Levels Digital Darkroom Assignment: 6/8 - 6/15

[cletus]

Your assignment: Levels

Use levels adjustments to alter an image.

Levels adjustments are a very powerful tool. You can use them to correct exposure problems, or you can use them for special effects. Levels adjustments can be handy when making masks as well.

Here are some levels examples:

Original - Notice how this image is kind of flat???
http://ab0wa.smugmug.com/photos/4957279-S.jpg

Levels dialog before making adjustments:
http://ab0wa.smugmug.com/photos/4957280-S.jpg

Levels dialog after adjustments - I've moved the black and white sliders in
http://ab0wa.smugmug.com/photos/4957281-S.jpg

Result:
http://ab0wa.smugmug.com/photos/4957282-S.jpg

Playing Around:
http://ab0wa.smugmug.com/photos/4957283-S.jpg

[ginger_55]

I found good information on levels in the photoshop 7 Wow book, not much time to use it with appt and PC problems, but I used it on one picture. Scott Kelby's book prefers curves, it said that levels was used for black and white, not color.
I am curious about that. This is my result (s) g

The original is the first one, nothing done to ithttp://gingersnap.smugmug.com/photos/4967668-M.jpg

Levels, mostly automatic as directed in a sidebar p116 in Photoshop 7 WOW Book. That is the second one.

http://gingersnap.smugmug.com/photos/4967669-L.jpg

I think that was also sharpened a bit. And then I used layers vivid light, and I framed it, so it was levels and vivid light (vivid something anyway in layers). This is "in the neighborhood", but the people are not terribly evident in this picture, IMO. I will go back there when needed. This was about 1:30 Sunday afternoon, that is not a good time for photography, but it is a good time for me, so I do it anyway. The third one.

http://gingersnap.smugmug.com/photos/4967667-L.jpg

g

[bham]

Here are a few before and afters from me.

REMEMBERING; Hatcher Pass, Alaska - Before level adjustment</EM>

http://mcleod.smugmug.com/photos/4970705-M.jpg

REMEMBERING; Hatcher Pass, Alaska - After level adjustment

http://mcleod.smugmug.com/photos/4970706-M.jpg

SUNRISE ON KASHWITNA; Kashwitna River, Alaska - Before level adjustment</EM>

http://mcleod.smugmug.com/photos/4971100-M.jpg

SUNRISE ON KASHWITNA; Kashwitna River, Alaska - After level adjustment</EM>

http://mcleod.smugmug.com/photos/4971101-M.jpg]

FLOWER BOY; Birmingham, AL - Before level adjustment</EM>

http://mcleod.smugmug.com/photos/4971605-M.jpg

FLOWER BOY; Birmingham, AL - After level adjustment</EM>

http://mcleod.smugmug.com/photos/4971604-M.jpg

[bham]

I can't get those frigin images to come up. Oh well need to click link I guess. Doing something wrong and haven't figured it out yet.

[Andy]

I can't get those frigin images to come up. Oh well need to click link I guess. Doing something wrong and haven't figured it out yet.

check your gallery settings. you may have "external links" turned off, or you are linking originals and the gallery is set to not show originals./....

[Andy]

I can't get those frigin images to come up. Oh well need to click link I guess. Doing something wrong and haven't figured it out yet.

use the "share with friends and forums" button and then copy/paste the -M link for your photo into the dgrin post ...


use the insertpic icon (mountain,sun,it's a yellow box) and paste into there

[wxwax]

bham, check out this thread (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=92) for how to post a pic here. You're hitting the wrong button when you post a pic. I fixed it in your earlier post. As Andy says, hit the yellow button, not the blue globe with the chain on it.

[bham]

bham, check out this thread (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=92) for how to post a pic here. You're hitting the wrong button when you post a pic. I fixed it in your earlier post. As Andy says, hit the yellow button, not the blue globe with the chain on it.I will check out. I meant to post 6 pics total, 3 before and afters. I thought I remembered how it was done from another site, guess I did it incorrectly. Don't post regularly, but visit a ton.

