that box, click the down arrow, and you should be able to find the Camera Raw option. Now, in the box just above, scroll through until you find the file you want opened in CR.

I hope that helps.

Shar

[mljrbg]

Thanks Shar. I had tried that but I did it in Open not Open As. It worked in Open As. There are 2 Camera Raw in the drop down. I am assuming the one on the top is the new one?

Oh...and I vowed that I would never use Camera Raw!! See what 6 months on this forum did to me!!!!!

Thanks for solving this for me!!

[SharLamb]

yah...never say never!

I just learned something else: If it looks great on my monitor, it doesn't necessarily print out beautifully!

The version of this beautiful landscape I made looked like mud when I printed it. Since it's not my photograph, I'm not going to mess with it any more, however. This has been fun, but for me, the ride is over for now.

Shar

[mljrbg]

Now that I got that far I have another question. As far as I can tell I can only save the ACR in .dng which I can't open in Editor. What am I missing now!!

[Juergen D]

Mary Lou,
Click on Open Image, which opens it in the Editor, then save from there.

Juergen

[Zeria]

Hi Dale---

Wow, your final photo and treatment are terrific --- I especially like the addition of the mist. :)

Your photo reminds me of a stream near my home. I couldn't resist and had to play with the photo. Here's my version. I only worked in Element's editor.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1FRiHLIWf9hVNirdUev1ydLUiU2LLi_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1FRiHLIWf9hVNirdUev1ydLUiU2LLi)

[dales]

Another beautiful rendition Pete. So well done

[mljrbg]

Thanks Juergen. It worked like a charm!!