Highlighting the creative magic behind post-processed photos
Welcome to the launch of ABFriday’s One Photo Focus! This week, 21 different photographers are sharing their post-processing interpretations of one “before” image submitted by our beloved, talented, and witty Emilio Pasquale of Photos by Emilio. I am so excited to share these wonderful images with all of you!
We begin with Emilio’s “before” image, followed by the “afters,” and at the end, a gallery of all so you can watch the changes as you scroll through. Be sure to click the links to each participant’s blog as many have written posts “uncovering the magic” behind their “after” images. And if you would like to participate in February’s One Photo Focus and/or ABFriday in general, you’ll find all the details on the After-Before Friday Forum page. Come along and join this zany bunch – we’d love to have you!
Submitted by Emilio Pasquale — Photos by Emilio
Emilio says: I’m in a very privileged position this week- or at least I feel like I am. Not because this is one of my own images but because I, alone, know the story behind it. My wife and I spotted these trucks on the side of the 15 freeway in Northern Utah. We were …
Submitted by Stacy Fischer — Visual Venturing
When I saw Emilio’s trucks, I immediately thought of the movie “Cars” and the old television show “The Waltons” (yeah, I know I’m dating myself badly with this one). Using the “Cars” approach, I could create an oversaturated cartoony look; using “The Waltons” as inspiration, I could create an old-time photo reminiscent of the era of the Great Depression, the time period in which the show was set. I guess you know what my choice was. While I normally put together a video of my post-processing steps, I’m still trying to find a user-friendly screen capture program to use with my new computer. Stay tuned to next week’s ABFriday, as my plan is to post my video there of this week’s post-processing efforts.
Thanks, Emilio, for getting One Photo Focus off to a great start!
Submitted by Robin Kent — PhotographybyKent
Robin says: Thanks go to Emilio Pasquale for submitting an interesting challenge on our first running of One Photo Focus, ™ an exclusive feature on the AfterBefore Friday Forum. My first thought when I saw the image was that it was a photograph of the set for the night-time drag race scene in the movie “Rebel Without a Cause.” I can’t wait to see what other interpretations will be unveiled today. Details on the evolution from the original to my final version can be found here.
Submitted by Stacey/Lensaddiction — Learning to See Light Photography Blog
Stacey says: Summary of post processing – the before image had basic processing in LR – changed to daylight white balance, tweaked highlights, contrast, vibrance, and clarity a bit.
Jumping over to PS, the after image has the cars processed in Nik Color Efex with a Bleach Bypass and added detail and then a sepia toning added. The US map layer was colour adjusted to the same sepia tone and the map layer brushed through around the edges of the car. Finally a grunge texture added to age the whole image added in and blended with overlay mode and opacity toned down a bit.
Its my first go at the AB Challenge and I am a bit nervous seeing as I recently enrolled in the Photoshop Artistry Fine Art Grunge course and this is my first REAL go at actually using the techniques. A month ago I didn’t know how to do ANY of these techniques and I wanted a way of portraying both the age of the old trucks and their unique US heritage. I hope you enjoy 🙂
Submitted by Max 510 — Max510’s Blog
Max says: Here is my work with the Emilio shot. I send you also two screenshots of first regulation in LR. I made first simple regulation in LR with temperature, light, shadow, etc, then completed with Color Efex set on “detail extractor.” Hope you enjoy!
Submitted by Laura Macky — Laura Macky Photography
Image courtesy of Emilio Pasquale
Submitted by Karen Chengelis — KCinAZ
Karen says: Thanks Emilio for sharing with us such a fantastic image of vintage trucks for us to work on. I just bought a new book, my first on Lightroom and actually read through it as I edited the picture. Mostly in Lightroom I stepped through the right-side panels and tried out a few different settings which enhance the color, hue and saturation plus a few others. Hopefully not overdone. Next, the image was cropped and straightened a slight bit. In Photoshop I used the bandaid to remove the rope/hose from the right side and to take a few spots out of the yellow truck window. Lastly, in Photoshop the patch tool was used to remove a couple of rocks and the piece of wood. This was a fun learning image for me and can’t wait to see how everyone else approached it. Thanks, Stacy, for all your hard work to get this off the ground. I really enjoyed working on Emilio’s image.
