Photoshop tinkering experiment...

[GME]

Hi,
Thanks to all the advice received through WAB I was inspired to try out a little Photoshop Elements experiment to try and see how much you can improve an image. What do you think?


Original Image


Image after some level adjustments and cropping


Final image after cloning to remove branches and some purple fringing

The image is a little soft (probably down to the cheapish lens and handholding. It was taken with a Canon 350D and 75-300mm III USM at 300mm at 1/160 sec on Program AE) but I am quite pleased with my first real attempt at this.
There does seem to be some noise evident on the final image that I didn't notice on the original so I've probably overdone something somewhere!

I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts

Thanks for looking

Gareth

[pressld2]

Nice job Gareth! I'm particularly impressed with the cloning out of the branches as it looks very natural and I always struggle to clone out anything bigger than dust specks without it looking rather obvious.

The purple fringing is chromatic abberation which all lenses suffer from to a greater or lesser degree but it's much more noticeable on cheaper ones. You may find that Photoshop Elements has a tool to remove it for you - there's definitely one in Lightroom which I use and I'm pretty certain it's in Photoshop CS too. Not that you've done a bad job of doing it yourself but a tool specifically for it might make life a bit easier!

Dave P.

[big bill]

Nice work in photoshop its not easy but you have done a good job,espcialy the clone work well done ,youy could get rid of some of the fringing if you go into hue and saturation then click on the box at the top and select the colour that is predominant in the fringing zoom into 100% then take the saturation down until it starts to disappear

[Tobyh]

Nice work there. I still have lots to learn with Elements too

TobyH

[GME]

Thanks for the comments I'll try the tips suggested for removing the CA. I did enjoy getting stuck in but anything that makes life easier sounds good to me! I just used the clone tool with whatever was next to the purple colouring. It was a bit fiddly

So, all I need now is a decent image in the first place and then who knows...

[colincurry]

Most interesting to see your series of pictures, and the cloning in particular.

Where would we be without 'Shadow/highlights'? - and the rest.

Colin

[GME]

Indeed Colin. I have read some interesting debates on here about whether to post-process or not. I have always thought I sat on the fence somewhat in this matter - Always striving to do very little afterwards by aiming to get the best shot in the first place but not adverse to a little 'autofixing' on the levels, etc. However, after seeing the effects after a short stint in PSE I think I may be investing in something like Neat Image too (I have the free trial) to really see what can be done. That, and keep saving for a nice 'L' series lens of course

[JennyS]

I'd be lost without Photoshop! Much as I'd love to take photos that would come straight out of the camera looking good I've neither the skill or equipment to achieve it.
Most of my photos are taken in low-light situations or under-exposed so I don't lose the flower colours - Levels, curves and sometimes a touch of shadow/highlight make all the difference! (And the clone stamp gets rid of the bits of twigs and grass I forget to move out the way)

Post-processing makes all the difference