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Author Topic: learning, pushing my limits printing and processing  (Read 23003 times)

sgwrx

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learning, pushing my limits printing and processing
« on: May 24, 2015, 05:00:49 pm »

hello,

this covers printing, post processing and shooting so i'm not sure where to post exactly, but i definitely consider myself a beginner :)

just wanted feed back on my ideas to see if i'm making progress. 

my old printing, back when i had the epson r2400, i typically didn't do much in terms of color. i would soft-proof look for some warnings and then globally back off saturation or curves/levels and then print. often i felt "ok" but not overwhelmed.

now, i'm starting to take the image and take advantage of things like gamut warning and cranking up the saturation.  using curves to get some details in shadows and recover some highlights.  i think what i'm learning is, it's OK to push and pull, sometimes to an extreme.  then decide what to do with those gamut warning colors.

example, i had a photo of a grave site.  i soft proofed for epson premium glossy paper and then started to crank up the saturation which resulted in clear blue sky going completely pink (warning)!  rather than back off, i decided to play with the hue/saturation of the blue colors and low and behold the pink went away!  i mostly changed the hue of the sky which ended up knocking it back into gamut but also took away the saturated cyan look of it and made it more sky-blue but still saturated. i even found adjusting the slider for lightness in different color ranges would help with gamut warnings.  the rest of the colors, green grass, various green trees, even a red-maple look great and are not outside gamut.  reds, as in flowers and an american flag, still seem to pop (in a print) even though i had to locally desaturate them a bit with the sponge tool.

i think what i'm finding is, getting what you want out of a photo is not all global adjustments and perfect exposure.  now, i do know that exposure is very important and i'm brushing up on that.  but i think i gave myself the expectation that it has to be 100% correct strait from the camera (colors, highlights, shadows etc).  that is a fairly frustrating approach.

i also think i'm starting to understand that each aspect of capturing an image has decidedly discreet components.  for example exposure or multiple exposures and blending them together, can have a huge impact.  adjusting color, adjusting levels, curves and sharpness (local contrast or edge) each has it's own impact that may or may not impact each other.

thanks,
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Iluvmycam

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Re: learning, pushing my limits printing and processing
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2015, 09:39:06 pm »

Make lots of work prints, when they look good stop.
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luxborealis

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    • luxBorealis.com - photography by Terry McDonald
Re: learning, pushing my limits printing and processing
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2015, 09:46:45 am »

You seem to be driven by trial and error and not a thoughtful approach. While you can get great results from trial and error, what it lacks is predictability and repeatability. If this is fine with you, then keep doing what you're doing.

A more thoughtful approach, where you start with correct exposure (in digital, this is usually determined by the highlights), then change things from there gives you that base to work from. Worse case scenario, you go back to what you know is "correct" or fixed, the file, and move forward in a different direction. This works both for linear and non-linear thinkers, but works best when you are applying changes one at a time and monitoring the effects as you go.

Yes, processing and printing become more of a science than an art, which has its own pitfalls as one becomes more pedantic about the process. BUT, it also allows for much more creative expression because once you have mastered the techniques/mechanics and they become second nature and predictable (necessary for thoughtful experimentation) - you can now diverge and follow your inspiration with some knowledge rather than going blindly. Blind luck works, too, don't get me wrong, but it's more hit and miss.

So much of this depends on your personality, the kind of person you are. If you're not sure, try different working methods to find what works best.
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Terry McDonald - luxBorealis.com
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