Turtle pic fix

[SeaYoda]

I'm counting the days until the next dive and needed something to fill the void so I got out an old pic from a dive at Vortex Spring and played with it in PS. Here's what resulted:

Before any work

After Photoshop...........................................................................................................After Noiseware

 

[archman]

I liked it better before noiseware. The colours seem more vivid.

Did you pet the turtle? Whenever I try it, they run away.

 

[SeaYoda]

I used very low settings on the Noiseware but it does alter things a bit. I like the colors in the PS shot too. Just trying to get rid of that noise in the background a little. I hardly ever like what noise reduction does to the pics. There is one program that looked good, NoiseNinja. I'm too photography poor to think about another purchase right now so it will be on the list for Santa next year .

I got pics of the turtle's hind feet every time I got closer. He didn't seem to want to play - that's probably how he got so big in the first place.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Cool pic, I have some pics of that same turtle - haven't seen him around in a few trips though...

 

[Dee]

The color difference is negligable to me, maybe if they were side-by-side it would show up more.

I like them both!

 

[SeaYoda]

Dee,

Thanks for moving the thread. I fixed the pics to fit side by side. The color difference can be seen most in the red stripe on the left front leg, the yellows in the neck, and the tan of the shell just under the neck.

 

[PapaBob]

Yoda:

You did a great job in Photoshop and I would like to know your steps. This is my attempt. After a crop, I first used blue channel info to create a mask for the turtle and applied it to a layer copy. Then I did a curves adjustment to the turtle layer in the individual color channels. The turtle layer was copied twice with the first copy being set to overlay and the second copy set to overlay with a high pass adjustment filter applied. This increased the turtle contrast and sharpened it. I added a little contrast to the background layer with a curves adjustment. The result is attached jpg. If you want my psd file then PM your email address and I will send it. This was a unique photo and a pleasure to work with.

---Bob

 

[SeaYoda]

I'll try to remember the steps I used, but I usually just play with everything and delete the steps I don't like in history.

I cropped to put the turtle head at about 3rds.
I used levels to lighten up the pic (RGB middle slider).
Next, Channel Mixer adding the reds back and adjusting the others to taste.
Final step was Unsharp Mask set at 151%, Radius 3.0, Threshold 0.

 

[PapaBob]

Yoda:

I like your results. I left the red channel info alone since it had some turtle info and I didn't think I needed it for the grass.

History is quick manipulation, and one of my favorite palettes. History snapshots give great comparisons and let you go back to a prior manipulation and work from there. Only disadvantage of history states is that you lose them when you save and close your image.

If a lot of effort is going into an image, then I tend to use layers (especially adjustment layers in sets) saved in PSD so I can go back and tweak them.

Thanks for sharing.

---Bob

 

[mike_s]

nice pics Sea Yoda!