CameraPorn

CameraPorn Project #1 – Revisit and Retouch

Recently, I’ve found myself looking at older photos I’ve taken, and giving another stab at retouching them. Why retouch again? Well over the last year, I’ve dedicated a lot of my time educating myself in different methods of retouching and with new tricks up my sleeve I can go back and look at older photos with a more critical eye, to make a better final image. One of my favorite retouching methods is using a series of exposure bracketed images to composite a final image.

The image above happened to be one of my favorites from this process, and I thought to myself, why not include the CameraPorn readership and see what your eyes see to make this image the best it can be. After the great fun I had with the Epic Edits Project, “Editing Brian’s Photo,” I realized that everyone looks at any image differently. Throw in 3 bracketed exposures, and the possibilities could be endless.

Full project details, RAW files, and entry information after the jump…

About The Image

The photo I’ve chosen for this project was taken in late 2006 on a visit to Grand Cayman. This happens to be the entire islands supply and entry point for fuel. It was a gorgeous day, right around sunset time, so the light was perfect. It began as three exposure bracketed images shot with a Canon 30D and EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 lens at f/22 for a super-wide depth of field. You may notice some dust spots when you start playing with the RAW images, but actually its bits of sea spray on the filter kicked up from the crashing waves. Keep that in mind when you are retouching As the entries start to come in, I’ll do my own, explaining how I got to the result you see above.

These images are supplied for reference only, drop me a line and I’ll send you the full res RAW images

The Project

The challenge is simple: Download the zip file containing the 3 bracketed RAW files, and create what you think is the perfect final image for the shot. Thats it.

Submitting Your Entry

1. Contact me for the RAW file download link – subject should be “Retouch and Revisit” Tell me a bit about yourself – full name, what you shoot with and anything else you’d like to include.
2. When I get your email, I’ll send you the link to download the RAW files
3. Build your perfect image.
   I’m including the 3 bracketed RAW files for compositing purposes, though this is not required, only recommended. Also, because this is three bracketed exposures, you might be tempted to do a little HDR magic. I’m not going to prohibit this, but as cool as HDR is, its too easy. I’ve done it with this image here back when I was first experimenting. Point is, anybody can throw some raw files into photomatix so if you are gonna bring the hdr, it better be special
4. Publish Your Results – and tell us how you did it.
   Publish to your own blog or site if you have one, or to a photo sharing site like Flickr with a link back to this project page. If thats not possible, let me know and I’ll post your entry here.
5. Once you’re satisfied with your entry, contact me again and I’ll link it up here on CameraPorn
6. Deadline for submission is January 25th, 2008 I’ll be posting everyones results as the project goes, and at the end, we’ll all vote for our favorite.

I guess thats about it. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Happy Editing!