Ok Got it.

I spent way more time posting than I did doing the assignment. It was late and I was forgetting to put the -M.jpg in the link. Something that simple. I had all the setting for gallery correct. I remembered that from posting to other places. Well thanks for the help.

I posted three which I knew was the limit for the photo assignment and figured probably the same here. Hope not to much.

[ginger_55]

Is there a limit to the number of posts to post here?

Is there a limit all over, or just here and there, or just there.

Not that I want to post anymore, but I think we should know this stuff, or I would like to know, please clarify.

ginger

[wxwax]

Nice use of levels, bham, especially the first couple. :thumb

[wxwax]

Is there a limit to the number of posts to post here?
ginger

The tyrant Cletus will probably set a limit, now that you've gone and said something about it... :wink

Actually, I don't believe there is a limit.

[wxwax]

Here are some before and afters from the fast disappearing Alaskan town of Shishmaref. It's on a barrier island that is rapidly eroding thanks to global warming. These are pics of the erosion, and sea levels. In each case I tried to use levels and layers to make the pic normal, and also to emphasize the erosion. I used a bit of contrast/brightness too, but mostly levels.

Before
http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/5004360-S.jpg
After
http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/5004361-S.jpg


Before
http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/5004362-S.jpg
After
http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/5004363-S.jpg


Before
http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/5004368-S.jpg
After
http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/5004369-S.jpg


Before
http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/5004364-S.jpg
After
http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/5004365-S.jpg


The pics were taken by Tony Weyiouanna Jr, who's leading the effort to find the $50 million that Shishmaref needs to relocate to the mainland. Failing that, when the sea claims their town and their island, the people of Shishmaref will disppear into other communities, their particular brand of subsistence lifestyle and culture lost forever.

[cletus]

Is there a limit to the number of posts to post here?

Is there a limit all over, or just here and there, or just there.

Not that I want to post anymore, but I think we should know this stuff, or I would like to know, please clarify.

ginger
Hi ginger,

Feel free to post as many images as you like in any of the digital darkroom assignments!

[lynnma]

Your assignment: Levels

Use levels adjustments to alter an image.


Playing around with levels... Original shot

[lynnma]

messin with levels

[ginger_55]

My PC is so bad. Obviously this has had more done than levels. Sometimes, I just go on til the thing is finished in my mind.

before

http://gingerSnap.smugmug.com/photos/5019692-L.jpg

After

http://gingerSnap.smugmug.com/photos/5019434-L.jpg

g

[wxwax]

Ya done good, Ginger, the new version looks great.

[Andy]

My PC is so bad. Obviously this has had more done than levels. Sometimes, I just go on til the thing is finished in my mind.

before



g

whoa - nice work ginger!

[GREAPER]

Excellent Ginger.

One of my favorites you have posted so far.

[lynnma]

My PC is so bad. Obviously this has had more done than levels. Sometimes, I just go on til the thing is finished in my mind.
before


After

g
Beautiful Ginger.. nice work.:clap

[ginger_55]

Beautiful Ginger.. nice work.:clap
______________

I am really touched and gratified by all the nice words, really, I am! Now I know not how to post again. Could I do better? Maybe, someday. But I am a wannabee, too, so I take my "luck" where I find it. When it is recognized, I am ecstatic. I dragged my husband over to look at the picture, etc.

Post again? I will have to, but it will be with great trepidation. KInd of like a really good tennis shot, I just say, in jest, "I think I will go home now".

Seriously, I really appreciate all the nice comments. I would like to thank.............. No, seriously again, I was entranced with the sky, that bridge in the distance is being replaced, so I wanted to include it, and to give it place, etc, I put the end of the aircraft carrier, The Yorktown, in the picture.

I had seen, in one of my new books, a way to use levels selectively, so I did that with this photo, to allow the color of the grass to come through, and I went from there.

Thank you all so much, I do have a picture of the Yorktown itself, the aircraft carrier from WW2. I am "scared" to post it. I used levels there, also. In fact, I am using levels like a crazy leveling fool, sometimes with dramatic results, sometimes with little difference. In these particular pictures the affect was dramatic.

