loot Workshop Photos Given

Beady eye (4)
FunkyMunky

(110)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(8935) [2008-03-19 10:36:27] [4]

Hi Peter

As I said in my critique, this is just an attempt to address the dullness of the colour tones and the unsharpness which are typical shortfalls of the digital camera's sensor.

I've basically applied the full spectrum of the normal Post Processing I would do to most of my photos. Obviously some of the values might vary somewhat as required, depending on the specific photo.

1. Adjusted the "Levels" on the RGB channel with the "White slider" input at 239, the "Black slider" input at 13, and the "Midtones slider" input at 0.92.
2. Adjusted the "Shadow/Highlight" settings at the following values:-
-- Shadows:
-- Amount = 36%
-- Tonal width = 37%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Highlights:
-- Amount = 65%
-- Tonal width = 50%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Adjustments:
-- Colour correction = +20
-- Midtone contrast = 0
4. Adjusted "Contrast" to +6 and "Brightness" to -4.
5. Increased "Saturation" +6.
6. Applied "NeatImage" once to the background at default settings.
7. Applied "USM" at 222% amount, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
8. Chose "Save for Web".
9. Adjusted the "Quality" upwards from the original downloaded size of 133.3kB to 193kB.

I hope you approve of the optimisation.

Regards
Loot

Title: Leading Tomorrows Leaders TodayCannon EOS 350D

Leading Tomorrows Leaders Today (54) *
loot

(8935)

Supplement photo

(8935) [2008-03-02 02:45:11]

JinYao Zhang DeSandies

Born: 05/06/2007
3.7kg & 51cm

How did he get his name?
The Chinese wouldn't dream of naming a baby before he is born. Babies are given false names to confuse the evil spirits. Once the child is older, he is named.

According to Chinese customs, the time of birth is important and influences the baby's life. Each person is made up of some of the five elements - metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. It is desirable to have a balance of those elements. If the child lacks an element, the missing element is incorporated into his name.

Apparently JinYao has a lot of air, water, and fire, but not as much metal and earth. So those two elements had to be incorporated into his name. After much deliberation his parents and maternal grandmother chose the name Jin (metal or gold radical) and Yao (earth radical).

What does his name mean?
A loose translation of JinYao alludes to the "Brilliance of Ancient Kings".

Jin means splendour, beauty, or brilliance.

Yao, in Chinese mythology, was a legendary emperor (24th century BC), exalted by Confucius as an inspiration and perennial model of virtue, righteousness, and unselfish devotion. Often extolled as the morally perfect sage-king, Yao's benevolence and diligence served as a model to future Chinese monarchs and emperors.

Information provided by ManYee.

PS. I hope you don't have any objections that I used this material. Due to limited space I had to summarise it a bit.

Title: Eye of the ZebraCanon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)

Eye of the Zebra (10)
somjit

(233)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(8935) [2008-02-25 09:20:49] [6]

Hi Erwin

As I said, this is just an attempt to address the colour tones, dullness, and sharpness which are typical shortfalls of the digital camera's sensor.

Post Processing done:
1. Applied "Photo Filter" and selected "Warming Filter (85)" at 25% density.
2. Adjusted the "Levels" on the RGB channel with the "White slider" input at 235, the "Black slider" input at 12, and the "Midtones slider" input at 0.94.
3. Adjusted the "Shadow/Highlight" settings at the following values:-
-- Shadows:
-- Amount = 7%
-- Tonal width = 33%
-- Radius = 5px
-- Highlights:
-- Amount = 40%
-- Tonal width = 50%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Adjustments:
-- Colour correction = +20
-- Midtone contrast = 0
4. Increased "Saturation" +12.
5. Adjusted "Contrast" to +9 and "Brightness" to -3.
6. Applied "USM" at 325% amount, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
7. Chose "Save for Web".
8. Adjusted the "Quality" upwards from the original downloaded size of 63.3kB to 184kB.

I hope you approve of the optimisation.

Regards
Loot

United States

Little Hopper (36)
scottevers7

(12253)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(8935) [2008-02-09 00:40:29] [8]

Hi Scott

Thanks for allowing workshops to be posted.

Basically I only tried to get a teeny little bit of light back into the right bottom area of the insect, but as usual one gets carried away and start fiddling with other settings as well.

Post Processing done:
1. Applied "Shadow/Highlight" and adjusted the following settings.
-- Shadows:
-- Amount = 50%
-- Tonal width = 50%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Highlights:
-- Amount = 0%
-- Tonal width = 50%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Adjustments:
-- Colour correction = +20
-- Midtone contrast = 0
2. Selected the BG areas with the "Magic Wand" and "Lasso" tools.
3. Applied "NeatImage" once at default settings.
4. Inverted the selection.
5. Applied "USM" at 115% amount, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
6. Deselected all, selected "Save for Web", and adjusted the "Quality" upwards from the original downloaded size of 130kB to 190kB.

I hope you approve of this slight optimisation.

Best regards
Loot

United States

Ibis anyone? (42)
kjpweb

(4788)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(8935) [2008-01-31 13:24:46] [8]

Hi Klaus

Firstly, thanks for allowing that workshops may be posted.

I basically set out to try and get some light back into the shot, but then the one thing led to another and by the time I finished I couldn't even remember exactly what I did. Fortunately I still had PhotoShop open so I could retrace the steps via the recorded "History".

