Tone mapped

[mike_j]

I took some pics of Houghton Mill in Huntingdon on a very flat grey day, Results are accordingly flat and dull.

I tried tone mapping a couple fairly gently but I'm not sure about the result.

[Ian]

Re: Tone mapped

These are beautiful subjects to photograph The first has a rather attractive aged look about it. The only thing that I don't like is the sky. It's clearly overcast, which detracts from the lovely foreground, while there is some evidence of glowing around the edges, almost certainly a by-product of the tone-mapping.

The second suffers more from the oppression of the overcast sky as there is more sky to see. If the sky is going to be cloudy like this it needs to add drama. Maybe one of Stephen's Topaz filters would do the trick?

Finally, please do upload larger size pictures if you can; yours are 600 pixels wide and we recommend 800

Ian

[Stephen]

Re: Tone mapped

These are beautiful subjects to photograph The first has a rather attractive aged look about it. The only thing that I don't like is the sky. It's clearly overcast, which detracts from the lovely foreground, while there is some evidence of glowing around the edges, almost certainly a by-product of the tone-mapping.

The second suffers more from the oppression of the overcast sky as there is more sky to see. If the sky is going to be cloudy like this it needs to add drama. Maybe one of Stephen's Topaz filters would do the trick?

Finally, please do upload larger size pictures if you can; yours are 600 pixels wide and we recommend 800

Ian

I'd agree with Ian and add that for me they lack some mid tone contrast. My personal feeling is that the tonemapping has not worked so well in this instance. Did you start with an HDR image?

I'd suggest that if there is any detail at all in the sky it can be brought out using the clarity too and the adjustment brushes in Lightroom or ACR. On the second photo the graduated filter tool and some adjustment to exposure and or the clarity slider would certainly add some drama

[mike_j]

Re: Tone mapped

Finally, please do upload larger size pictures if you can; yours are 600 pixels wide and we recommend 800

Ian

Different forums - different limits

Thank you for the comments. here is a reduced jpeg of the original of the punts at 800 pixels, if anyone feels like having a go at it please do so! The picture is a DNG 10MB so I have quite a lot of headroom to play with settings.

[Stephen]

Re: Tone mapped

[QUOTE=Cap'n Bill;50816]Different forums - different limits

Thank you for the comments. here is a reduced jpeg of the original of the punts at 800 pixels, if anyone feels like having a go at it please do so! The picture is a DNG 10MB so I have quite a lot of headroom to play with settings.

Bearing in mind its only 800px here is a quick adjustment in LR3. Not totally happy with it, but its going in the right direction. Anyway you can offer the DNG file?

[Ian]

Re: Tone mapped

[quote=Stephen;50827]

Different forums - different limits

Thank you for the comments. here is a reduced jpeg of the original of the punts at 800 pixels, if anyone feels like having a go at it please do so! The picture is a DNG 10MB so I have quite a lot of headroom to play with settings.

Bearing in mind its only 800px here is a quick adjustment in LR3. Not totally happy with it, but its going in the right direction. Anyway you can offer the DNG file?

Stephen, there is nothing wrong with this, but I feel it's now a different picture. It has lost that semi-pastel aged look that I felt was quite attractive in the original? Of course this is all very personal and subjective

Ian

[Patrick]

Re: Tone mapped

[quote=Ian;50828]

Stephen, there is nothing wrong with this, but I feel it's now a different picture. It has lost that semi-pastel aged look that I felt was quite attractive in the original? Of course this is all very personal and subjective

Ian

Here is my little effort, I know it changes the character of the original image, but I feel if pastel is required there are better techniques to do it than tone mapping.

I tone mapped then did a little more wok using layers in CS4.

Patrick

[Patrick]

Re: Tone mapped

[quote=Patrick;50838]

Here is my little effort, I know it changes the character of the original image, but I feel if pastel is required there are better techniques to do it than tone mapping.

I tone mapped then did a little more wok using layers in CS4.

Patrick

Here is a pastel version from my earlier effort.

