February One Photo Focus

Posted on by Stacy P. Fischer

Highlighting the creative magic behind post-processed photos

Welcome to ABFriday’s monthly One Photo Focus! This month, we have 23 different post-processing interpretations of one “before” image submitted by Stacey/Lensaddiction of Learning to See Light. 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 name of next month’s One Photo Focus, you’ll find all the details on the After-Before Friday Forum page.

Don’t forget to check out After-Before Friday, hosted by Benjamin Rowe on Aperture 64. There you can share the magic “after” of your own “before” image, every Friday except the first Friday of each month (when One Photo Focus runs)!

BEFORE PHOTO

February 2016 One Photo Focus

Submitted by Stacey/Lensaddiction — Learning to See Light

Stacey/Lensaddiction, Learning to See Light

Submitted by Stacy Fischer — Visual Venturing

Stacy Fischer, Visual Venturing

What an amazing image Stacey submitted for us to work on this month. I love the leading line of the rope, the foreboding-loooking sky, and that she caught a few hardy souls up in the rigging. While the original was underexposed (something I have done many times), the beauty of shooting in RAW is that so much detail is captured in the file that, once post processed, one would never know it! In Lightroom, I did some adjustments in the lens correction panel and then played around with exposure, white balance, highlights, shadows, white and black points, and saturation. From there, I moved into ColorEfex Pro, applying additional contrast, softenening the whites a bit, and adding a vignette. My last step was to sharpen the image in Photoshop using unsharp mask (such a confusing name for a sharpening tool, don’t you think?).

I loved opening up everyone’s emails and seeing all the creative approaches! Clearly, all had a great time with your photo, Stacey. Thanks for letting us play with it!

Submitted by Sherry Felix – Port4u

Sherry Felix, Port4u

Submitted by Reinhold Staden — Reinhold Staden Photography

Reinhold Staden, Reinhold Staden Photography

Submitted by Yan Balczewski — From Hiding to Blogging

Yan Balczewski, From Hiding to Blogging

Submitted by George McCane — Photoman401

George McCane, Photoman401

George McCane, Photoman401

Submitted by Chris — sv-takeiteasy

Chris, sv-takeiteasy

Chris says: I know that Tall Ship, that’s Polly Woodside!  To read a little about its history and see my edit go to www.sv-takeiteasy.com

Submitted by Laura Macky — Laura Macky Photography

Laura Macky, Laura Macky Photography

Submitted by Bryan — theonlyD800inthehameau

Bryan, theonlyD800inthehameau

Submitted by David Croker – CADEPhotographic

David Croker, CADEPhotographic

David says: This was my first go at editing someone elses image and it proved to be a great learning curve. Using a combination of contrast adjustments (which revealed the brilliant, almost stormy cloud detail), graduated filters (to change top and bottom parts of the image) and selective colour reduction to remove the blues from the windows, I acheived the old-style image I was after. Brilliant fun. See you again next month.

Submitted by Michelle Lunato — Michelle Lunato Photography

Michelle Lunato, Michelle Lunato Photography

Submitted by Robin Kent — PhotographybyKent

Robin Kent, PhotographybyKent

Robin says: Many thanks once again to Stacy of VisualVenturing for hosting the monthly One Photo Focus and to Stacey of Lensaddiction for providing us with a challenging image for the February edition of the series.  My interpretation resulted from an accidental overdose of the Glowing Edge effect in the Filter Gallery of Photoshop CC which, among other things, turned the sky black.  Attempts to save the image failed miserably but I did discover that if one uses a combination of the Hue/Saturation and the Levels Adjustment layers in a situation such as this, they will set the sky on fire.  The resulting apocalyptic scene could only mean that evil doers were at work so I imagined a gang of terrorist penguins making their escape from the devastation they (and I) had created.

Submitted by Amy — The World Is a Book

Amy, The World Is a Book

Submitted by Ashleigh Pienaar — Through the Viewfinder

Ashleigh Pienaar, Through the Viewfinder

Submitted by Yvette — In the Zone

Yvette Prior, In the Zone

Yvette says: When I first saw the photo, I know I wanted to add color.  I explored some settings, added and then took out a sunset, and finally ended up with some whimsy windows and a bit of original color.

Submitted by Nancy Merrill – nancy merrill photography

Nancy Merrill, Nancy Merrill photography

Nancy says: This last month, I’ve been playing with some instructions I came across for Photoshop to add deeper color to the images. I was excited to try them out on this month’s One Photo Focus. Thanks, Stacey, for the great image.

Submitted by Raewyn — decocraftsdigicrafts

Raewyn, decocraftsdigicrafts

Raewyn says: Had fun with Photoshop and some Topaz Textures.

