26 replies to this topic

[lonestranger]

I know that some people don't do any post processing, and others will tweak their images anywhere from a little blemish removal to the most complex photoshop adjustments/enhancements, and everything in between. Myself, I'm probably somewhere in the middle, I don't spend much time with post processing but have the ability to do more than just the basics if I want to. I usually just crop and adjust the shadows and highlights in Picasa and seldom go to the other computer to use photoshop.

So here's the deal. I would like to see a comparison of different processing results from the same photo. I am curious to see if my simple processing method compares to the potential of the photo. I have taken an okay photo, not a great photo but it's good enough that it has potential for improvement. I did a quick process and have saved the results. I then uploaded the original raw photo to dropbox and would now like to invite as many people as possible to download it and process it as if it were their own. I think it will be interesting to see how different, or similar, the different processed results are to my finished product.

So if anyone is interested, or bored enough, here's how I'd like to proceed with the experiment. Download the image from the link below and process it any way that you see fit. You can crop it, play with the brightness, contrast, colours, add/remove detail, sharpen the entire image or just sharpen part of it, be creatively complex or use simple adjustments. Your imagination and skill level are the only limits on what you choose to do with the photo.

I would like to ask that you do not upload the finished images right away so that all the participants have a chance to contribute to the experiment without anyone else's influence. If you are interested, please state that you have downloaded the photo and then tell us when you're done with your processing, don't upload the photo yet. Once the feedback indicates that all particpants have a finished product, then I will ask for everyone to post the finished image here and we can all compare and discuss the differences together.

If there are no questions, here's the original raw photo for you to process as you see fit. Have fun.

https://dl.dropbox.c...52/P5262767.ORF

[Platypus]

This is a fantastic idea. I've always wondered how the post-processing methods of different users compares. I'm done - let us know when you want us to post!

[canon eos]

It's an interesting 'project' for some. However the file is an Olympus RAW file and a lot of folks wouldn't be able to open it, let alone edit. (and unless I'm missing something, it's a rabbit, not a bird......LOL)
Photo editing is very subjective, and very similar results can be achieved via many paths in various software.

Oh, and I'm done my version

[Platypus]

It's an interesting 'project' for some. However the file is an Olympus RAW file and a lot of folks wouldn't be able to open it, let alone edit.

Photoshop and Lightroom automatically detect all RAW files if you have a post-2009 version and 90% of good image viewing programs (ex. FastStone) will open them no problem.

Photo editing is very subjective, and very similar results can be achieved via many paths in various software.

I think that's one of the reasons lonestranger wants to try this.

[meghann]

I'm game, although I won't be able to work on it until tonight.

For the record: Paint Shop Pro opens the file just fine, too.

[BigSkyKen]

Done and ready to upload.

[jsa47]

I just did a quickie. I couldn't use my normal processing (DPP), so I used Gimp, which I've never used for that before.

[lonestranger]

Thanks for cooperating with the experiment folks, I think it will be quite interesting to see the differences, and similarities, when we post the results. I apologize for not using a bird for the project photo, I looked for one but none of my recent shots provided much to work with and I didn`t have the patience to go through the stored photos on my external hard drive. I think the rabbit photo will do for the sake of the experiment though.

For those that have already processed the photo, I hope you don`t mind waiting for a few days before we post our results. I would like to give more people the chance to participate if they`re interested. I don`t want to set a deadline, so we`ll just play it by ear and give it a few days to see who else is interested before we post our results. Thanks again folks.

[Wegs]

OK, sounds like a cool idea...I'm in!

[Liam]

Consider my version done.

[lonestranger]

Okay, I don't know about the rest of you, but I am curious to see the results. As I said earlier, it's not a great photo so I am not expecting spectacular results, but I do want to see how we differ in things like composition/cropping, exposure/brightness, saturation/color temperature, sharpening, etc, etc. I am also curious to hear how much effort and creativity went into the processing, was it quick and simple or was more time and effort spent on tweaking the details. There's no need to be specific and go into great detail, but a simple, condenced explanation of the process and the software used would be appreciated. I am hoping to learn from this experiment so all/any comments are welcome.

