Highlighting the creative magic behind post-processed photos

Welcome to ABFriday’s monthly One Photo Focus! This month, 22 photographers are sharing their post-processing interpretations of one “before” image submitted by Katie Prior of Drawing with Light. It is a lovely image from Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK, of The Cobb — of Jane Austen fame (“Persuasion”) and even Meryl Streep fame (“The French Lieutenant’s Woman”).

We begin with Katie’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 September’s One Photo Focus and/or ABFriday in general, you’ll find all the details on the After-Before Friday Forum page. Join us – we’d love to have you!

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BEFORE PHOTO

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Submitted by Katie Prior — Drawing with Light

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Submitted by Stacy Fischer — Visual Venturing

What a lovely image Katie has given us this month! I began with my usual workflow: LRCC followed by Color Efex Pro. But then I detoured into Topaz B&W effects, wanting to play around with this program to see how it differed from Silver Efex Pro. And boy did I play. While this was processed in a “black and white” program, I found a wonderful “Transparency” slider that gave me the final effect. Thanks, Katie, for yet another fun 1PF!

8/6/15 UPDATE: Okay, all, I made my video this afternoon, all 15 minutes of it! But here’s the issue: when I went back into Topaz B&W, I couldn’t replicate the result of the “Transparency” slider that gave me the beautiful, desaturated look of my final image. Mucking about trying to figure out the problem probably added a minute or two to the length! At first, I wasn’t going to post my video to my YouTube channel, as I actually have some subscribers (I am surprised by that!) who are non-WordPress people. I didn’t think it very “professional” to post a video that ends on a “I have no idea what just happened” note. But then I found I can mark it unlisted, which means it can be viewed if you have the link but will not appear on my channel or in any search results. So for those interested in viewing, here it is. And if any of you can help me solve the puzzle of why the transparency slider didn’t work, PLEASE let me know 🙂

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Submitted by Robin Kent — PhotographybyKent

Robin says: Katie Prior’s submission for this month’s OnePhoto Focus took me down some interesting paths which led to a destination that seems far, far away from the starting point, but actually is not.

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Submitted by Brenda — A Meditative Journey with Saldage

Brenda says: The raw image was tweaked a bit in Capture One: crop, exposure, contrast, clarity, structure, shadow as well as some adjustment layers to the background, people, and ocean.

Within Perfect Effects I played around with several layers to enhance the jetty, sky, as well as the ocean. The image is a bit on the cold side…but decided to not add any warmth…to encourage connection with the couples who are bundled up. 

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Submitted by desleyjane — Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist

Desley says: I  had fun with this one – thanks to Katie for such a great image. I was immediately drawn to a square crop and my usual high contrast black and white image. Then I experimented in colour as well. 

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Submitted by Raewyn — decocraftsdigicrafts

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Submitted by Natalie — Middle Europe

Natalie says: I wanted to learn something new on Photoshop, so I followed online instructions on how to change the sky, and converted it into a night time image using a Creative Commons starry sky image by Jan Beckendorf (https://www.flickr.com/photos/beckendorf/1445046680). Then I adjusted the colour, clarity and shadows using Photoshop Elements and Lightroom and added lighting effects with Photoshop Elements.

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Submitted by Laura Macky — Laura Macky Photography

Laura says: No crazy dinosaurs this time, but you can check out my blog for how I made this painterly image.

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Submitted by Stacey/Lensaddiction — Learning to See Light

Stacey says: This was a fun image from Katie Prior to work on this month, and I tried a couple of new techniques in Photoshop and aimed for a different style in my final image to my previous entries into the One Focus Challenge.  Looking forward to seeing lots of creativity in the other submissions!

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Submitted by Karen Chengelis — KCinAZ

Karen says: Katie’s image reminded me of my travels though usually I’m at a warmer location. Regardless, I always enjoy pictures of the ocean as it breaks against a pier.  To see a bit about how I edited the image, visit my post.

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Submitted by Kaz G. — daysandmonths

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Submitted by Cee Neuner — Cee’s Photography

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Submitted by Mary Hone — Tales from the Backroad

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Submitted by Julie Powell — Photographic Jewells

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Submitted by Sarah Vernon — First Night Design

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Submitted by Benjamin Rowe — Aperture64

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Submitted by Lynne Ayers — Beyond the Brush Photography

Lynne says: This was such a great photo I didn’t want to play with it so I stuck to the basics.  

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Submitted by Ashleigh Pienaar — Through the Viewfinder

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Submitted by Loré Dombaj — Snow’s Fissures and Fractures

Loré says: As soon as I saw Katie’s image I was reminded of Persuasion, a movie version of Jane Austen’s book. There is a scene or two where the characters are taking a walk on the Cobb. I wonder if it is the same one, in Lyme Regis.

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Submitted by Amy — The World Is a Book

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Submitted by Nancy / dogear6— Living the Seasons

Nancy says: Thanks to Stacy for again hosting the After-Before Friday photo challenge and to Katie Prior for volunteering her beautiful water picture for all of us to experiment with.

I did some minor adjustments in Lightroom to bring up the colors and sharpen up the picture a bit. This month, I wanted to try out Topaz Labs Glow set of filters. These filters are a bit odd and can have some real strange outcomes. The one I settled on is called “Whiskers and Fur 1”. I liked how it brought out the textures of the walls, water and sky. I didn’t clone out the people – in some of my other experiments I thought they helped give a perspective to the photo. They don’t look quite right in this one and if I were to redo it, I’d try to remove them and see if I liked it better without people.

I paired this with a border called “Antique” from the onOne collection to give it a vintage look. To see all my experiments, visit my blog.

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 Submitted by Joanne Ritchie — Coffee Fuels My Photography!

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 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!

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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!

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