Submitted by Cee Neuner — Cee’s Photography

Cee Neuner, Cee's Photography

Cee Neuner, Cee's Photography

Cee says: I absolutely adore tall sailing ships and this ship this ship is huge.  The one thing I don’t like about this photo and it was totally unavoidable is the city buildings running through the middle of the photo.  Although I can totally understand Stacey’s choice to take a full photo of this sailing ship, I would have done the same thing.  So I started to crop several different aspects of this photo.

Submitted by Max 510 — Max510’s Blog

Max510, Max510's Blog

Max says: I preferred to crop the original picture, showing only the masts, thus giving an idea of toward the sky and taking advantage of white hole in the clouds, as accompanied by a Divine Light to face stormy seas that black sky suggests …

Submitted by Linda James — Rainy Day Reflections

Linda James, Rainy Day Reflections

Submitted by Claudia Curici — Claudia Curici PHOTOGRAPHY

Claudia Curici, Claudia Curici Photography
Claudia Curici, Claudia Curici Photography

Claudia says:  Although the original photo looked like a missed opportunity, the details of the boat against the moody sky and the city looked awesome. So, first I fixed the perspective as much as possible (all Lightroom), and cropped it to 4:3 to get rid of some distractions; I recovered details in the sky by lowering the highlights and recovered details in the lower part of the frame by increasing shadows (also used the radial filter for that). After few more actions I got the second photo (colder tone, I imagine might have been winter-ish). For the second one I used a Kodak Gold (100+++) preset.

However, I went a bit farther because I like frames, so I added the frames in Snapseed on my iPhone and I couldn’t help to add a cold tone vintage filter on the second photo 🙂
So yes, I could totally use any of these photos on my Instagram 🙂

 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!

33 thoughts on “February One Photo Focus”

  1. I’m always amazed at how many different treatments one can apply to a single photo. Every one of these is an original.

    I’ve been reading about shooting RAW. It takes awhile for technical information to reach the understanding part of my brain. I’ve learned to read again and again, and eventually it makes sense.

    I love that you do these posts, Stacy.

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  2. Wow! I loved looking at all the different interpretations of this photo. I’m in awe of such a talented group and honored to be included. (I still have a lot to learn.)

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  3. Pingback: A to Z (Feb One Photo Focus) – In the Zone

  5. What a brilliant set of images. Certainly some inspiration here for the next one. I particularly like Sherry’s image for the mere fact of being able to to put it in a new context and blend the layers so well. I also like Raewyn’s for the drama that has been created in it. See you next month 🙂

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        • So glad to hear things are well, Robyn! I’m plodding too. Busy readying my house for the market. The physical work is wreaking havoc with my back 😟On the other hand, it does feel wonderful to be clearing out so much extraneous “stuff”! 👍🏻 Thanks so much for stopping by. I must go see what you’ve been up to!!

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        • Oh boy, I can understand that. I’ve been doing the same over summer, although not towards sale. Does feel good and does play havoc. Take care Stacy of yourself and wishing you well for market 😃 Things have been quiet at my end, due to a hot summer and treading lightly. You’re welcome anytime!

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  7. Pingback: Before and after | Claudia Curici Photography

  8. So many different and interesting variations, tho monochrome is a popular theme – great minds think alike LOL.

    Sadly I was so busy with returning back to work after my extended surgery recovery I completely forgot about this challenge so THANKYOU lovely Stacy for putting my very very last minute image in (I didnt expect you to BTW)

    The story behind this picture is the ship was moored next to the Convention Center which is right in the middle of the city of Melbourne in Australia, and there were NO good views of the ship without a messy background. Back in 2010 when I took it, my photography skills were still being learned, and I didn’t have a wide angle lens which might have done a better job in capturing the image.

    So it sat in my my “too hard basket” until Stacy asked for image ideas for future challenges, and of the 5 images I sent, she picked this one.

    Thankyou everyone for playing with my image, and doing wonderful things with it!

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    • It was a wonderful image to work with, Stacey! I can’t imagine how to minimize the effect in camera of those buildings – but based on how the ship is moored, I don’t think you had any choice. It was this or no shot at all, and I would much prefer having the shot, especially this one!

      So glad to wake up this morning to find your email and image in my inbox 🙂 I was delighted to add it in and update the post – it just wouldn’t have been the same without your input!

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  9. Another great set of interpretations, including yours Stacy, with its clear, simple lines. Thank you so much for coordinating this challenge. I always look forward to seeing the range of possibilities with a single image. Great for learning!

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  11. Pingback: One Photo Focus: February – decocraftsdigicrafts

  14. I forgot to schedule mine for 5 pm EST but I just published it. 🙂 I love the collection. It’s amazing how people get so creative…things I never would’ve thought of. Your rendition has so much clarity and reminds me of YOU! Great job Stacy!!

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