Exercise 4.05 – Alteration

For this exercise I took two images – one of Whitby piers and one of a yacht heading out to sea.

My plan was to remove the pier extensions, to take them back to the original pier length (pre-1913) and place the yacht in the image for some interest and realism – it would also take the focus away from any obvious changes to the piers.

Original piers image

I copied the image into a second layer and used this layer for the alterations – this left the original as a reference and recovery tool if required.

The clone tool was the main implement for this task, selecting different parts of the sea to paint out the unwanted parts of the image. Using different sized tools for the more delicate parts and selecting parts from the main image to clone – for instance the waves coming round the side of the West pier were used to create a similar effect on the East pier. I then used a breaking wave from the pier wall, to break over the end of the West pier – also the West pier castellation were copied from parts of the main pier wall.

To clone the areas around the West pier handrails I zoomed in and used a small clone tool with the shift key to create straight cloned lines along the rails.

Where it was difficult to get sharp lines – for instance on the East lighthouse – I used a layer mask to bring back the straight sides of the lighthouse from the lower layer.

I selected the yacht using the polygonal lasso tool and dragged it onto the altered image, where I resized it and positioned it where I considered it should be. I used a layer mask to remove the sea from the yacht image as it was a sharper image than that of the pier – again I used the shift command with a small brush to work around the rigging. I left the yacht’s wake in place as much as I could using a lower opacity brush as I worked this part in the layer mask.

I then stamped up the layers and used the blur tool at 50% strength, on the top layer around the yacht – this part of the image was too sharp for the rest of the scene, and some blur blended it in. When I was satisfied with the result I flattened the layers and saved the final image.

I don’t have any problem regarding these changes. I set out to make a new image which won’t be used for any serious purpose – it’s just a fun image. I suppose it could be used as a spoof, but that would be obvious.

I think the objective of creating a believable image has been achieved and that’s all that is required.

Exercise 4.04 – Addition

The images taken for this exercise were from the top of Winney Nab, overlooking Wheeldale moor on a day with sunshine and heavy showers, which gave the kind of skies I was looking for and well lit moorland.

The first image was exposed for the land, using one stop underexposure from the matrix metering.

The second image was exposed for the sky, using one stop over exposure from the matrix metering.

Placing the lighter image over the darker one in Photoshop, I erased the sky area from the lighter image, using a layer mask and a large, soft brush.

This method gave a pleasing blend with the aerial perspective effect in the distance:

Using the quick selection tool, with a fairly large feather, then deleting the selection gave a line above the horizon. This was softened using a low opacity soft brush on a layer mask:

Photomatix Pro 4.0.2 in ‘highlight / shadow’ adjustment in ‘exposure blending’ mode produced the best blend of all:

Using the selection method and a different sky gave this image:

I think it still works, but the weather now looks more threatening.

As I said in exercise 4.01, I don’t have a problem with this type of manipulation. It’s down to what I perceive to be right for the image and how it’s to be used – obviously putting in tornadoes and then sending it to the local newspaper wouldn’t be acceptable, but for a view of what I like about the North Yorkshire moors, then I feel it’s justified.

Exercise 4.03 – Enhancement

This image was taken in Viv’s studio with the only light coming from the window (behind me) and the patio doors (behind Viv). ISO 200, f/4.8, 1/15 sec. I increased the exposure by 1.5 stops in Lightroom 4 then converted it to tiff for further work in Photoshop 5.1

I selected her face using Topaz Remask 3 with refinements in Photoshop using a layer mask.. In this selection I increased the brightness to 53 and contrast to 7 – any further increase in contrast was detrimental, showing more smile lines.

The next selection was of the irises of her eyes. This was done using the magnetic selection tool. I increased the saturation by 36 and the brightness by 20 to give the following image. With any further increase in saturation, the eyes became unnaturally vivid.

As this stage has lightened her natural eye colouring, I feel that I’ve moved from enhancement to alteration. Maybe it’s because the eye colour is such a major part of a person’s makeup – I think more than the skin tone, as this changes through the seasons, whereas the eyes are constant.

Finally I changed her eye colour, using the same selection as that for the saturation / brightness, I increased the hue by 151, decreased the saturation by 40 and increased the lightness by 8. I then increased the contrast by 19, to bring back some definition between the irises and pupils.

