Challenge: "Girls Choosing Leaves for Magic"

[Asher Kelman]

Can you increase the "magic" in this resized as shot AR non-corrected snapshot "Girls Choosing Leaves for Magic"?

I don't mean special effects, just make it special for them. Any tools; just say how!

http://idisk.mac.com/med007/Public/GirlsChoosingLeaves.jpg

Asher

[Asher Kelman]

To kick it off, here's a B&W version using Channels and sharpened. New layer added with texture to get shadows especially on the girls shirt on the right and to draw eye in.

http://idisk.mac.com/med007/Public/LeavesBW copy.jpg

Asher

[Dierk Haasis]

My solution cannot be done afterwards:

I'd put a flash on the camera, set the camera to shutter priority, define an appropriately long shutter speed (say, 1/15th), put the flash on balanced TTL.

The result would be a photo showing an aura around people and moving things.

Curiously I just find that the ones I did a few years ago (still on film with an F100) haven't been digitised by me before I sent the originals to the client. The Magical Kingdom Surrounding Our Wolrd approach was very fitting since the event in question was a midsummer feast with real witches (they claimed to be witches).

[Asher Kelman]

I must try that! Will need more witches!

Asher

[Andreas Kanon]

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/8234/girlschoosingleaves1qs2.jpg

Velvia vision to boost colour.
Power Retouche soft filter
Gradient layer mask
Blurred background.

[Asher Kelman]

Andreas,

Your versions brings magic! The blurred b.g. adds depth. You haven't significently sharpened the ponytail of the girl on the right and with the leaf so defined, you have succeeded.

Asher

[Asher Kelman]

Anyone want to tackle the blown out arm and shirt too? My solution was the added shadow pattern of a tree.

Asher

[Andreas Kanon]

Thank you Asher, glad you liked it :)

[StuartRae]

Can you increase the "magic" in this resized as shot AR non-corrected snapshot "Girls Choosing Leaves for Magic"?

It's just an idea that I can't quite get to work.

What's the most important thing - the leaf.
What's the most beautiful part of the image - the hair of the girl on the left.

Use Light Machine to put a small glow spot on the leaf, and a larger oval one on the hair.
Darken and desaturate the background.
Make the hair colour richer.
Sharpen with focal blade (probably not necessary)

I can't find a sensible way to get rid of the horrible blown highlights on the girl's upper arm.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/sw.rae/examples/Girls2.jpg

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for the trojan effort! Having the leaf remaining green might work.

The color of th left arm is not robust enough for your manouver there. Sorry, my fault!

Asher

[StuartRae]

Hi Stuart,
Thanks for the trojan effort! Having the leaf remaining green might work.
Asher

Oh dear! I must have been processing under the influence last night :-)

Perhaps the idea is fundementally flawed. Here's another less extreme example along the same lines, with the background blurred a bit.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/sw.rae/examples/Girls5.jpg

[Daniel Harrison]

Well here is my try, Not a photoshop buff, infact I just happen to have the CS2 trial on my PC at the moment and thought I would give this a go.

bit of a crude job, but hey, I don't want to spend all night on ot ;-)

Blur Background
Crop
Clone head out
dodge white shirt a little
Warmify x 2


http://dhphotography.com.au/Portaits/GirlsChoosingLeaves copy.jpg

[Asher Kelman]

Stuart,

Good, you protected the flaw in the file!

Daniel, That crop adds intimacy.

Maybe without the added little girl, decreases the sense of the great interest of a bunch girls in their own world.

Asher

[Harvey Moore]

My take on this.....

http://static.flickr.com/89/214238252_1b2a2847ec.jpg

[Asher Kelman]

Harvey,

I like the square format! You kept the 3rd girl and brought even more shade.

I'm appreciating the different expressions.

Asher

[Roger Lambert]

Here's a go for you :)
http://www.pbase.com/gingerbaker/image/65100128.jpg

[Asher Kelman]

Roger,

I see you too added a gentle shadow on the white shirt. The leaf stands out. I wonder could there be some green light from the leaf on the girl's face?

Asher

O.T. BTW, I'm going to post RAW pictures from Tom's last Huntington shoot for more challenges.

Send me a note if you have pictures of interest,including faces, to retouch.

Asher

[Roger Lambert]

listen to my wife.

