Photographic Imagining

This is a beautiful image; shows what a little selective lightening and darkening (dodging and burning in the old darkroom) can do.

O.K., I'll go sit in the corner now.

Part of the fun, are the different and obviously subjective opinions. I find the second version for more interesting than the first, which is kind of flat and too evenly lit. I like the way the selective lightening and darkening and increased contrast creates a more interesting focal point to the image. There is one area of the central bent tentacle that is just barely blown out on the histogram, but it does not bother me really.

Hi Don. Thank you for asking for my opinion but please keep in mind that I'm no photo "expert". With that said...

Are you sure image # 1 is pre-manipulation? Seems like you have some "healing brush gone wrong" on one of the tentacles. If that is in the original shot, it is a bit distracting. Also, I feel that your highlights in the second shot (tentacles) are out of balance with the rest of the anemone, bordering on "blown out". In this instance, your original is lit more evenly. There is very little separation between the foreground and background which makes for "flow" problems. That's more of a framing issue though. It is also throwing a lot of blue\green. There seems to be some neutral grey spots on the rock in the lower right/left of the image. You might try grey balancing against that in curves and see what happens.

What steps did you take in PS to get the lighting effect?

What camera\strobe(s) are you using?

Thank you Matthew. Yes the first is straight from the raw. I brought it up from the raw as a smart object so upon reading your comments I was able to change some adjustments seeking better a better picture. The gray balance seems to have really helped a lot. Neither the healing brush not the cloning tool were used in any version of this image. The one tentacle that is twisted is because that is how the anemone is holding it, is that what you are referring to?

Outfit is a D200 in Subal with twin Ikelite DS-125.

Photoshop steps for this image

open as smart object

new smart object via copy

adjust WB on top object

adjust exposure down one f-stop on bottom object

Layer mask on top object

Paint brush in layer mask to knock back distractions

Convert to lab, rasterize and merge

image mode RGB, 8 bit

install TM via function key

save as a JPEG

O.K., I'll go sit in the corner now.

Jeeze I do not know if their is a right or a wrong just different ways to use photoshop to make our images better. Come back from the corner! I value your opinion too.

The distinguishing feature of the second image (the one loftus liked best from the first two) is that after I concerted to LAB I threw a auto levels on the top layer, reduced transparency to 60% then converted back to RGB

Edited to add EXIF

Camera: Nikon D200

Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)

Aperture: f/8

Focal Length: 105 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV

Orientation: Horizontal (normal)

X-Resolution: 72 dpi

Y-Resolution: 72 dpi

Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows

Date and Time: 2008:05:29 15:12:15

Exposure Program: Manual

Date and Time (Original): 2005:05:12 17:25:46

Date and Time (Digitized): 2005:05:12 17:25:46

Shutter Speed: 7965784/1000000

Maximum Lens Aperture: 32/10

Metering Mode: Spot

Sub-Second Time: 16

Sub-Second Time (Original): 16

Sub-Second Time (Digitized): 16

Color Space: sRGB

Sensing Method: One-chip colour area sensor

CFA Pattern: GREEN RED BLUE GREEN

Exposure Mode: Manual

Digital Zoom Ratio: 1/1

Focal Length In 35mm Film: 157

Contrast: Hard

Saturation: High saturation

Sharpness: Hard

Compression: JPEG

Image Width: 3872 pixels

Image Height: 2592 pixels

I sure hope I'm not hurting anyone's feelings. To me half the fun is seeing how everyone does things differently, and with all the variables of Photoshop no two individuals will create the same image.

Ultimately the only thing that counts is which image Don (in this case) likes the most.

Glad the grey balance helped. Looking at the latest image, it seems that what I saw as harshness in the highlights is gone. When in LAB, are you working only on the A & B channel, or are you steepening the curve in the Lightness channel as well?

Yes, it was the twisted tentacle I saw that looked like it had a bad healing brush spot on it.

Here are another 2 from my "dream within a dream" sequences.

I used gaussian blur layer, added a sunglow layer and a noise ninja layer to remove the mung in the background, then brought back the coral sharpness from the original. also burned the base of the coral as an eyeball anchor point

Same treatment as above without painting in the original. I must have been channeling an impressionist while in Indo.

Questions. Is the effect too much, too little. Efective or not? Are the images too dark?

I notice a great deal of posterizing in the posted images. That is not in the original, just from knocking way down in jpeg.

I have two images I'm referring to as my "acid trip" aka "218ft" I'll put up next for your consideration.

Matthew, I find the first one to be a very interesting/strong composition. Perhaps because it has just three zones. The second Might be ok as a print but it does not come across that well on my screen. Too many details?

But, take what I got to say with a big grain of salt, because I do not know much about this kind of thing.

I have two images I'm referring to as my "acid trip" aka "218ft" I'll put up next for your consideration.

I like the first one; the second is just a little too messy for me. Yes, I think the title could be 'Narced'

I like the first one; the second is just a little too messy for me. Yes, I think the title could be 'Narced'

Thanks. I hadn't looked at he second image as "messy", but I think that may be an apt description. I showed a print to several non-photographers and got basically the same reaction... you know that halting "that's nice" when somebody doesn't like it but doesn't want to hurt your feelings. Thanks for the valuable feedback.

Glad the grey balance helped. Looking at the latest image, it seems that what I saw as harshness in the highlights is gone. When in LAB, are you working only on the A & B channel, or are you steepening the curve in the Lightness channel as well?

Yes, it was the twisted tentacle I saw that looked like it had a bad healing brush spot on it.

Neither- In the third I made no adjustment in lab---the only reason to go to lab was that it is a quick way to rasterize and merge. I would often do a curves adjustment in lab, but with the new adobe raw converter I need this less often.