[Play Raw] Noctilucent clouds

I was looking at the EXIF info for the wrong image. I’m not real familiar with XnView. I was looking at lylejk’s image, and then I wasn’t. I’ve looked again; it does say GIMP.

I would also like to know what @lylejk’s workflow has been with Gimp, since it seems that he has used several filters and the result is different from how it looks with DT or with RT only.

You caught me; definitely used several filters since that’s what I do. I first used Filter Factory (User Filter) with Unplugged Effects Ink Rubber (set layer property to value on dupllicate layer) which tends to darken the blues. I then enhanced the details using G’MIC’s Freaky Details but forgot that it can lead to edge artifacts (if you look at the full rez, that’s obvious). I can clean up that, but have to head off to work soon (work weekends for my full time job).

Just as a side, I really like Ink Rubber preset since it does darken the sky the way I like it leaving other details the same. Just my laziness I suppose. :slight_smile:

Thanks Lyle! I will look at these filters this weekend
:+1:

DSCF2925.RAF.xmp (21.3 KB)

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Wow, what a wonderful picture, thanks for sharing. Here is my attempt with darktable 3.5 master:


DSCF2925_06.RAF.xmp (8,2 KB)

White-balance was a bit tricky. First I thought about using the white surface of the boat, but from which area? The cabin in the shadow or the side towards the water, which is probably illuminated by reflections from water, sky and street lighting? At the end I used the whole picture as area for the color picker in color calibration, and used the 4 ways tab in color balance rgb to compensate the color cast for different luminance levels.

I used tone equalizer to lift the shadows in the foreground, supported by a really low black relative exposure of -16 EV in filmic. This aims at giving the cabin a more “natural” visual experience, while the pier should remain just noticeable in the dark shadow.

Color grading is finalized again in the master tab of color balance rgb, by increasing global contrast and vibrance, and increasing linear chroma in highlights and a bit of brilliance in the midtones.

To increase the detail sharpness I use my preset in contrast equalizer, and added local contrast with a parametric mask on Jz input range to exclude shadows and highlights. Custom settings in denoise (profiled), especially scattering, central pixel weight and preserve shadows, also help increasing the separation of objects (boat, ropes) vs. smooth areas (water, sky).

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Here is my take with darktable 3.5 (filmic+colorbalance rgb).


DSCF2925.RAF.xmp (8.7 KB)

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This is a really good image. Here is my try with dt 3.2.1


DSCF2925.RAF.xmp (9.1 KB)

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Still haven’t figured out where my .xmp files are going. They aren’t showing up in the same folder as the Raw files. Will post once I find it.

Went for something deviating a little more from the raw with the colors (for me at least)…

Wonderful capture, btw. What a great photo.

First of all: The edit info is stored inside the jpg, unless you disable it (you did not), so if people want to have a look at your edit steps they can load the jpeg as sidecar file.

About not being able to find the xmp files: Does dartable actually create them? There’s an option in the preferences that takes care of this:

preferences -> storage -> XMP -> write sidecar for each image

It should be ticked (it is by default if I’m not mistaken).

Very nice edit @Tim

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Trying to get a handle on color grading; wanted to make the color of the waterfront go with the blues. Threw a lot of modules at it until I got what I wanted. Perhaps not as efficient as could be.

Made my color calibration on the light bulb showing in the oval window on the boat.

dt 3.5

DSCF2925_25.RAF.xmp (24.6 KB)

Obviously, this photo has something special going for it, as witnessed by all the contributors.

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Thanks. In the past I must have had that option picked, becuase it always created the xlm files.

Serves me right for running the development version without knowing more :slight_smile:

Thanks again. Learning a lot around here.

Cannot resist to Blue Hour

ART

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That’s an amazing image, thank you for sharing!
Here my interpretation of the scene (Darktable 3.5):


DSCF2925.RAF.xmp (10.6 KB)

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An update: worked like a charm. Thanks. Just another bit of the learning curve when starting to compile instead of the taking the packaged version.


DSCF2925.jpg.out.pp3 (12.0 KB)

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and this was edited into the camera by the raw chose the profile of the fuji velvia, since the raw is from fuji. the white balance on the yellow lantern received a temperature of 2550 kelvin +10 towards magenta. then, having received a cold picture and knowing the temperature of incandescent lamps, I added 3200 Kelvin and got a temperature of 5750 Kelven +10 magenta. I lightened up to 2.5 exposure stops, the sky went into overexposure, I applied a gradient to the sky and made -2.5 in exposure. the result was an evenly exposed, relatively light shot.I think finding the correct white balance in this shot is difficult as there is nothing white in the field of view. So I went to the trick with an incandescent lamp to find the correct and ideal white balance on this composition.

RAWTHERAPEE 5.8 BETA VARIANT 2
DSCF2925.jpg.out.pp3 (14.7 KB)

Question to the photographer, did you see exactly such a white balance during shooting as in this photo?

Sorry for digging old thread. Just am trying to practice with some sample images.


DSCF2925.RAF.xmp (15.5 KB)

3 Likes