I do not like that area, I don't like taking tours of large ships, but I was meeting someone, an internet friend, a lawyer woman from Iowa, just here for a few hours.

I have been so glad that David posted how to smooth a face out (in a portrait), in another place, she had acne scars, and gosh darn, but that info probably gave her one of the few good shots she has had of herself. Thanks so much for advice and accolades. All.

As an aside, with two dogs pulling their leashes, I held my camera up, took some shots of the sky, then walked a bit, took a few shots of the Yorktown and the bridges with the sky a major component. I never dreamed I had one of my "better" shots. I was just playing around, smile.

Thanks, muchly, all, blush/blush, humbly, lol,
ginger

[wxwax]

I missed the thread on smoothing out facial blemishes, Ginger. Can you tell me where to find it?

[DavidTO]

I missed the thread on smoothing out facial blemishes, Ginger. Can you tell me where to find it?


You can find it here. (http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=15086&postcount=5)

[snapapple]

The wedding we attended last weekend was in Lake Tahoe. I took a few shots of the sunset on the lake, but it was pretty dark. It was hard to capture the pink reflection on the lake. With some levels and some curves I think I improved it.
Before:
http://snapapple.smugmug.com/photos/5046568-S.jpg

After:
http://snapapple.smugmug.com/photos/5046567-S.jpg

[pathfinder]

The wedding we attended last weekend was in Lake Tahoe. I took a few shots of the sunset on the lake, but it was pretty dark. It was hard to capture the pink reflection on the lake. With some levels and some curves I think I improved it.
Before:
http://snapapple.smugmug.com/photos/5046568-S.jpg

After:
http://snapapple.smugmug.com/photos/5046567-S.jpg
The contrast difference between the sky and the dark green evergreens can be as much as 3 -4 fstops - too much to really correct well with levels or curves. Graduated neutral density filters to fit over the front of the camera lens can help a great deal in this circumstance if your camera is on a tripod.
Neutral density filters can uually be found in your local camera store and slide into a holder that screws into the front of the lens like a filter. Cokin P adapters I think they are called.

[snapapple]

Thanks Pathfinder, I really can't do too much with my Olympus C5050z. I did get a lens adapter and a polorizing filter for it. I have a few filters for my old Canon SLR film camera, but I need to get some better digital equipment. I'll have to check those filters out. Maybe I can use them on my camera. If a polorizing filter fits, there may be others. I have very little knowledge about using filters.

[pathfinder]

Thanks Pathfinder, I really can't do too much with my Olympus C5050z. I did get a lens adapter and a polorizing filter for it. I have a few filters for my old Canon SLR film camera, but I need to get some better digital equipment. I'll have to check those filters out. Maybe I can use them on my camera. If a polorizing filter fits, there may be others. I have very little knowledge about using filters.
If your camera has threads on the front of the lens mount for a polarizer, you can use a neutral gradient filter. Ask at your local camera store about neutral density filters or at B&H - they are easy to find - just takes a little practice and planning head.http://www.dgrin.com/images/icons/lickout.gif

[wxwax]

If you can't do a filter, then shoot the picture twice. Expose it once for the sky. Expose it a second time for the trees. Then do a digital blend in the image program of your choice. In the final image, reveal the sky and mountains from one shot, and reveal the trees from the second shot.

Of course, you'll need a tripod and an image program to do this. (The tripod, so your two shots are framed identically.)

And it's a lovely picture the way it is, BTW, very nice indeed.

[wxwax]

You can find it here. (http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=15086&postcount=5)
Thanks David. :thumb

[GREAPER]

Just for the record, the cokin P series only differ from the A series in size and cost. The P series are larger.


For your camera the A series filters will work just as well and cost less and are smaller.

Even if you do not have threads on the front of your lens for filters it still may be usefull to have the filter. On shots with shutter speeds 1/15th or more it is possible to just hold the filter in front of the lens with your other hand. Hold it as still as you can and you wil likely get the result you are looking for.

