Post-Processing stacking photos.
Nov 17, 2018 18:16:05 #
I took these pictures for focus stacking 4 years ago and PP final result after stacking, today I decided to PP every picture before staking using simple action which I created. After that I stacked these pictures and IMHO result is better. C&C please.
Nov 18, 2018 03:16:11 #
It looks like your main adjustment was to lift the shadows, which has worked in the sense that more detail is now visible. However, to my eye the image is now lacking contrast, and the brightening seems to have introduced a greenish tint to the rocks and water. It also seems to have lost some of its naturalness. It's natural for rocks in rivers to have dark bits.
I'm left wondering if it needed as much brightening of the shadows as you've given it. If you think that it did need all of it, you could try adding more contrast, and if that re-introduces too much darkness to the dark end you could try lifting the blacks instead of the shadows. In more general terms you should be able to add a significant amount of contrast if you work the blacks and whites to mitigate the extreme effects of the added contrast. And if you do add more contrast you may find that the saturation levels of some of the individual colours need to be reduced slightly.
I'm left wondering if it needed as much brightening of the shadows as you've given it. If you think that it did need all of it, you could try adding more contrast, and if that re-introduces too much darkness to the dark end you could try lifting the blacks instead of the shadows. In more general terms you should be able to add a significant amount of contrast if you work the blacks and whites to mitigate the extreme effects of the added contrast. And if you do add more contrast you may find that the saturation levels of some of the individual colours need to be reduced slightly.
Nov 18, 2018 06:57:38 #
R.G. wrote:
It looks like your main adjustment was to lift the... (show quote)
Thanks for looking and your comments. I decided to post 1-st shot from this stock converted from RAW file without any correction. You can try to adjust it using Camera Raw filter and show me your result.
Nov 18, 2018 11:38:06 #
MMC wrote:
I took these pictures for focus stacking 4 years ago and PP final result after stacking, today I decided to PP every picture before staking using simple action which I created. After that I stacked these pictures and IMHO result is better. C&C please.
In the first picture, some of the rocks starting from the bottom left are out of focus; in the second picture everything is in focus. Perhaps one shot was left out of the stack.
Nov 18, 2018 12:07:08 #
dsturr wrote:
In the first picture, some of the rocks starting from the bottom left are out of focus; in the second picture everything is in focus. Perhaps one shot was left out of the stack.
Thank you for looking and your comments. I do not think so. 3-rd pictures in this post is my 1-st picture in the stock with sharpest foreground /which is a little bit soft/. When I stocked the same pictures 2 years ago I did not sharpen this pictures before stacking. Yesterday I sharpened pictures in photoshop before stacking. It is better sharpen pictures before stacking then after.IMHO.
Nov 19, 2018 11:52:47 #
MMC wrote:
Thanks for looking and your comments. I decided to post 1-st shot from this stock converted from RAW file without any correction. You can try to adjust it using Camera Raw filter and show me your result.
Different parts of the image were responding differently so after some global adjustments I resorted to selections. The final amount of vividness is a matter of taste. The image is brighter overall but the shadows are only moderately brighter. And much of the haze in the original has been dealt with. I originally had it brighter but when comparing it to the original I decided to drop the brightness a bit. When I ramped up the contrast the whites needed much more subduing than the blacks.
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Nov 19, 2018 12:32:00 #
R.G. wrote:
Different parts of the image were responding diffe... (show quote)
Thank you for your time and attempt to improve my picture. I made one more rendition. What is your opinion about this variant?
Nov 19, 2018 13:12:57 #
You seem to be doing (adding?) something that brings out the swirls in the water. If that's the main subject that you were trying to capture then you've succeeded. Light-wise it still looks like it could do with more contrast. Also, there was a slight green tint in the first edit and you seem to have done something to aggravate it in this edit. I gave the Tint slider a nudge to the right to neutralise that.
Nov 19, 2018 15:00:08 #
R.G. wrote:
You seem to be doing (adding?) something that brings out the swirls in the water. If that's the main subject that you were trying to capture then you've succeeded. Light-wise it still looks like it could do with more contrast. Also, there was a slight green tint in the first edit and you seem to have done something to aggravate it in this edit. I gave the Tint slider a nudge to the right to neutralise that.
Thanks again. I moved Tint slider to =10. Is it better now?
Nov 19, 2018 15:08:52 #
MMC wrote:
Thanks again. I moved Tint slider to =10. Is it better now?
Yes, and for some strange reason it's slightly easier to make out some of the detail on the rocks. You might even get away with a bit more. If you're having trouble with the rocks you should think about treating the rocks on the left separately from those on the right (which are darker and coloured differently).
Nov 27, 2018 08:17:42 #
I like to use stacking and do it quite often. In this shot because of the moving water I would not want to stack because of the way the water has an Un-natural look about it. Was your intent to have a different, possibly a smooth water look? As for sharpening I always do it after the stacking was competed. Because of different settings per photo sharpening I don't think the software knows exactly what to do.
I took your picture and used a simple correction using Photolemur 3 software. Then in Photoshop I made two sharpening layers using High Pass filter. One just for the foreground greenery and a second stronger setting for the remaining picture. This didn't do anything to change the water ripple effect. I don't think this is the look you were going for but please let me know.
Going back to the main reason for my reply is I don't suggest doing anything to the original pictures before the stacking is completed and merged.
I took your picture and used a simple correction using Photolemur 3 software. Then in Photoshop I made two sharpening layers using High Pass filter. One just for the foreground greenery and a second stronger setting for the remaining picture. This didn't do anything to change the water ripple effect. I don't think this is the look you were going for but please let me know.
Going back to the main reason for my reply is I don't suggest doing anything to the original pictures before the stacking is completed and merged.
Nov 27, 2018 12:57:17 #
Jim-Pops wrote:
I like to use stacking and do it quite often. In t... (show quote)
Thank you for looking and your comments, It is seems to me that water in my pictures does not look smooth. I was using Helicon Focus and this achievement of this software. I tried sharpening stacked frames after stacking and sharpening each frame before stacking and the second result looks better for me. Today I tried to sharpen this result one more time with High pass filter. What is your opinion. Is it better or worse?
Nov 27, 2018 13:17:40 #
Nov 27, 2018 13:28:03 #
Jim-Pops wrote:
About the same. 
Thanks for your reply. Next time I will try using all 3 methods. BTW what software are you using for stacking?
Nov 27, 2018 13:38:49 #
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