Children's Farm: I would appreciate your comments on any aspects of this image, but hoping that subject/content is one of them! This is a scan of an old black & white negative. I'm...

srt101fan

I would appreciate your comments on any aspects of this image, but hoping that subject/content is one of them!

This is a scan of an old black & white negative. I'm still struggling getting the tones right. Feel free to play with it if you are so inclined.

(Download)

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

In Photoshop. Converted to RGB, used Adobe RAW and played with exposure and contrast and Clarity, used some Topaz DeNoise AI.

(Download)

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

What a delightful moment! If shot was from now-a-days, one might think he dropped his phone

He's obviously reaching for something, and the moment of capture has us wondering if he retained his balance or had to be rescued from the pen. The single pig is oblivious to what's going on. Charming and full of nostalgia for anyone who tended to be a bit mischievous in their youth.

Slight crop, brightened, a bit of clarity. Looks lighter in download.

(Download)

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

An utterly delightful shot. The moment of momentum going over a fence in the exuberance of youth. The insignificance of our acts to the larger world, like Chinese painting or The Hudson River School, although done in a distinctly American way, here the simple pig. The marvelous geometric progression into the action and balance.

Great shot. I tried to bring out the elements I mentioned above, through cropping, burning and dodging, and sharpening.

(Download)

srt101fan

Curmudgeon wrote:

In Photoshop. Converted to RGB, used Adobe RAW and played with exposure and contrast and Clarity, used some Topaz DeNoise AI.

Thank you for your response, Curmudgeon. Your redo of the image is a significant improvement. I am using (learning!) Affinity Photo, which I believe is very similar to Photoshop. I'm curious about your conversion to RGB; can you please explain the reason for doing that and how it impacted the final product?

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Had to convert to RGB because the Topaz filters I used don't work on B&W. There is probably a better way to do it but since I usually work with color and do all my PP before converting to B&W with NEK Silver Efex Pro. ArtBob may have a solution that would work better for you.

srt101fan

Linda From Maine wrote:

What a delightful moment! If shot was from now-a-d... (show quote)

Thanks much for your kind words, Linda. You have a talent for making comments that are always substantive, meaningful and never repetitive! I'm having a problem zeroing in on the right settings for exposure, brightness and contrast. And now for the third time my posted scanned B&W image appears much darker and with lower contrast than it did on my monitor. I'll have to figure out what's going on there....

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

What scanner and scanning software are you using?

srt101fan

artBob wrote:

An utterly delightful shot. The moment of momentum going over a fence in the exuberance of youth. The insignificance of our acts to the larger world, like Chinese painting or The Hudson River School, although done in a distinctly American way, here the simple pig. The marvelous geometric progression into the action and balance.

Great shot. I tried to bring out the elements I mentioned above, through cropping, burning and dodging, and sharpening.

Bob, thank you very much for your generous praise. Your critiques are always interesting and thought-provoking. And I really like what you did with the image. I have a long way to go to feel comfortable with photo editing tools. There seems to be a lot of overlap and I end up going around in circles trying to get the light/dark sorted out. But I'll keep at it!

srt101fan

Curmudgeon wrote:

What scanner and scanning software are you using?

I'm using a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Scan Dual IV and the software that came with it. I'm very happy with it but am still playing around with "best" scanner settings to get the best scan for post-processing. Erich and others suggested to do little image adjusting in the scanner and leave most of it for the photo editing program. That seems to be the way to go.

Thanks for your answer re the RGB conversion!

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

R.G. Loc: Scotland

srt101fan wrote:

.....I'm having a problem zeroing in on the right settings for exposure, brightness and contrast......

It looks a bit dark on my screen. Try brightening it and then taking it from there. It looks like you have a long way to go before the highlights become a problem. You might find that contrast/clarity do what you want them to do if the mid-tones are more centred.

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

Brightened using curves and a little highlight compression.

(Download)

SoHillGuy Loc: Washington

Applied a Shadow Adjustment.

(Download)

srt101fan

R.G. wrote:

It looks a bit dark on my screen. Try brightening it and then taking it from there. It looks like you have a long way to go before the highlights become a problem. You might find that contrast/clarity do what you want them to do if the mid-tones are more centred.

Thanks, R.G. Could you please explain what you mean by having the mid-tones more centered? With what adjustment tool would I do that? (I know you use Photoshop; Affinity is very similar)