Several weeks back, I posed a challenge to CameraPorn readers. Take an image I dug out of my archives in the form of three bracketed exposures and retouch it into the best final image possible. The “Revisit & Retouch” project was meant to be an exercise in compositing these bracketed exposures into one image, taking details from each, but what it became was an interesting and educational view into the personal style of each of the entrants.
Here’s what everyone started with:
After the jump we have 17 different interpretations and the best part, everyone gets to vote for their favorite image…
Voting Closed
The winner has been posted. Check it out.
What Am I Voting For?
With each entry, I was continually amazed that each photographer came up with markedly different interpretations. Not a single entry looked like any of the others and each of them had their own unique style and approach. Below are the entries from 16 talented retouchers and yours truly. You should vote for the images that you feel not only best reflect the scene, but are the most interesting visually to you. Vote by writing the entry number in the comments. You can choose up to three. When you’re done voting, don’t forget to click through to the amazing writeups to learn how each entrant came to their final result.
1. Ryan Dlugosz
2. Arnoldas Ramonas
3. Tim Grimshaw
4. Ryan Harvey
5. Phill Price
6. Brian Auer
7. Scott Gardiner
8. Eugene Lim
9. Bill Hurlburt
10. Kelly Pierce
11. Escapista
12. Sebastian Schroeder
Sebastian’s Write-up and his website (in german)
13. Tyler Hicks-Wright
14. Rex Maximilian
15. Justin Berman
16. Kim Brown
Kim provided no write-up.
17. Ryan Goodman
Last but not least, yours truly. Here’s my write-up.
In Conclusion
Firstly, I’d like to give big thanks to all the participants and supporters of the project. You all did amazing work, that greatly exceeded what I expected. I’d also like to thank Brian Auer for inspiring the project.
It’s Voting Time!
Now comes the fun part! Vote for up to three of your favorites by putting the entry numbers into the comments. The entry that gets the most votes will receive a special treat from the CameraPorn crew. Happy Voting.
Voting Closed
The winner has been posted. Check it out.
Wow! And that even applies to your striped collage for the post’s teaser image!
Perfect timing for inspiring me as I’m off to Europe for a month with my “Big Ballers’ Kit!” Can’t wait to snap away…
16 - 1 - 8, in that order. 16 looks almost like a painting.
WOW! I am really awed at the results, this contest inspired me to do my own contest as well, gave kudos to ya as well.
Hmm now who to vote for, well darn after looking at all of them it’s so hard to choose!
BUT… I choose #’s 1, 4, and of course 17! lol
I’m also a little shocked only myself and one other person chose to change the crop of the image, pretty neat though. Thanks for allowing us all to participate, I had a blast.
#7
#9
#13
My top three…
11. Escapista, 10. Kelly Pierce and 8. Eugene Lim.
Very creative entries!
My votes:
3. Tim Grimshaw
11. Escapista
16. Kim Brown
Great stuff Ryan, awesome results from everyone! But if I MUST pick only 3, I’ll go for:
1, 7, and 9.
In order of preference:
6 - love the textures which have been pulled out of the B&W conversion
4 - fab colours, but unlike some others, isn’t unnatural looking
17 - again, great, natural colours.
My vote goes to:
3 - 10 - 17
3, 4, 17 are my votes!
17 I think the original is fantastic, amazed at the whole process
8 I don’t usually like overdone contrast but this one makes me keep coming back, it looks like a poster
1 The warm water is pretty
Definitely very interesting to see how much variation there is in the entries - everyone’s interpretation is quite different.
My votes:
17
3
4
My votes in no particular order:
17
7
3
10
3
17
They look great.
Here’s my picks…
4
1
17
Nice work by all!
My votes are:
11
14
16
Amazing how many different tastes and ideas there are out of the one image.
1
4
13
This is a great idea for a contest, and all of the results were terrific!
My votes are:
1
8
16
Again … amazing idea and amazing execution by everyone.
11 2st choice (escapista)
1 2nd choice (dlugosz)and
17 3rd choice (goodman)
17
My votes in order (best first):
3. Tim Grimshaw
6. Brian Auer
17. Ryan Goodman
My votes are 11, 12, and 14
My votes…
16 - Beautiful Rembrandt style (wish I could see this larger size!)
17 - Very natural, feels like I’m there
1 - also reminds me of a painting
Ryan - great exercise & there are a lot of interesting interpretations here.
My favorites are:
1 (my own, but I do like it!)
11 (some serious grungy-mystery going on here)
6 (I like the detail in this b/w version)
#12 gets an honorable mention due to how slick that signature looks!
17
4
7
Thanks for hosting and putting together such a great little comparison Ryan.
12
13
17
3 - 10 - 17
Very good work peoples!
3
17
I’m gonna have to go with #3…a lot of them just looked too fake for me.
#3
#17
#6
Really like Jim Grimshaw’s interpretation of the project. Perhaps it’s because it’s gloomy outside is the reason why I can relate to this one.
3,5 and 7
1 - 3 -10
11-16-9
11, 14, 6
my votes are: 11, 14 and mine, 8
i used a little HDR for that due to RAW files given.
thanks for the vote all!
7, then 4, then 12. Those are my picks.
To bad voting is over.
I would pick 3, 5 and 17.
1 & 8
What a fantastic idea for a contest!
Sorry I missed the party, but it is 3-11-8 for me.