What I mean to say is, I am always one to listen to my wife! :D

She had a suggestion for the picture, which I followed up on, here:

(BTW, in case anyone likes the effect in the first picture, which I have used very subtley, it is all within CS2. I use the "Find edges" command, then fade it down to about 3-6% on either "difference" of "exclusion" under the layers section.

Depending on your choices, it can produce an effect ranging from a very subtle surrealism, to a painterly effect, to a cartoonish "Yellow Submarine". I have no idea if this news or of any interest to folks - just thought I would mention it.) :)

http://upload.pbase.com/image/65106115.jpg

[Roger Lambert]

I listen to my wife? Evidently not well enough, I am afraid. :D :D

Here is my final version, I hope up to her standards: :)

http://www.pbase.com/image/65109193.jpg

[Asher Kelman]

So she wanted you to turn on the magic lights?

In that case, maybe one should float on top of the leaf? Ask the wife first!

Asher

[Sean DeMerchant]

Anyone want to tackle the blown out arm and shirt too? My solution was the added shadow pattern of a tree.
The blown out details can tackled via a mixture of calculations and curves to get a mask of the blown out areas (multiply the red and green channels to get an alpha channel and then use curves to shift the midtones close to black).

Using this mask, create curves adjustment layer to darken the image. Next, add noise to the layer mask and then fade this using multiply mode so the curves adjustment to darken the blown detail is now filtered with some noise to create texture. Blur the layer mask slightly (Gaussian blur radius 3 for this scale) and fade this in multiply mode (again, so only blown detail is affected). While this fails to create detail, it does take the blown detail and adds enough texture to make it look bright but not blown.

Other than that, this is a mixture of selective increases saturation, selective background blur to isolate the girls and leaf, plus a crop. Time, 10 or 15 minutes which is mostly masking work. I can post a PSD for those who want to see the process (top to bottom progressive layer tweaks).

The final dash of magic was to take the layer mask for the saturation, copy the saturated magic leaf, hit it with the motion blur filter, make 5 copies of the blurred version and selectively merge the, then transform that into a curve using the polar coordinates filter, and the tweaking it using free transform to blend with the composition.

http://www.envisagement.com/opf/GirlsChoosingLeaves_crop.jpg

While special effects were not requested, they do give it more of a magic touch.

enjoy,

Sean (ever the realist who can branch out with direction)

[Asher Kelman]

Sean,

Thanks for that work! Now that we are this far, would anyone like to offer how they would light this to get it right at capture, the magic, that is?

Asher

[Sean DeMerchant]

Thanks for that work! Now that we are this far, would anyone like to offer how they would light this to get it right at capture, the magic, that is?

Asher,

You are welcome. To shoot this in one go I would explore it using 3 things.

1) A windy day to blur the foliage in the background more than you would get from defocus alone. Fans could emulate wind too. This could also blow the girls hair about adding a certain wild magic to the scene.

2) Use flash or studio strobes to light the girls and have the background darker. Perhaps softboxes or umbrellas overhead.

3) Some type of UV reactive paint on a fake leaf or a fake leaf of UV reactive paint and a bright UV light onto the "leaf". The girls outfits might need to be changed to ensure they are not reflecting the UV back. Or, even simply using a black light on the ground at the girls feet. We just need something to make the magic of the leaf happen.

Using this, I would work towards getting the shot by dragging the shutter with rear curtain sync and adjusting the light until it works how you want it.

enjoy,

Sean

[Roger Lambert]

Sean,

Thanks for that work! Now that we are this far, would anyone like to offer how they would light this to get it right at capture, the magic, that is?

Asher

Shoot at night, and paint with light with camera on tripod on bulb setting? Use colored gels over flashlights, perhaps, to illuminate the flower differently from the girls and the background.

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks guys for the ideas. I might retake the picture!

Asher

[Brian Lowe]

Adjusted in Lightroom.
Photoshop added a light effect, lens flare and a little burn on the face cheek.

Total 2min

Brian

http://brianlowe.smugmug.com/photos/88277097-L.jpg

[Asher Kelman]

Well Brian,

Sure looks like magic to me!

Asher

[Bernard Wolf]

Here's my take on this image. Some shadow/highlight tool, motionblur with layer mask on the right side and a few other small tweaks that I have now forgotten.

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=214198457&size=o.jpg

[Asher Kelman]

Bernard, that is another good effort!

I like the fact that you kept a reflection on the little girls hair so she is noticed!

