Critiques

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-04-12 14:27

Hey Roly,
Let me try a translation of "Luko`s well known protocol".
1. "-USM: effect 18, radius 40, threshold 0"
This is the so-called "hiralom" sharpening or High-Radius-Low-Amount sharpening, badly applied because the threshold usually is more than 0. If you use 0 for the threshold you will apply this hiralom which is basically local contrast increase to everything, noise included. The "Father" of this way of sharpening is Dan Margulis and Google is your friend:)
2. "-USM: effect 150, radius 0.3, threshold 0". This is the conventional use of the Unsharp Mask filter. The 150 for the "Amount" (not "effect"!) looks OK but "Radius" is dependent of the resolution of the photo. Your camera (Canon 20D) being a relatively high resolution camera and working on the full size photo the setting should be between 0.5 and 1.5, usually 1.
3. Again, because you don`t want to sharpen the noise, the threshold should be more than 0, something along 3 to 5 for 100 ISO photos and more for noisy photos.
4. Very important and the biggest mistake here, in this workflow: You never apply the conventional USM AFTER hiralom, because you don`t want to USM sharpen something which has already been sharpened. So, it should be step 2 first and then step 1.
5. "-go to edit, then fade USM: opacity 100%, mode darken" When you sharpen you basically increase the contrast of the edges, so the dark edges get darker and the light ones brighter. It has been noticed that light halos are more noticeable than dark ones so it`s a good idea to do the sharpening on two separate layers, both copies of the hiralom sharpened layer. By setting the opacity of the light halos layer to 50% you make it twice as less pronounced as the dark halos layer.
I`ve learned many things from Dan Margulis but the most important of them all is to "why" first and the "how" afterwords. Learning the fundamentals will make you smile when you see such a "not-so-secret-recipe" on the Net.:)
If you`d asked me, the only problem with your photo is not the sharpening but the very contrasty light which turned the forest almost black. You should have been in that location at sunrise:)...
Regards,
Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-04-07 14:14

Hi Patrick,
I liked the photo a lot but you are right, too bad for the power lines,so I removed them in the workshop:)
Thanks and have a great day.
Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-03-31 8:22

Hi Peter,
Two different visions of the Paradise; really hard to choose one…
I think this one looks better for me because the ripples are more pronounced and the square-ish format works better for this image. There is more balance, more calmness when I look at it, in my opinion.
Anyways Peter, I wish you always have to choose between such photos:)
Take care,
Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-03-25 14:54

:) same place but a whole different quality!
I wish I saw more photographers here making the same progress as you, Dimitri.
Happy Birthday to you,then!:)

Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-03-25 14:49

Hi Dimitris,
The river looks like a blue glamourous highway with all those sparkling reflections.
Perfect contrast and colors as far as I can tell.
Great job!
Thank you,
Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-03-25 13:40

Hi Giorgio,
I like the contrast between the foreground toy-like old houses and the background skyscrapers.
I know the photo is soft looking but it`s probably an old scan so you had to live with it:)
Thanks,
Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-03-25 9:57

Hi Way,
I love the big icecream in the foreground!:)
The landscape is so impressive, I mean everything about it. It`s just overwhelming!
Great shot of a marvelous place.
Thanks,
Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-03-24 12:09

Not everything is what it seems to be, right Vincent?:)
Great idea of post-processing, with just a few missed details…
Keep it up!
Cheers:)
Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-03-24 12:06

Oh man, what a place! I can fell the warmth of the small town from your photo, Donato.
Everything seem so small and cozy, houses look so close to each other and maybe even people are the same.
It`s extremely different from Canada and also very exotic.
Superb description of the place…
Thanks,
Nelu

  Nelu_Goia (3116) 2010-03-24 11:56

Hello Zafar,
That`s one fantastic place, it`s just like one of the many glacial lakes in the Rockies but the rock is very special. Woops! I said “the rock”, not realizing that it`s actually the glacier, covered by dust and dirt…
The photo is a bit soft but otherwise really good testimony to the place.
Thank you,
Nelu