I was pleased with the result of the changes, but I think I prefer the green eyes I’m used to – so does Viv. The image has now changed so significantly that it’s gone far past enhancement and I’m not comfortable with this amount of change, but that’s probably because I know her so well. If the image were of somebody else and they were happy with a change of eye colour then it would be a different matter.

Exercise 4.02 – Improvement or interpretation

My source image was taken in the old part of town where a group of visiting students were happy to pose for me. This young man’s confidence and presence worked well for both of us.

I duplicated the background layer and used Topaz Remask 3 to select him from the main image, then a layer mask to make the final retouching to the selection.

I then used an exposure adjustment layer, above the original background layer, to decrease the exposure by two stops, giving this result:

The young man is now significantly exaggerated in the image. I felt there was no need to enhance the selected area, as the contrast between the foreground and background worked as it was. This is closer to the dodging and burning I practiced in the dark room, where the selection would have been covered by a mask while the rest would have continued being exposed.

Hiding the exposure adjustment layer, I then treated the background copy with Gaussian Blur (radius 48.6 pixels), to produce this image:

In this case, the contrast is between the sharpness and blurred areas. I prefer this treatment for this particular image.

Moving further, I applied palette knife filter to the background layer and made the exposure adjustment layer visible, increasing the exposure by one stop, to -1.0. It’s another example of what can be done using the layer mask, or selections.

It’s been a fun exercise, but not one I’ve learned much from as these are techniques I’ve used for some time.

Exercise 4.01 – Correction

The image chosen for the first part of this exercise was taken early in the morning before the mist cleared on the river – even too early for the waterfowl to arrive. This image had a relatively long exposure (1/20 sec) which makes it more likely to show up marks on the sensor.

Looking more closely there are several marks on the sensor:

At this time of day, the last consideration is a dirty sensor. I’d have to admit to poor maintenance here. This was taken with a Nikon D200. The D300s has automatic sensor cleaning which has reduced the problem considerably.

These were easily removed, using the spot healing tool in Photoshop CS5.1

With the ‘content aware’ selected, the correction is simple and undetectable.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with this type of correction.

The corrected view looks as it should, without the imperfections of the original image. I think it looks better in monochrome:

Using the supplied image, I’ve again used the spot healing brush, and also the clone tool, to remove what I believe to be imperfections due to dust on the sensor. I may have removed some of the natural blemishes in the subject, but I think the judgment call is reasonable, as I’ve left any coloured marks, rather than the grey / black marks usually attributed to dust.

 

The second image from my collection has lens flare:

This was an experiment using a Nikon D70, with the sensor screen converted for infrared photography – I wanted to see if the lens flare was apparent in infrared – it was!

To remove the lens flare I used the spot healing brush, the clone tool and the burning tool.

I know the corrected image is not exactly as the scene when I took the image, but in this case I’m quite happy with the result, as it’s an ‘art’ image rather than a documentary type, so an exact replica of the scene is not required. The original flare lines look quite good too, so their removal could be called into question anyway.

Using the supplied image for flare was more difficult, as I assumed that a reasonably accurate interpretation was required:

For this correction I had to almost reconstruct the buildings in the area of the flaring, using the clone tool. I also selected the flare polygon area and used ‘selective colour’ and ‘replace colour’ adjustments to reduce the impact of the red and yellow in this part of the image.

I also used the spot removal tool, to remove what I perceived to be extensions of the flare line in the sky above the headland.

The reconstruction involved virtually rebuilding the windows so obviously there will be some difference to what was originally seen in the view, so obviously there may be concerns here if it were to be a record image. I’ve shown what can be done to correct the flare and personally I’d be happy with it if it was my image, but other viewers may have concerns.

I was shown, over 40 years ago how different skies could be masked onto clear ones in landscape photographs in the darkroom, to produce a more pleasing image and it was old technology then. So nothing has changed here with digital imagery – it’s just got easier and better. Whether it’s ethical or not depends on the purpose of the image – I prefer to consider myself more of an artist!

Project - Digital photography and 'truth'

Part 4 - Reality and intervention