Submitted by Max — Cardinal Guzman
Submitted by desleyjane — Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist
Submitted by Robyn Gosby — Captivate Me
Submitted by Mary Hone — Tales from the Backroad
Submitted by Loré Dombaj — Snow’s Fissures and Fractures
Loré says: I must say I really liked Emilio’s image, it was a good experience trying different editing choices. First thing I did was to crop the image, so I lost parts of the image that I didn’t like. Again, I flipped the image and I really think it works better this way. Usual stuff followed – adjusting exposure and colors, the colors worked great on those old trucks, that part really surprised me. In the end I was looking for the way to deal with the blurriness of the image and used a little trick I learned. The effect is called FocalSoften and it focuses on one particular part of the image, while everything else becomes more soft. It is an optical illusion, the soft background makes the focal part more clear.
Submitted by Janice Meyers Foreman — jmeyersforeman photography
Janice says: I knew exactly what I wanted to do with his image the minute I opened the file, for me it was begging for a happy face on the front of the yellow truck! Photoshop has some interesting Blur tools in the Blur Gallery that I have been playing with. I am not sure I want to use them all the time, but here they help to separate the first truck from the others, giving the image a stronger center of interest.
Submitted by Michelle Lunato — Michelle Lunato Photography
Submitted by Shane Francescut — The Weekly Minute
Submitted by Benjamin Rowe — aperture64
Submitted by Katie Prior — Drawing with Light
Submitted by Cee Neuner — Cee’s Photography
Submitted by Jaime Perez — My Photolanguage
Jaime says: As this beautiful image from Emilio evokes old times, due to the trucks models, I decided turning the photo into B&W, as well as a bit of sepia tone. Finally, I added a frame and tried to simulate the photo stuck to a familiar photo album. I hope you enjoy it.
Congratulations to you all for this wonderful event at ABFriday!
Submitted by Manal Ali — A Single Shutter
Submitted by Nancy / dogear6— Living the Seasons
Please click on the links of those who contributed this week, to read about their post-processing steps and/or to see what other treasures they have on their blogs. They’d love to have you visit!
So what do you think of the ABFriday forum?
Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section. And don’t forget to view the guidelines if you want to participate. I’d love to have you onboard!
Visual Venturing 
Great challenge twist Stacy! I love the old-time feel of your photo. Very nice:)
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Glad you like the twist, Michelle! And thanks about my photo 🙂
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Hi Stacy – so many wonderful results, great to see so many photographers participating.
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There are, aren’t there? And it’s certainly fun to see our numbers growing 🙂
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I JUST WANT EVERYONE WHO TOOK PART IN THIS CHALLENGE TO KNOW HOW EXCITED I WAS TO SEE ALL THE VARIATIONS YOU’VE COME UP WITH. THIS HAS TO BE THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY LIFE, NEXT TO BEING PRESENT AT THE BIRTH OF OUR FIRST CHILD. NO, WE DO NOT HAVE ANY CHILDREN YET BUT I IMAGINE WHEN IT DOES HAPPEN I WILL BE JUST AS EXCITED AS I AM NOW. I DO HAVE A FAVORITE INTERPRETATION BUT I CAN’T SAY WHICH ONE BECAUSE THAT WOULD NOT BE RIGHT. YOU ARE ALL FANTASTIC AND THIS EXPERIENCE HAS CERTAINLY OPENED MY EYES. OK, MY FAVORITE WAS ACTUALLY
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This is why we all love you so much, Emilio 😀 As for me, I love you more because
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Wow, such an amazing variety of interpretations! I have picked up so many new ideas from this first post… Thanks Stacy and Emilio!