This shot was taken while hand holding the graduated nuetral density filter in front of the lense.

http://dehmphoto.smugmug.com/photos/4781544-M.jpg

[ginger_55]

I missed the thread on smoothing out facial blemishes, Ginger. Can you tell me where to find it?_______________________________________________ ___

Do you have Scott Kelby's book? I have the one on Photoshop 7, I think that greaper, or someone was quoting from his CS book. The one on Photoshop 7 has this subject on page 178.

I first saw the post on, I think, People and Pets. Then a thread on a Portrait.

ginger

I can do better at answering later tonight or tomorrow. And I have been gone all day.

[wxwax]

__________________________________________________

I can do better at answering later tonight or tomorrow. And I have been gone all day.

Thanks, in your absence David found it and posted a link. You're off the hook. :wink

[digismile]

I use adjustment layers a lot, from levels to curves to saturation, etc. What I tried to do this time was ONLY use levels.

I used a levels adjustment layer to intially deal with brightness/contrast. I created a flattened layer and then adjusted the color balance with another levels adjustment layer to get rid of the blue color cast.

To saturate the color of the sky I selected the sky using color range and then used another levels adjustment to increase the intensity of the blue (for only the sky).

Final edits included removing the rake and adding a border.

(this photo is over my backyard fence)

Before
http://digismile.smugmug.com/photos/5073381-L.jpg

After
http://digismile.smugmug.com/photos/5073382-L.jpg


Brad

[DavidTO]

I use adjustment layers a lot, from levels to curves to saturation, etc. What I tried to do this time was ONLY use levels.

I used a levels adjustment layer to intially deal with brightness/contrast. I created a flattened layer and then adjusted the color balance with another levels adjustment layer to get rid of the blue color cast.

To saturate the color of the sky I selected the sky using color range and then used another levels adjustment to increase the intensity of the blue (for only the sky).

Final edits included removing the rake and adding a border.

(this photo is over my backyard fence)


Brad

Nice work, Brad.

[snapapple]

Just for the record, the cokin P series only differ from the A series in size and cost. The P series are larger.
For your camera the A series filters will work just as well and cost less and are smaller.
Even if you do not have threads on the front of your lens for filters it still may be usefull to have the filter. On shots with shutter speeds 1/15th or more it is possible to just hold the filter in front of the lens with your other hand. Hold it as still as you can and you wil likely get the result you are looking for.

This shot was taken while hand holding the graduated nuetral density filter in front of the lense.

http://dehmphoto.smugmug.com/photos/4781544-M.jpg

Thanks Greaper (and Sid and Pathfinder), I love this shot. I guess I'll have to get one of these filters. My lens adapter has threads so I should be able to get one to fit. I have tried holding the filters from my old camera in front of the lens - it works pretty well when I can use the view screen. Sometimes the screen is not very visible in bright daylight and of course you can't see what you've got through the viewer. I'll give B&H a try. Got the camera from them. I was happy with their service.

[AltPro]

I have been so wrapped in trying to find "People in My Neighborhood," that I have really accomplished little with regard to the forum... But that being said, here is my entry. "Frog Face"
adjusted Levels, Color and Balance, and slight acceleration to Contrast.

Frog Face
before
http://ThroughTheLensLtd.smugmug.com/photos/5131040-L.jpg




Frog Face
after
http://ThroughTheLensLtd.smugmug.com/photos/5131092-L.jpg

[ginger_55]

[QUOTE=AltPro]I have been so wrapped in trying to find "People in My Neighborhood," that I have really accomplished little with regard to the forum... But that being said, here is my entry. "Frog Face"
adjusted Levels, Color and Balance, and slight acceleration to C


You made the frog look scarier, so it must have worked.

I used levels, for the first time posting to another list. I had posted the same photo before without levels. With levels, we all realized that I am starving the poor dog and she has many areas of her face indicative of stress, including the recessed eye pockets.

All from levels. And other times no difference. Love the frog. Can you do a cockroach? I can't catch one.

ginger