Re: K-Chromes - "I get by with a little help from my friends ... "

Scott Turner Wrote:
========================================
> Russ, if I could offer a critique ...

Always welcome, Scott!   Though I obviously still have a long way to go, I feel that my results have improved
considerably these past few years thanks especially to advice from you, Jim Gunning and John West.

> In a projection or on the light table, the light
> coming through a transparency allows you to
> have the best of both worlds, where blacks get
> to stay black, but the light shines through bring-
> ing up highlights & details.  But in a backlit shot
> like this it's almost impossible to have your cake
> and eat it too when you try to translate that into
> another medium. To me, you've gone a tad too far
> here, leaving the blacks just a bit too washed out
> and contrast overly diminished.

The above post was just the initial adjustment using Elements' 'Camera Raw' "pre-edit".  Here's a further refinement using "Levels" within "Adjust Lighting" within "Enhancements".  Following your advice above, I reset the "Black Point" parameters down somewhat to 026-026-026 (hex 1a1a1a) and clicked on the darkest spot I could find; this enhanced the contrast noticeably.  Resetting the "White Point" (250-250-250) didn't change the high end much, and neither did "Grey Point".  I subsequently masked off the locomotive, and decreased Mid-Tone green and Mid-Tone blue by the smallest available setting, and then re-reset the "White Point" to get rid of the resulting slight pinkish tint in the clouds. The last step before saving the following was to decrease saturation by clicking the minimum setting three times:


> Trust me, I understand your frustration. I have a
> shot (not K'chrome, but Velvia - and please don't
> ask why any self-respecting rail photographer
> would shoot steam with Velvia) of 3985 on Archer
> Hill that just makes me grin when I look at the
> transparency on the light table, but I have never
> been able to translate the great morning lighting
> of the original to a decent scan for similar
> reasons.
>
> To my aging eyes, in this shot you're stealing
> drama to buy detail. Some battles just aren't
> completely winnable. No matter what you do here,
> I think you'll have to compromise.

The primary motivation here is that the only part of the photo that's in reasonably sharp focus is the front of the locomotive, and it's tough to have a good percentage of your main subject be just a big black blob.  The secondary motivation here is that this was, SFAIK, the last "portrait" taken of #498 before her fires were killed for the last time, and the last time for several years that a K-37 was operated anywhere.  As noted elsewhere, I compromised about five years ago by having Jeff Ellingson of the D&S create a watercolor painting from this photo which, though slightly more expensive than full-on Photoshop, got me the results I wanted with FAR less effort.

> But maybe that's just me.
> (Aren't you glad you drug me up!)

I am VERY glad I dragged you out of hiding, drugged up or not ...    

- Roosso

p.s. Another compromise that works pretty well, eliminates color problems and some noise issues,
      and IMHO retains the drama - or maybe even enhances it - is to convert to black & white:


pps. Neither of the above have as yet been edited in Elements to remove the fringes around the loco.
      As to the origin of fringe elements around locos - or vice-versa - I have no comment at this time ...    



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2015 09:30PM by Russo Loco.