Post Processing Help

[Bear Dale]

Hi all,

This Satin Bowerbird hen has a small bit of apple in its beak that to me looks blown out, but its not. I would like to darken that bit of apple, but I haven't been able to nail it doing it in PS. How would you change it using PS?
Appreciate any advice

[ameerat42]

You really want to do it in PS? There's little info in that bit of image, but I would have tried it
in the raw converter to check what you can see before 8-bit conversion.

However, to proceed in PS, select the area in question, and at this size put a 1 pixel feathering
on it. After that, try any of:
- Brightness/Contrast or Exposure for overall change in luminance;
- Auto Levels/Contrast with subsequent Levels tweak, or
- Shadow Highlight to turn down the Highlights only with possible Mid-tone Contrast tweak;
- Tweak the Curves command.

The last three will give some differentiation in tone, but you may have to then de-saturate any
induced color.
The 2nd and third

[Bear Dale]

There's little info in that bit of image

How do I post an image AM which includes the Exif data still intact here?

[ameerat42]

Make sure you save it with the (camera data in the) Exif intact.

If "Save for Web"-ing in PS, turn on option to save Exif. Not sure of other
programs.

In PS, I just do a "Save as..." of the jpeg that was converted from raw (with Exif intact).
The Save as... always retains the camera data besides adding any from PS itself.

There is nothing in the AP attachment process that removes Exif.

- - - Updated - - -

--Oh, PostScript: I see what you mean in your quote.
I meant there was little image data in that portion of the picture.

Apologies if it was not clear.

[Bear Dale]

Here's the apple piece gone, but I'd rather keep the apple piece there.....just not have it so stark.

Attachment 137510

EDIT - Why do my attachments always muck up and not show

[ameerat42]

Go back to your Manage ATtachments, click on the asset you just uploaded and drag it to the attachments pane,
if it is not already there. Then click Insert Inline.

[Bear Dale]

Make sure you save it with the (camera data in the) Exif intact.

If "Save for Web"-ing in PS, turn on option to save Exif. Not sure of other
programs.

In PS, I just do a "Save as..." of the jpeg that was converted from raw (with Exif intact).
The Save as... always retains the camera data besides adding any from PS itself.

There is nothing in the AP attachment process that removes Exif.

- - - Updated - - -

--Oh, PostScript: I see what you mean in your quote.
I meant there was little image data in that portion of the picture.

Apologies if it was not clear.

Hi AM, if I post a photo on other photo forums that I am a member of the exif is always there. But uploading a photo here because it has to be made less than 400k (or whatever the limit is) something or other causes the exif to be lost.

And I always seem to have problems with 'attachments'

- - - Updated - - -

Go back to your Manage ATtachments, click on the asset you just uploaded and drag it to the attachments pane,
if it is not already there. Then click Insert Inline.

WOW.....10 years on here and I've never done that before!!!!

[ameerat42]

...But uploading a photo here because it has to be made less than 400k (or whatever the limit is) something or other causes the exif to be lost....

And I always seem to have problems with 'attachments'

Two things:
- The first bit is now shown to be wrong, as your now successful attachment (for which you clicked "Done" instead of
"insert Inline") is overflowing with camera data in the Exif;

- Follow this (generally supposed to be) comprehensive guide for trouble-free attachments

[fillum]

The apple here has a RGB value of 251/253/252 - that's almost white, so if you try to darken this area you are going to get pretty much a shade of grey. (Although that might be ok...)

Because it's just a bit of apple (and not someone's eye for example) my approach would be to try to paint in a bit of colour, like this:-

- make a rough selection around the bit of apple (any tool - lasso, etc)
- copy and paste (puts selected area into new layer)
- roughly paint over the apple in the new layer (colour not too important yet)
- add a layer mask, then adjust/paint the mask so that only the piece of apple shows through (this is the only fiddley bit). Use a blend mode temporarily that makes the apple piece easy to identify (try 'Difference'). Once you have the layer mask set up you can easily try different options very quickly
- pick an 'apple-like' colour and paint it on the new layer
- pick slightly lighter and darker colours and paint on with a 'speckled' brush (this will give the apple some 'texture')
- you can then try any final adjustments (Hue/Sat, Contrast, Curves, etc) on the new layer to get the desired result without affecting the overall image

This sounds complicated but it's actually pretty quick when you get the hang of it. The level of difficulty just depends on how easy it is to do the layer mask.

(Quick and dirty...)
395214ED.jpg


Cheers.

[ameerat42]

^ But not if you differentiate the tones a bit.

[Bear Dale]

Two things:
- The first bit is now shown to be wrong, as your now successful attachment (for which you clicked "Done" instead of
"insert Inline") is overflowing with camera data in the Exif;

- Follow this (generally supposed to be) comprehensive guide for trouble-free attachments

Ok .....bookmarked!



- - - Updated - - -

The apple here has a RGB value of 251/253/252 - that's almost white, so if you try to darken this area you are going to get pretty much a shade of grey. (Although that might be ok...)

Because it's just a bit of apple (and not someone's eye for example) my approach would be to try to paint in a bit of colour, like this:-

- make a rough selection around the bit of apple (any tool - lasso, etc)
- copy and paste (puts selected area into new layer)
- roughly paint over the apple in the new layer (colour not too important yet)
- add a layer mask, then adjust/paint the mask so that only the piece of apple shows through (this is the only fiddley bit). Use a blend mode temporarily that makes the apple piece easy to identify (try 'Difference'). Once you have the layer mask set up you can easily try different options very quickly
- pick an 'apple-like' colour and paint it on the new layer
- pick slightly lighter and darker colours and paint on with a 'speckled' brush (this will give the apple some 'texture')
- you can then try any final adjustments (Hue/Sat, Contrast, Curves, etc) on the new layer to get the desired result without affecting the overall image

This sounds complicated but it's actually pretty quick when you get the hang of it. The level of difficulty just depends on how easy it is to do the layer mask.

(Quick and dirty...)
395214ED.jpg


Cheers.

Phil, THANKS MATE for going to the trouble of that edit and the how to guide. I'll give that a go shortly, it looks really effective and the apple piece looks a whole lot better......super appreciated!

Cheers!