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I feel the same. I have picked up so many new ideas that I can’t wait for the next One Photo Focus! Thanks, for participating, Shane. I still haven’t commented on every one’s work.
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You’re very welcome, Shane! I know what you mean about new ideas too 🙂
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Wow, this is educational and fun. I definitely want to spend some time on this post (have to get myself a cup of tea first 😉 Thank you so much, Stacy! Helen
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Helen, I’m so glad you commented. I replied to your comment on the intro post asking for your email so I could send you Emilio’s photo. I tried to find an email an email on your blog, but couldn’t find one ;( If you still would like Emilio’s image, send me an email at visualventuring@gmail.com. I’d be happy to send it!
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Good morning, Stacy. I was wondering if I had replied your message. I have this problem that I “think” a lot, and sometime I thought I have done what I was thinking of doing. I keep telling my friends that they should learn how to receive my brain waves. 😉 So sorry!
I really enjoy your new challenge. It’s so fun! I don’t think I need Emilio’s photo this time. I can always catch up on the next time. Thank you for asking.
Have a wonderful day! Helen
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Ha! I’m guilty of that myself, Helen 🙂 No worries – next time, if you wish.
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I love this challenge! It’s so fun to see what everyone came up with. I look forward to going to the sites later to take a better look. Thanks Stacy and Emilio for your image!
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Thanks. Laura, for joining in! It was fun to see what everyone came up with.I wasn’t too crazy about the image when I submitted it but some of the variations have made me change my mind!
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You’re welcome Emilio! It certainly was fun. 🙂
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Thanks for joining in, Laura! And it’s always great fun to go and read the how-to’s that everyone posts 🙂
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These are all great post processing after’s. Thanks Emilio and Stacy for letting us all play!!! 🙂
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Cee, you can play with me any time. Wait! That came out wrong!
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I’d say we all made a great team, Cee 😀 Thanks for your DropBox expertise – invaluable!!
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Wow! So many excellent entries. I must say that I totally love Stacey/Lensaddiction’s processing! Brilliant idea to put the map in there. This was the first time that I’ve participated in this challenge and I loved it. For me it was interesting to get someone else’s photo to work with. Thanks Emilio and thank you Stacy for arranging this.
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Thanks, Cardinal, for joining in. I can’t wait for next month. Working on my own photos isn’t half as exciting as working on someone else’s, I think.
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Thankyou Max for your kind words, it was my first time taking part and I worked really hard on the concept for my image 🙂 Appreciate the feedback 🙂
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Max, I’m so glad you enjoyed the challenge! I’m hoping that means you’ll be doing more! It was as much fun for me as for everyone else, especially since I get to “unwrap” everyone’s photos first 🙂
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Some great interpretations!
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Isn’t if fun to see everyone’s creativity, Sue? Thanks for commenting!
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Such a cool idea, Stacy. Love the various editing works for Emilio’s photo. I guess I missed the announcement for this one. Hope to join next week.
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Hi, Amy! Missed having you. Check the AB Forum page for the upcoming schedule. I’ve updated it through to the next One Photo Focus round the first Friday in February 🙂
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Everyone did something so different. What a fun photo to work with, and I love what everyone did. Now to go visit.
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I absolutely agree on all counts, Mary! And, as you said, now (finally) to go visit 🙂
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Wow, how wonderful to see this amazing display of beautiful and talented versions of Emilio’s photo! Congratulation Stacy, and you all, my old and new partners at ABFriday; great great job!
Though almost everyone tried to reinforce the old fashion feeling of the image, I’d like to highlight Stacey’s version, due to the very creative way to reflect the true American Spirit; I really like it, congrats and welcome to the show!
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Hi Jaime and thanks for the callout, I did work really hard to come up with a different concept for this image, and given Im a Kiwi lass living in NZ, nice to know I got the feel right 🙂
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So much fun to have you, Jaime, one of the founding participants of ABF, taking part in One Photo Focus! And I really thought your scrapbook interpretation was a great one 😀
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