JD750 Loc: SoCal

The two shots below are from the Northern Nevada Rail museum. I like trains. This is one of the more fun rail museums I have visited. The shots below are from the rail yard. A snow scoop attachment for a locomotive. The story here is the size of the scoop and it's age as told by its texture.

#1 is the JPEG straight out of the camera. I had lost my graduated neutral density filter at this point (PM me if you want to hear more about that sob story post a request here or PM me), and thus there are a lot of blown highlights. But the white background, also puts a lot of emphasis on the size of the scoop next to my 6' friend, which I like.

#2 is the raw file processed in Photoshop then exported to JPEG. I was able to recover some blown highlights. IMHO #2 is better technically, because it is a more balanced exposure and it contains more detail in the sky and the brick house, and the tracks t the right. But methinks the detail in the sky distracts from the main theme of the image which is the size of the scoop. That is one big scoop!

Of course the question is which better illustrates the story I was trying to tell? That being the size of the scoop and it's age and its texture. Opinions and constructive criticism are requested (and will be appreciated).

This is the JPEG SOOC, there are a lot of blown highlights.

(Download)

The raw file processed in Photoshop then exported to JPEG.

(Download)

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Other than the sky, I don't see any blown highlights. If they are blown, that are NOT recoverable. The bottom pic looks completely flat and devoid of all highlights, hence, no contrast.
As long as you're photo-shopping just lift out the sky and put one in more to your liking!
MANY pro photographers keep a file library of skies just for those occasions. I much prefer the first pic.
SS

glyphtrix

Yup. The sky literally , overwhelms the train.
It kills the scoop's focal point. You could also: crop a bit of the sky down lower decreasing the headroom (since the train is the main story point any way);

Dial down the blues a bit
run a dull brush over the sky
or just do a color push on the train
or even superimpose the 2 images as a pseudo HDR.

The sky is too bland in the first and and too blue in the second .. of course the loss of equipment is totally to blame..at least you got the shot none the less! Sorry about your filter. Hopefully, there's a good story with that tragedy.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Thank you for the constructive critique and advice. It is much appreciated.

I have PM'd you the story of the lost GND.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

JD750, my approach to this would have been to spot meter on the brightest part of the clouds. Then, increase the exposure by two - two and a half stops-this is completely camera dependent and needs to be determined through testing. Processing would have supplied detail in both the clouds and the shadow areas of the scene. Of course, this requires using completely manual settings.
--Bob

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

Just for the fun if it I downloaded #2 and ran it through the 'enhance' pre-set of PS Express on the iPad Air 2. Here is the result - just a bit more detail in the grader blade and two light patches.

#2 auto enhance
Attached file:
(Download)

glyphtrix

..And for the heck of it- I went on to crop the sky.
You can see how doing so forces the focus back to the scoop.

But I'm going to refrain from clone stamp removal of the spray painted areas. Although it's very tempting.
Nice work everybody.
(Even if we're not supposed to).

(Download)

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Thank you Bob for that advice. I'm not afraid of manual, in fact I use it quite a lot. I guess I need to get off my duff and do the testing you are alluding to.

The camera I used on this trip is an older body, a Panasonic DMC-G1, first generation, it doesn't have the dynamic range of color of the newer sensors. But it is such a great format for travel I'm sold on M43 for travel adventure outings. I was about to buy a new M43 body then the D850 came out. Now I'm waiting for the M43 crowd to incorporate BSI sensors, I will snap one of those up as soon as it is introduced.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

It looks brighter but it also lost some detail in the clouds. But that is not a surprise given all the downsampling that has to happen to upload to UHH. If you'd like to try that with the original I can send it to you.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

First things first: "You will morn no more" (Ref from Dances With Wolves - Chief talking to squaw about romance)

For those who didn't see the movie, it's ok if you want to post you edit here. (If you want to sell it and make money .. well go for it but I definitely want credit for the photo).

I like the crop! Now it's starting to look like dinosaur parts or something, taking on a life of it's own. Maybe I could crop even a tad closer on the left and clone that wire out...

Thank you for the idea.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

I just wanted to show what PS Express can do, in case anyone wanted to get it. The free edition is just a bunch of presets and in some cases sliders. No doing selections and no making layers. So it is just a toy compared to read image editors. As it will not destroy the original, you do a quick & dirty to see if doing full PS is worth your time. So in the current image one sees detail in the darker areas so switching to PS might not be a waste in time.