Image Processing ⇒ Fall Color, Single Leaf, Before and After

[Charles Haacker]

Any sort of gentle CC is welcome! I figured this belonged in editing since it's a before and after shot. I actually got up and outta the house wit' my Kidz to one of the last Farm Markets of the season. I couldn't find much that inspired me but you know me and back light, so I saw this and zeroed in on it. The first one is the jpeg from the completely raw straight-out-of-camera original. It's full frame, uncropped (I usually shoot everything at 4:3). But what I SAW is the second one, which has been worked only in Lightroom, the new one (upgraded yesterday) but not using any of the newest kewl tools, just doin' what I've pretty much always done. In this case I pulled both the highlight and shadow sliders all the way down. I wanted max detail in the brightest highlights and the shadows very dark so as to, um, highlight the highlights. (By the way, the upgrade is definitely much faster! )

[LindaShorey]

For me, a great job of interpreting magnificent golden autumn light. Backlighting is almost always my first choice too!

[PietFrancke]

good job Chuck - is beautiful.

[Charles Haacker]

For me, a great job of interpreting magnificent golden autumn light. Backlighting is almost always my first choice too!

good job Chuck - is beautiful.

Thanks, Linda and Piet! "There is no light like back light."

[Psjunkie]

Very well done Chuck, really nice image....I might suggest darkening the grey blue to match the rest below the lower leaf about 5 o'clock.

[Charles Haacker]

Very well done Chuck, really nice image....I might suggest darkening the grey blue to match the rest below the lower leaf about 5 o'clock.

Hunh! Thanks, Frank. I never noticed that. I'll have to get after it. I suspect the reason it's not uniform is that it may not be sky. There was other stuff in the background. It went so far out of focus it's impossible to tell, but looking at the untouched raw I see a greenish shape in there that I guess blended with the blue and changed its value.

[St3v3M]

The processed image is beautifully done, sharp where it needs to be and soft emphasizing that in front of it. The blue and the gold are compliments and all the shadows add to the depth you feel in this. I love what you've done here and wonder if you've considered a top-down square crop? Beautiful! S-

[Charles Haacker]

The processed image is beautifully done, sharp where it needs to be and soft emphasizing that in front of it. The blue and the gold are compliments and all the shadows add to the depth you feel in this. I love what you've done here and wonder if you've considered a top-down square crop? Beautiful! S-

Thank you ,Steve! I had not thought about a square crop but it would work. I shot so much square for so many years that I often really like it.

[Bob Yankle]

With prior review by Chuck, I have permission to upload my rendition of his image. The changes are very subtle because I created a mask that only affected the lower leaf, then upped the color and vibrance to closely match the luminance of the upper one.

[Charles Haacker]

With prior review by Chuck, I have permission to upload my rendition of his image. The changes are very subtle because I created a mask that only affected the lower leaf, then upped the color and vibrance to closely match the luminance of the upper one.

Thanks again, Bob. I really like it and wish I'd thought of it. Next time!