Something a bit different for a throwdown. Have a go

[davidc]

i have something different to try. In the link there is a RAW file straight out the camera. If you have time download it and process it. Lets see how different the edits are. Not a competition just fun with edits. Got the idea from Grahams post about editing other peoples photos. Post the results here.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/72ic4o1b4hex2b7/AACI4rMYFH8_ZVv8IcKwfPQXa?dl=0

 

[ElinL]

A great idea for a throwdown

[Kent DuFault]

Great idea David! Here’s my version.

[davidc]

Love the boat Kent. good edit looks great.

[Kent DuFault]

Thanks David. I wondered if anyone noticed! 🙂

[Rob Eyers]

Yeah I saw that boat move Kent. Nicely done for your crop.

[Joanna]

Hi David,

I would LOVE to participate in this, but my lightroom version (5.7, CameraRaw 8.7) tells me the format is not recognised by the RAW  function (I am translating freely from Dutch). Does that make any sense to you and do you know of a way to fix this?

Kind regards

[davidc]

Hi Joanna. I have put the dng file in the folder this one will open in Lightroom 5.

the link is

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vpq7yzlm5tfao1t/DSC_1973.dng?dl=0

You can also download a free convertor from adobe at this link.

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/digital-negative.html

this will convert the raw files to a dng files which will open in lightroom 5.7.

Hope this helps

 

[Joanna]

Hi David,

Thanks for the DNG! It came in shortly after I had departed on a weekend camping trip, and next I fell ill with the flu, quite a bad one, which has kept me in bed until now. As soon as I regain my strength I’ll have a go at it!

[davidc]

Hope you get well soon Joanna. 🙂

[Joanna]

Thank you, David. First day up today 🙂

[Rob Eyers]

Here’s my approach David. Fun challenge and a great idea.

[davidc]

looks 3D. Great tones throughout. great skill Rob.

[Rob Eyers]

Thanks David.

Interesting that everyone got rid of the branches in the upper right corner. Nobody mentioned my scaling of the bottom portion so I guess that worked. If I’m not mistaken this shot was taken from behind the Banff Springs Hotel wasn’t it.

[davidc]

Hi Rob. We stayed in Banff and did a walk for a couple of hours following the river. I think it is at the Springs Hotel. I remember there being a hotel at this point.

[Anne Hornsby]

What a fun idea, David!   Here’s my version.

 

 

[davidc]

Love the softer approach. Super edit Anne.

[Joanna]

This immediately makes me think of Chris McCandless (Into The Wild)… I love your take on it, Anne, very different feel.

[Frogdaily]

I agree with everyone … great idea and really fun throwdown … Thank you David … would love to know where this photo was taken – beautiful area

Here is my submission:

[davidc]

So far the thing I notice is the crops all different. This makes each photo look like a different photo. All the processing looks good. A lot of different approaches.

[davidc]

Hi frog. It was in Canada. Think its the Bow River.

[Frogdaily]

Thank you David, so beautiful!

[davidc]

Sharp edit Frog. With the saturation looks great. Nice bit of cloning on the people.

[davidc]

Sharp edit Frog and with the colour saturation very good. Nice cloning of the people.

[Frogdaily]

Thank you so much David for the opportunity… really enjoyed this challenge!

[Graham Hart]

What a terrific idea and good fun too. I think there’s also a kind of pooling of knowledge, or ideas perhaps, to come out of this exercise. Being able to compare what you thought was a good edit initially against the other variations posted is a great way to see where you are perhaps going too far or not far enough.

[davidc]

A darker edit Graham. Shadow in the foreground gives the water a bit of menace. Great edit.

[Anne Hornsby]

Let’s do this type of throwdown again soon, David!    I missed that you moved the boat, Kent…. smart!   Graham, I like the dark approach.   I’m experimenting more with muted tones in a saturated world, but at the same time my eye is drawn to the  brightness and electric hues  as in Rob’s and Frog’s edits….

