Devious Journal Entry

hello.
here's a "how i edited that pic", and surely not a "how it has to be done". just because i've been asked.
here's a link to the concerned pic fav.me/d59e9ga
and a rapidshare link if you want to dl and have fun with the original bracketing (in jpeg) as a workshop or not:
rapidshare.com/files/125947883…

i'm using a canon eos7D
lenses:
samyang 8mm
tamron 10-24
sigma 17-70
sigma 70-300
rarely a sigma 105 mm.

half-broken vanguard tripod.
PSCS5
photomatixpro4
beer
green debility accelerator

first you need a tripod and a camera that allows bracketing.
usual settings:
RAW format
100 iso
priority aperture
i always shoot with a +2/0/-2 bracketing because i always forget to try something else.
retarder: 10 seconds. that way you have time to move behind the tripod for not to have shadows in your frame if you're using a wide angle lense.


PHOTOMATIXPRO4: if you don't have a set of 3 (or more) bracketed pics: duplicate 3 times a single pic (with 3 different names) and open them in photomatix:
it gives you the choice to create an artificial bracketing.

i usually directly load the raw files.
preprocessing settings:
align source images
crop aligned images
reduce ghosting artefacts/automatic.
reduce noise on merged images
white balance: as shot

photomatix settings for that pic:
strenght: 100
color saturation: 80
luminosity: 10
microcontrast: 10
smoothing: mid
white point: 1.568 (!)
black point: 0.031
gamma: 1.00
temperature: 0
satration highlights/shadows: 0
microsmoothing: 0.7
highlights/shadows smoothness: 0
shadows clipping: 0

PHOTOSHOP:
after you have opened your image with ps the first thing you have to do is to go to image/mode and choose 16bits.
then duplicate your background twice.
select background copy 2 and go to filters/misc/high pass filter.
my settings: 5.7 pix for a 5200x3460 image.
now in the fusion modes choose the incrustation or subdued light mode. opacity 100%.
create a mask on copy 2 and paint the sky with the brush tool. i don't need a sky with more details
that's why i don't want it to be "affected" by the high pass filter.
select background copy 2, right-click on it and choose "merge with the layer below".
duplicate the new layer and call it "noise" for example. to do that right click on the layer and choose "layer properties"
for noise removing i use noiseware professionnal as a plug-in.
if you have it go to filters/imagenomic. choose "full noise reduction"/ok.
then create a mask for the noise layer and paint everywhere around the sky. that way you don't loose details.
if you don't have noiseware installed go to filters/attenuation and choose surface blur.
my settings for that pic: 12 pix/8 levels.
then create a mask for the noise layer and paint everywhere around the sky too.
merge the noise layer with the layer below and duplicate the new layer.
call it "levels" for example.
go to "adjustments" and choose levels. it creates a levels layer.
my settings here: 15/1.00/218. this is only for the inside so i have to paint on everything outside.
create another levels layer only for the mountains and the door outside. you'll have to paint the rest.
settings: 11/1.00/153.
a third one for the sky only. you'll have to paint the burnt and very dark parts of the sky too.
settings: 28/1.00/232
back to settings. create a luminosity/contrast layer.
settings: contrast 21.
only for the interior and the wall outside on the left.
last layer: colour/ saturation:
reds: 0/-15/0
blue: -21/0/-87 only for the blue on the moutains in the background. just paint on the rest of the image.
now you can flatten image, go back to image/mode and choose 8 bits.
save and rename it.
voilà... i hope somebody learned something here