ABFriday Week 41/April One Photo Focus Reveal

Posted on by Stacy P. Fischer

After-and-Before Friday Post HeaderHighlighting the creative magic behind post-processed photos

Before we get to the after-before galleries, just a reminder that today’s post reveals the April ABFriday One Photo Focus photo! What is One Photo Focus? It’s the first ABFriday of each month when all participants edit the same photo. Fun? You betcha! Check out March’s 1PF!

In a nutshell, here’s how it works:

  1. The photo to be edited is revealed in the ABF post two weeks in advance.
  2. If you’d like to join in, email me at visualventuring@gmail.com. I will send you links to the full-sized RAW and jpeg files. Download the one you wish.
  3. Email me your “after” image no later than midnight EST Wednesday, April 1, two days prior to the post.

A time zone converter and all the important submission details are on the After-Before Friday Forum page, as are the details for participating in “regular” ABFriday posts. Come along and join us in one or the other (or both) – we’re a fun-loving group!

April’s One Photo Focus Photo!
Submitted by Cee Neuner — Cee’s Photography

Cee Neuner April One Photo Focus

Now back to our regularly scheduled ABFriday post with all the creative after-before photos submitted this week!

My submission: Last week’s video demonstrated basic Lightroom 5 post-processing of a highly underexposed image. This week’s video demonstrates the power of shooting RAW as I use Lightroom 5 with a quick visit to Nik Color Efex and Nik Dfine (for noise reduction) to post-process a highly overexposed image. 

Submitted by Robin Kent — PhotographybyKent

Robin says: I’ve been told that using the histogram on your digital camera simplifies the work in post-processing, it’s just a matter of trusting the graph instead of your eyes.  It seems this is true.  For example, I found a scene this week with some troublesome exposure issues—bright blue sky, a white sculpture partially illuminated by a bright sun, and a dark brick building in shadow.  Details can be found in my post here.

 Submitted by Loré Dombaj — Snow’s Fissures and Fractures

Loré says: Sometimes just a small adjustment can make a big difference. I was surprised to see how this one came to life, when all I did was increasing temperature and saturation. Little bit of healing to make that boat more shinny and that was it.

Submitted by Michelle Lunato — Michelle Lunato Photography

Michelle says: I seem to be on a flower theme lately, so I figured I would run with it. The abstract I created is from some flowers I took a picture of last Easter. I just went with how I was feeling, and this is what I came up with. I think it may reflect how I feel: bold and yet all out of control. Huh. Go figure that my editing would reflect my mood.

Submitted by Katie Prior — Drawing with Light

Katie says: This week I have been revisiting a photo of a well known landmark from a trip to London to see if could bring back some life back into it. 

 Submitted by Benjamin Rowe — Aperture64

Submitted by Janice Meyers Foreman — jmeyersforeman photography

Submitted by Klara — Sliku svoju ljubim II

Klara says: The photo was taken in Paris last weekend. Other than a bit of cropping and sharpening the photo (contrast, clarity, exposition), I also added split toning in both highlights and shadows.

Submitted by Amy — The World Is a Book

I did the editing on LR:
1. crop the photo, remove some of the small branches around the leaf using the spot removal.
2. enhance the photo through the basic panel.
3. increase the clarity.
4. Increase the sharpness.
5. decrease the blue on the sky.
6. add vignette -13 only.
I posted the “after” photo for Sally’s Phoneography this Tuesday.

 Submitted by Lynne Ayers — Beyond the Brush Photography

 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!

36 thoughts on “ABFriday Week 41/April One Photo Focus Reveal”

  1. Better late than never, no? Finally making my rounds, seems I am in constant race with the time and obviously I am losing.
    First – great edit of a great image. Save for overexposure, I think it is a great original, the angle is amazing.
    Second – I love Cee’s image and I don’t know how I missed her poll.

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    • So, now, here I am a week later, finally getting to all my comments – so better late than never here too, Loré 🙂 Thanks for your kind comment. While I’d love to have a wide angle lens, sometimes it surprises me how effective a “regular” lens can be when capturing these kinds of shots! As for Cee’s image, sounds like you would have voted for this one!

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  5. Hi Stacy, great video, I always learn something! I use Nik software as well, but haven’t learned about Define. I am intrigued and will head over to their website to view a couple of tutorials. I am going to give this a try….

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    • Ha! Robin says he may look into Nik and now you’re checking out Dfine – I’m having fun spending other people’s money 😉. I really like the effortlessness of Dfine, though its power really shines when you use control points to selectively remove noise. Have fun!

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    • Thanks, Ben. Couldn’t have done this without having shot in RAW. Happy for you that you “got” the image you wanted 😀. I voted for the barn, but I’ve actually loved the challenge of this one!

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  8. Really great edit Stacy! Its a very good photo to start with, a really great, interesting picture with such amazing details like the shapes and patterns and the different surfaces and textures. Your edit has really emphasised these great qualities in the after photo.

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  9. It all seems so effortless nowadays and you’ve perpetuated that myth rather nicely. Taking an overexposed image and transforming it into a piece of art. But before everyone goes off to spend their hard earned (or purloined) funds on Lightroom and Nik, it’s important for them to realize there must be a vision of sorts to create anything even remotely artistic! (Have I confused everyone enough to get them to stop reading? Good!) Stacy, you are a genius with magic fingers, or hands or toes or whatever. This tutorial was so simple and precise that even the least capable of us now feel as if we can create art. Great job, really. Your explanation was much better and easier to understand than mine would have been. But then again, I do love to pontificate! 😉

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    • Well, you’re making me blush, Emilio 😊 You’ve always been a devoted viewer of my videos and I really do appreciate that. For me, it’s figuring out what I want to focus attention on. Sometimes that changes as I post-process, but once I ultimately decide, all the tools I use then fall into place. Thanks so much for being such a wonderful personal cheerleader!

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  10. Hi Stacy, your after before is quite impressive, as always 🙂
    I really am looking forward to everyone playing with my photo next month.
    Thanks for hosting this challenge.

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    • Well, thanks for that, Cee 😀I have to admit, I’ve already processed your image – I had soo much fun, once I figured out a direction to go. (I like to finish before anyone else’s comes in so that I’m not influenced 😉) And, you’re very welcome!

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    • You, a loser? Nope! Sometimes even I find it difficult to get my own post together in time! 😉 Glad you liked the after image. As for Cee’s photo, you should have received my email on Friday. Please let me know if you didn’t get it. Thanks, Mary!

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  15. Beautiful after-processed photo you did, Stacy! Enjoyed the video instruction. I’m introducing ABF on my post today. Would you email me Cee’s photo? Thank you!

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    • Thanks, Amy, for your kind comment, for watching the video, AND for the shout out! I also sent you an email on Friday with the link to Cee’s photo. Please let me know if you didn’t receive it. Last, but certainly not least, I left a comment on your post about your after photo, but I’ll repeat it here – you did a great job of focusing in on and bringing detail to that beautiful long golden leaf 😀

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      • Hi Stacy, Thank you so much for your generosity of sharing and teaching us how to! I have learned so much from your ABF. That is such a time and effort consuming work you have done. I’m still learning, hope will do better. 🙂
        I’ve received Cee’s photo, will work on it. Have a great Sunday!

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