[ElinL]

Strange: No matter what I do – Lightroom refuses to see the image after I have imported it to my computer – never happened before…

[Dahlia Ambrose]

Elin, did you try both the .dng and .NEF files?

[Jay Ward]

Here’s my go.

[ElinL]

Something is rotten in the state of Lightstalking.

[Rob Eyers]

That repeat of other’s comments has happened to me several times too Elin.

[Jay Ward]

Here’s my go.

[Jay Ward]

Here’s my go.

[davidc]

Hi Jay. Brought the detail out great. Good one.

[Pamela Winter]

[Pamela Winter]

I spot saturated the raft, moved it more to the 1/3 line, removed the branch at the upper right corner and cropped out the two guys playing ball at the far left.  Adding the rainbow seemed like a natural. Sorry if it made it a bit kitchsey.

[davidc]

Like the square crop Pamela. Nice treatment as well. I have never taken a photo of a rainbow. something to add to my list. 🙂

[Joanna]

And now for something completely different… 😉

There are so many interesting elements in this image that it is a bit too much for my brain to process all at once. Truly. So I decided to work on a much smaller part of the total photograph. I chose to keep the following 3 elements that I particularly liked, being
1) the two people on the beach because they give an excellent idea of the scale of all the nature elements, which are majestic
2) the colouring on the rocks next to the beach, that again looked like two people!
3) the winding of the river. I just happen to like winding rivers 🙂

Now I had something I could manage and this is what I came up with:

[Pamela Winter]

Good job, Joanne! I really like how we each saw different elements that we chose to enhance and create something unique to each of our visions.

[Joanna]

Thank you, Pamela 🙂

[davidc]

Very good Joanna. The crop makes it look like a different photo. The  elements you picked are spot on. 🙂

[Joanna]

Thank you, David! For me it was a treat to work on a photograph with so much basic quality in there. I felt I could work on whatever I wanted and get out something. Very different from when I do photographs with my lens. They typically only have certain areas with sufficient sharpness and light in them.

At the same time having all this choice overwhelmed me at first, like I didn’t know where to start anymore. After having done the smaller frame, I regained some confidence, possibly from a ‘better understanding of the material at hand’ that came from spending time with it. So ultimately I did the larger frame as well (see a bit further down).

[Dahlia Ambrose]

Here is what I tried David 🙂

[Joanna]

Love this one!

[Dahlia Ambrose]

Thank you Joanna 🙂

[Kent DuFault]

Very nice Dahlia. Postcard worthy! 🙂

[Dahlia Ambrose]

Thank you Kent 🙂

[davidc]

Hi Dahlia. warmer tones and detailed. Love it.

[Dahlia Ambrose]

Thank you David 🙂

[Joanna]

Okay, in the end I decided to overcome my fear of failure with the larger frame and came up with this:

[davidc]

Very vivid and so much different the your first edit. Don’t worry about failing, its not about failure on Lightstalking, its about Having fun and learning. I have picked up so much from here. Well done Joanna.

[Joanna]

Thank you again, David! I was happy when I saw it ‘pop’ at some point! The fear of failure I was referring to is this: I have no fixed order in which I start an editing sequence (other than first deciding on the crop and making sure all the light is within range – but since some time the latter two are usually okay in camera). My usual starting point is the Tone curve but with some photographs I have found that a different starting point was better. I sort of figure it out as I go along and gradually I have developed some sort of intuition for it. But that’s on my photographs, with more limited intrinsic quality. In yours I was overwhelmed at first (as explained in my message higher up) and I feared that I was going to destroy some potential by picking a bad starting point.

Yes, I still have a lot to learn 🙂 and I sure enjoy doing it here! So grateful that accomplished photographers like yourself take the time and effort to exchange material and ideas with amateurs like me!

[Erik Fransman]

A bit vintage summer look. a 1X1 crop brings you a bit closer to the scene.

 

[davidc]

Good one Erik. Feels like late afternoon. Funny how the different edits change the time in the shot. some look like morning, some like midday and some like late afternoon. Also the 1×1 crop i have never tried. Something more to think about.

[Author]

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