She now becomes an important observer in the picture,

Thanks, I'like how each person adds another nuance by doing things in their way!

Asher

[Ben Rubinstein]

how about cropping for an 8X10" to remove the empty and useless space on the right?

[Asher Kelman]

Well, Ben are you going to do it? Or just an idea?

Asher

[Jerry P'Simer]

Can you increase the "magic" in this resized as shot AR non-corrected snapshot "Girls Choosing Leaves for Magic"?



Asher

...into something that I have been asked to research and experiment with.

I was asked to try and simulate a stereo pair of images (3D) from a single image that can be viewed on a monitor using the "cross eyed" method. I did some research on the web and found a vast amount of info. There was nothing that really explained how to do it, so I had to just experiment. I thought that Asher's image was as good a starting point as any, and since the idea here is to create something "MAGIC, I thought I would give it a shot.

To view the image takes a little patience and practice, so I have included two additional images for this purpose. The first image is used to practice with to allow your eyes to focus properly. It is a simple image. The idea is to get your left eye to focus on the right image and your right eye to focus on the left image. Once you have succeeded you should be able to see the green object in the image floating over it's background centerd between the pair of images which will then be out of focus. You can then just relax your eyes and you will see the image in near perfect 3D as if it were floating above the screen in front of you. Relax and you will then be able to look anywhere on the image while ignoring the backgroud completely.

It's best to view the image in Photoshop on a black screen if you have PS, although, your browser will also work fine since the images are placed on a black background. Download the image and open it in PS. Hit the letter f key 2 times to get the image onto a black screen. Hit the tab key to turn off the menus. Hold down the space bar and drag the image to an optimal place on the screen for viewing (PS CS). Sit back about three feet or so from your monitor. If your rulers are turned on then turn them off as well. Move your mouse curser to an area away from the images to prevent distraction.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jerry717/th_Practice.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jerry717/Practice.jpg)

If you are able to see the above image in 3D, then this next image will be startling. It is a true stereo pair that I found while researching. If you are able to focus properly and then relax your eyes you will swear you are looking at a perfect ViewMaster® image in full 3D. You should have no problem fully examining the image while remaining completely relaxed. This little guy should appear as though he is floating about a foot in front of your face.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jerry717/th_TruStereoPair.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jerry717/TruStereoPair.jpg)

Here is the simulated stereo pair that I created from Asher's image along with an explaination of how I accomplished it.

I created it after cropping the image and then opimizing it for the effect. I duplicated the image so I had to copies open at once. I took the right eye image (left image on screen) and duped the base layer. I then applied the emboss filter (Filter-Stylize-Emboss) using the following settings to the top layer. ANGLE = 0, Height = 4, Amount = 150. I then set the top layers blending mode to Soft Light. I then changed to the second copy (Left eye Image...right image on screen) and did the same steps as above but reversed the angle in the Emboss Filter to 180. I then set it's blend mode to Soft Light. I flattend each copy and placed them side by side on a new image with a black background making sure to place the images in the correct left and right placement.

The effect appeared to be reasonable at this point. To further advance the effect I did some dodging and burning on each image. I dodged in small amounts in several locations on the left image (seen with right eye) using various brush sizes and amounts with the brush set to highlight. I did some burning on the right image as above (seen with left eye) usng the midtone setting. The idea here was to add some depth to the image. Since most people are right eye dominate, I thought it best to add the highlights to the left image seen with the right eye. Since the effect tends to get lost as it touches the edges of it's bounderies, I darkend the edges using a soft mask.

Here is the result:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jerry717/th_SimulatedStereoPair.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jerry717/SimulatedStereoPair.jpg)

MAGIC?...You decide. ;)

Jerry

[Asher Kelman]

Jerry,

That's not magic, it withchcraft! I was impressed that the image in the center became so real and I was able to relax and view it. Now a hologram would be wizardry!

Thanks for using your special powers and sharing the new use of the "emboss" filter.

Asher

[Jerry P'Simer]

You're welcome Asher

I'm glad you liked it.

Jerry

[Tim Armes]

The blown out details can tackled via a mixture of calculations and curves to get a mask of the blown out areas (multiply the red and green channels to get an alpha channel and then use curves to shift the midtones close to black).

...

I can post a PSD for those who want to see the process (top to bottom progressive layer tweaks).

Hi Sean,

Sorry for the reviving your post a little late, I've been on holiday and I'm trying to catch up...