Patrick

[mike_j]

Re: Tone mapped

That's been really interesting, thank you. Stephen's mod has improved a dull picture but it is still, I feel, dull. Ian hit the key point commenting on the aged appearance of the scene and Patrick really went to town on this in a very different way.

It is possible that the the picture will end up a water colour painting (not me, my wife Susan) with all sorts of liberties being taken.

In the meantime this is the version I have printed. I felt that the picture could have been taken anytime in the last hundred years and somehow liked the monochrome effect - it's Lightroom Antique Light preset basically.

[Patrick]

Re: Tone mapped

That's been really interesting, thank you. Stephen's mod has improved a dull picture but it is still, I feel, dull. Ian hit the key point commenting on the aged appearance of the scene and Patrick really went to town on this in a very different way.

It is possible that the the picture will end up a water colour painting (not me, my wife Susan) with all sorts of liberties being taken.

In the meantime this is the version I have printed. I felt that the picture could have been taken anytime in the last hundred years and somehow liked the monochrome effect - it's Lightroom Antique Light preset basically.

Yep it work this way, ageless feel to it. I always find the presets on the severe side so If it were mine I would just tone it down a touch.

I am very fond of toned images in fact most if not all my own mono get toned. So this version would naturally appeal to me. In my darkroom days I routinely used selenium toning and experiments with many others.

Patrick

[ash]

Re: Tone mapped

They look like they could be ok images, these you have posted are lacking alot of something, maybe contrast or maybe b&w or sepia!
Whatever tone mapping is, it clearly has not worked.
Im not too hot on photoshop tweeking but tone mapping sounds like and looks like, its a fancy name for not doing a right lot

[Stephen]

Re: Tone mapped

They look like they could be ok images, these you have posted are lacking alot of something, maybe contrast or maybe b&w or sepia!
Whatever tone mapping is, it clearly has not worked.
Im not too hot on photoshop tweeking but tone mapping sounds like and looks like, its a fancy name for not doing a right lot

Don't be too dismissive about the technique Ash, done with care tone mapping can give a great result. This shot may not be a great example, but you might be surprised at what results the technique can produce.

[Patrick]

Re: Tone mapped

They look like they could be ok images, these you have posted are lacking alot of something, maybe contrast or maybe b&w or sepia!
Whatever tone mapping is, it clearly has not worked.
Im not too hot on photoshop tweeking but tone mapping sounds like and looks like, its a fancy name for not doing a right lot

Hi Ash

Tone Mapping is only part of the technique for HDR, (High Dynamic Range) It can be done in Photoshop but its usually done on a stand alone program such as Photomatix, which I think is the most popular .
Its not a technique used to rescue incorrect images.
The idea is when conditions are too contrasty 15-16 stops plus the camera's dynamic range typically 10-12 stops, this technique can capture the whole range.
Normally its 3 to 5 or even 9 images of the same scene taken at different exposures from about 2 stops under through to two stops over.
These are blended in the desired software (I use Photomatix) to one image and tone mapping is the part that makes the image viewable and printable.
This particular image was single image tone mapped.
The technique can be used on a single image to give punch to dead lighting and bring out sky detail that is hidden in the picture.

Unfortunately this didn't quite work on these images, either Cap\'n Bill was doing it for the first time or was trying to use it in a different ways for an effect.

There have been many images posted on the forum using HDR, some high contrast and some very much softer.
The real use is to get the full detailed range of a scene that the camera is incapable of recording, but like any technique we use, some try to get more out of it and experiment.

Patrick

[Kurt]

Re: Tone mapped

These images are fine, the subjects are interesting but difficult to photograph in an interesting way - I have tried many times to get a good angle on them. With regard to the tone mapping without seeing the originals I dont know how successful they are. What I can say is that they are not more examples of those techniolor-plus objectional pictures that proliferate many magazines and photography web sites. What attracts people to these horrible pictures amazes me. - Rant over!

[jonesgj]

Re: Tone mapped

... What attracts people to these horrible pictures amazes me. - Rant over!

What a boring world it would be if we were all the same, and liked the same things.

Kind regards

Graydon