1. Adjusted the "Levels" on the white side input to 218 on the RGB channel.
2. Adjusted the "Shadow/Highlight" settings at default values:-
-- Shadows:
-- Amount = 50%
-- Tonal width = 50%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Highlights:
-- Amount = 0%
-- Tonal width = 50%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Adjustments:
-- Colour correction = +20
-- Midtone contrast = 0
3. Increased "Saturation" +7
4. Set "Exposure" to +0.20 and "Gamma" to 1.06
5. Adjusted "Contrast" to +5 and "Brightness" to -3
6. Increased magenta in "Variations" at 20%.
7. Applied "USM" at 67% amount, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
8. Chose "Save for Web".
9. Adjusted the "Quality" upwards from the original downloaded size of 130kB to 195kB.

I hope you approve of the optimisation.

Regards
Loot

Woodland Kingfisher (23)
fiftysomething

(574)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(8935) [2008-01-30 19:07:08] [5]

Hi Mike

As I said in my critique I only wanted to remove some unnecessary thorns, but then I got slightly carried away and did a number of other alterations as well. I hope you don't mind me playing with your photo and that you would approve of the optimisation done.

Post Processing done:
1. Cloned out some thorns deemed surplus.
2. Selected all the dark areas (eye, wing, lower mandible, and the dark branch directly below the bird) with the "Magic Wand" tool.
3. Applied "Shadow/Highlight" and adjusted the following settings.
-- Shadows:
-- Amount = 50%
-- Tonal width = 50%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Highlights:
-- Amount = 0%
-- Tonal width = 50%
-- Radius = 30px
-- Adjustments:
-- Colour correction = +20
-- Midtone contrast = 0
4. Deselected all.
5. Decreased "Midtones" brightness with "Variations" at 25%.
6. Selected the BG only using the "Magic Wand" tool.
7. Inverted the selection.
8. Applied "USM" at 167% amount, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
9. Deselected all and chose "Save for Web".
10. Adjusted the "Quality" upwards from the original downloaded size of 76kB to the maximum PhotoShop would allow at 155kB.

Thanks for allowing workshops to be posted.

Best regards
Loot

Canada

Steamin' In For Dinner (34)
Silke

(5394)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(8935) [2008-01-28 09:05:22] [6]

Hi Silke

Thank you for allowing workshops to be posted.

I did a quick workshop just to saturate the colours and emphasise some darkish areas a little bit. Unfortunately I did not keep track of exactly what I was doing, but it mostly entails some "Levels" adjustment, "Shadows/Highlights" corrections, slight increase in "Saturation", 60% "USM" on the duck only, and a pinch of blue on the "Variations" setting.

I hope you approve of the slight optimisation.

Regards
Loot

PS. Unfortunately I modified the colour of you border and signature. It was not intended, but the "Magic Wand" tool must have got hold of it without me realising it (chuckle).

Malaysia

~Australian Tiger~ (28)
jusninasirun

(4740)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(8935) [2008-01-25 06:17:21] [6]

Hi Jusni

Thanks for allowing workshops to be posted.

I wanted to adjust the slight darkness of the dragonfly only and therefore made just one single change using the "Shadow/Highlight" tool with no other alteration at all.

Post Processing done:
1. Selected the "Shadow/Highlight" tool and adjusted the following settings.
Shadows:
Amount = 50%
Tonal width = 50%
Radius = 30px
Highlights:
Amount = 0%
Tonal width = 50%
Radius = 30px
Adjustments:
Colour correction = +20
Midtone contrast = 0
2. Selected "Save for Web" and increased the size to 190kB.

Hope you approve of the optimisation.

Best regards
Loot

Singapore

Vanda (18)
Pitoncle

(607)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(8935) [2008-01-16 20:07:22] [5]

As I said, I did this fun workshop just to see if I could push the boundaries a little bit. Just another view of your beautiful photo.

Unfortunately I did not take exact notes of the steps I did, but roughly it entailed the following changes:-
Reduced the black and white spectrums on "Levels".
Increased "Contrast".
Reduced "Brightness".
Increased "Saturation".
Balanced the tones with "Shadows & Highlights".
Removed a little bit of noise in the BG with "NeatImage".
Sharpened at 150% with "USM".
Saved for Web and increased quality from 66kB to 186kB.

Thanks for allowing that workshop may be posted and I hope you like the result.

Best regards
Loot

Spain

FULL POWER (22)
Karin

(2089)

Adobe PhotoShop CS2

(8935) [2008-01-14 22:02:19] [7]

Hi Karin

As said, I played a bit with this workshop just for the fun to see a little more impact or dramatic effect from the clouds and the raging ocean. I got the impression (right or wrong) that it might have been taken late in the afternoon so I also tried to give it a bit of a golden orange colour. Only you saw the scene and would know if my intuition took me closer or further away from reality.

I did not even take note exactly what I did, but mostly I just increase contrast, decreased brightness, increased saturation, added a bit of blue and yellow hue, and a pinch of USM. Maybe I could have done some more to darken the clouds, but that is more like spilled milk now that the workshop is done and posted (chuckle).

Hope you like the result anyway and thanks for allowing workshops.

Best regards
Loot