You did a great job with those blown highlights, and I've not seen this particular technique before. Personally I'd really appreciate having a peek at the PSD file.

Could you explain the how the application of the calculation works. Why the red and green channels in particular?

Thanks,

Tim

[Anita Saunders]

http://www.photo-art-gallery.com/OPF/GirlsChoosingLeaves-edit.jpg

Closer square crop, gold blurred vignette, background lightened with boost in contrast, foreground darkened, centre leaf area sharpened.

[Anita Saunders]

Retouching really depends on a preconceived idea so it is difficult working on another artist's work. But it is useful to give an idea of how a different photographer may have approached the image capture.

For eg if I had taken the photo with the idea preconceived (as per my previous post), I would have used a wide aperture so the plane of focus only reached the hand/leaf area. I would also have altered my camera level so that the leaf itself was lit and contrasted against a dark shadowed area of the leaves behind. Obviously I would also frame closer rather than crop later.

[Sean DeMerchant]

Sorry for the reviving your post a little late, I've been on holiday and I'm trying to catch up...

No worries Tim. As I often say, "all things happen in good time" and I do not worry about it past that. And online, I often delay responses by huge time frames due to other constraints on my time.

You did a great job with those blown highlights, and I've not seen this particular technique before.
This technique is an extrapolation/interpretation of some of Dan Margulis' ideas. Go to http://www.ledet.com/margulis/articles.html and scroll down and read Plate Blending As Poetry to get an idea of where this comes from. Dan is the only writer on Photoshop who actually teaches the behavior of color in his writing as he actually talks about the mathematics of the color spaces and how to work with them. In mathematical terms, an ICC profile is basically equivalent to the field axioms while Dan writes about Fourier Analysis.



Personally I'd really appreciate having a peek at the PSD file.

http://www.envisagement.com/opf/GirlsChoosingLeaves_crop.psd

Please note my explanation was simplified. But in essence the image was created starting with the bottom layer and working upwards. So if you turn off the layers from top to bottom and then slowly turn them on moving upwards you will see a progression of changes.


Could you explain the how the application of the calculation works.
Calculations and Apply Image are simply ways of applying ill-defined* mathematical operations to image channels. Calculations takes two channels and a mathematical operation (multiply, lighten, darken, ...) as input and does a pixel wise mathematical operation to generate a new channel (i.e., multiply the red and green channels to yield a new alpha channel). Apply Image takes a channel and an operation as input and applies it to the currently selected channel/s.

The mathematical operations are the layer blending modes. i.e.,

multiply -> multiply (on 0-1 not 0-255)
screen -> divide (on 0-1 not 0-255)
darken -> minimum
lighten-> maximum
...

Plus two special operations that are not in the blending modes:

add
subtract

These tools enable one to implement selection of various items in an image via mathematical algorithms. And by doing final adjustments on the selection with curves one filters the results through the human visual system to make it work as it is the image that matters (not getting the numbers right).

And that is the short answer.

Why the red and green channels in particular?

The goal was to select the blown out areas. After looking at the individual channels I noted that the blue channel's brightness did not correlate well with the blown detail. So I chose the red and green. I them multiplied them to change the lightness mapping from "linear" to "quadratic" which makes the blown parts stand out and shadows very dark. If only one channel had mapped well to the blown out details I would then have multiplied that channel by its own self.

Remembering that arithmetic here is on the interval from 0.0 to 1.0 and not 0-255 we can see that 0.1 is a shadow and 0.1*0.1=0.01 which is very close to zero. While a blown highlight is 1.0 and 1.0*1.0=1.0. So with the quadratic remapping of the data we relatively isolate blown detail from normal data. We than tweak this with curves.

Stepping back to Dan Margulis' ideas one can get that all highlights except specular highlights should have some ink on them. Hence, taking this selection and adding a small amount of noise (which is then blurred) creates the perception of the slightest texture which the human visual system then interprets as bright but not too bright rather than a lack of data that blown detail is.

enjoy,

Sean (who came at all this from the computer vision side and could not see the image for the numbers for several years)

* Adobe does not share the exact details and it is not worth the trouble to reverse engineer when it is the visual result that matters.

[Tim Armes]

Thanks Dan. The link provided some really interesting reading, and your explanation of the use of calculations to separate blown detail from normal detail was excellent.

Regards,

Tim