As I stated earlier, I did a quick processing in Picasa. I cropped(probably a little too much) using the rule of thirds as a basic guideline, I adjusted the highlights and shadows, and if I'm not mistaken(I didn't keep notes), I used the warmify function to adjust the color temperture, I then added a border to make it a little different than my normal photos and saved it at 600px wide. As you can tell, I did not remove the yard cam wire on the bottom right, which I could have easily done with Picasa's retouch feature. I thought about it many times after the experiment started, but it wasn't part of my original quick process so I didn't feel right removing it after the fact. I did however take the same raw photo to my desktop computer and process it using Photoshop CS5 where I played around for hours, which is easy to do when you don't really have any clue how to use Photoshop. Although I prefer the quickly processed photo, I will share the other photo for comparison.

This is the raw photo converted to jpg without any processing.



This is my original, quickly processed image.



And this is the photoshopped version.

[jsa47]

I couldn't use DPP (canon) so I used gimp (never used for processing raw). Just a 16x9 crop (I like to use my pics for backgrounds) adjusted red level down a little, I think I adjusted contrast a little. I'm too lazy to do alot of editing.

[canon eos]

Here is my version.
I used Lightroom 3 to process the RAW file and crop. The lower area was quite distracting. Saved as a TIF, then opened in FastStone*. I used FS to clone out other distracting elements. Then back into LR for some general editing, then back to FS for a final sharpening. The overall time was about 20 minutes. I usually won't spend more than 5 minutes on an image that I'm not interested in keeping.

*FastStone
If you have other than a Mac computer, I really suggest you try FastStone. It is free(!) and is ostensibly a photo viewer. It is my main viewer and I do all my operations from FS. To get to LR etc I right-click and 'open with an external editor'. But beyond that FastStone's clone-and-heal is quite good. No, it's not AdobeXX but it can quickly clean up and is mo slouch at it; I do 16x20 prints and am unable to find any issues with my FS cloning.
Also, its sharpening and re-sizing tools are very competent. I also apply a border (courtesy of FastStone) to all my online images.
(no, I'm not connected to FastStone, I just want to share with others what I and many others have found)

[meghann]

P5262767 (1) -3 by midgetinvasion, on Flickr

[Liam]

I tried an artistic, colorblind approach. I cropped and adjusted exposure and saturation in Photoshop, then did a little HDR on it using Dynamic Photo. After this, I opened it in photoshop again and selected the rabbit and sharpened him a bit. This is the completed version:

[Wegs]

I used lightroom.
 exp-5262767.jpg   35.92K   19 downloads

[BigSkyKen]

Nothing fancy, mostly Lightroom editing.

[Platypus]

Wow, I can't believe how different everyone's edits are! Nice job guys.

Canon eos - I love your colours in the photo. I'm not sure how, but you managed to get the perfect balance. Nice one. The first thing I noticed about your photo though, even before I read the description, was the poor clone-and-heal job right behind the hare. I'm not meaning that as an insult, just a comment - it's not your fault, it's just that FS isn't capable of doing more. I've been using FS for years, and though I've tinkered with that function, I would never do it that close to the subject of the photo because it always ends up being visible. CS5 has a much better healing function anyways (I just use FS for image viewing and batch re-naming). I can't see anything else now when I look at the hare except the misshapen wheels behind it unfortunately. But, as I said, your colours are amazing and I will definitely need to try to use the dimensions to which you cropped your photo, because I like that a lot. Post-processing is subjective, so take what I say with a grain of salt!

I love the diversity of all the edits. I gave a chuckle at your 'colorblind' approach Liam, considering who it was coming from. And I like how Meghann went against the grain and did a vertical crop with black-and-white. Didn't see that one coming.

Great idea lonestranger. Next time we should do it with a bird photo! Kudos for thinking of this.

Here's my photo. The colours aren't as good as Canon eos's!

[lonestranger]

Thanks everyone, very interesting results. I have to agree with Platypus, out of all the results, I like the colours of canon eos' version the best. While I still like my quick version, I can see how it could have been a lot better if I could have nailed the colours like canon eos did. The differences, and similarities, of the crops is noteworthy too, I never would have thought to use a portrait format like meghann did and have to consider changing from the usual landscape format a little more often.

For those that aren't already aware, the new Photo Contest is another chance for us to compare editing results from a single image, this time with prizes. If you haven't already gotten the contest photo, I suggest you get in touch with Bigfoot to get a copy and we can do this all over again, with a bird photo this time.

Thanks again everyone, I've enjoyed our little experiment.

[canon eos]

Thanks re my 'colours'. And I also agree that my clone-job was pretty basic; it was a quick-fix effort. I also know that FS is quite elementary.

Nice fun, all:)