New GIMP attempts

[roadsideron]

Here's a photo I adjusted with a series of new methods in GIMP. Here's the before. These are cropped to 45% of original size for upload:

DSCF8085 45 percent.JPG

[roadsideron]

Here's the after. I had cloud cover when I took this and it probably would have been better in full sunlight:
I forgot to mention that these are 5.1 megapixel photos.

DSCF8085 new gimp 45 percent.JPG

[Steve Grisetti]

Hard to believe it's the same picture, Ron!

[roadsideron]

If you have GIMP here's the steps I used to get from the before to the after. I think I'll make a youtube video showing these steps. These are the best I've been able to come up with using various other peoples' steps. I added a couple of my own here. If you want to, download the first photo and see if you can duplicate mine. The photo was resized to 45% of its original so it might not look exactly like mine, but it should be real close.

Step One:
Adjust photo with levels using levels adjust in Colors drop down menu. Only pull the sliders till they reach the edge of where the histogram starts on either side. It the histogram is already to one side, leave it.
Step Two:
Duplicate layer.
Step Three:
DE saturate top layer using lightness mode from Colors drop down menu.
Step Four:
Duplicate the de saturated layer.
Step Five:
Apply a Gaussian blur to the top layer.
Step Six: (optional)
Go to brightness/contrast and apply a 10 to the brightness level:
Step Seven:
In blend modes choose Grain Extract mode.
Step Eight:
Merge layer down.
Step nine:
This is your sharpening/brightness layer. In blend mode choose Overlay.
Step Ten:
Using contrast/brightness on the grey scale layer adjust the contrast for more or less sharpness and the brightness for more or less brightness. When finished merge down.

One more thing I forgot. If you try this when you adjust the levels for color adjustment in step one, don't touch the value slider, just the red, green and blue. I fine tune the value last and only slightly bring up the midtone slider just a little for brightness.

[roadsideron]

My bad, step six should be after step seven. I'll get this right one way or the other.

[Chris B]

Hmm... Steps 2 onwards sound like you're performing some kind of unsharp mask (although I'm not sure in detail) - how does doing that compare to the final image?

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutori ... p-mask.htm

[roadsideron]

Unsharpen mask uses all the pixels including color to sharpen edges. If you overdue it you get artifacts. This method uses a grey scale mask and you have much more control over the contrast/brightness and sharpening. It looks a lot better than a standard unsharpen mask. I'll do another photo and this time I'll write the steps down as I do them so I get them straight.

[roadsideron]

Here's another sample:

IMG_1775 35 percent.JPG

[roadsideron]

Once you have the layer in overlay mode you can really use the contrast/brightness sliders to crank up brightness and sharpness without the artifacts produced with standard sharpening. I cranked up the contrast slider to 100 which really sharpened this photo. The contrast slider is the sharpen one. And again, these are 5.1 megapixel photos and I'm certainly no expert on color or adjustments regarding color correction.

IMG_1775 new gimp 3rd try.JPG

[Ron Hunter]

Wow! You are really good at manipulating that program, but you are also very talented with the camera. I like how the road leads the viewer's eyes into the background. All the editing in the world can't save a poor quality picture, but you have composition skills and editing skills so your pictures look fantastic!

It is hard to believe they are the same shots. The sequence you described above "seems" like a lot of work, does it go quickly?

[roadsideron]

I did that photo in less than 5 minutes. The hardest part on them is adjusting the red, green, blue sliders in levels. I can now click though the rest of the settings in about 30 seconds after doing it over and over and over again. Once you get the flow it's easy. When I get to the next to last step adjusting the brightness and sharpness I take my time, which for me is about 30 seconds. As for the composition of the shots, I see the best scenery out of the front of my windshield so I just hold up the camera, point it where I'm looking and press the button. I've gotten pretty good at framing the shots through the tiny LCD screen on the back of the camera since I can't look through the viewfinder and drive at the same time. I guess I could but if I did that I probably wouldn't be sitting here typing this. I've also gotten good at zooming in and out and holding the camera level. I rarely have to adjust for rotation in any of my photos. The S5200 is small and light and so it's not hard to hold it up. It has a very good, very fast Super CCD sensor and a large front lens that gets a lot of light. It was only 250 dollars new in 2007 and it's the best road camera I have.

[roadsideron]

This one I had to rotate quite a bit to straighten it out. That really degrades the photo but I think I recovered it okay.

IMG_2034 new gimp 35%.JPG

[Ron Hunter]

Wow, that photo is "degraded"? I hope that my photos will become "degraded" like that!

Gotta tell you, your workflow with an open source editing program (free) is making me feel silly dropping $$ on Lightroom...

And you take those photos by pointing the camera out the windshield while driving? Amazing.

You must not have any bugs in your area?? Your windshield is incredibly clean to get images like that.

[roadsideron]

That last photo was taken with my Canon SX40 which is 12 megapixel. There's plenty of room for manipulation in GIMP. The secret to getting good shots through a windshield is to make sure all the haze is off the glass BOTH inside and outside. You also have to have a circular polorizer filter to get the glare out of the shot. Vinegar does real well cleaning off both sides of a windshield. The moment I notice any kind of speck or debris I stop and clean it off. I've ruined too many shots ignoring that. Utah is a dry state so bugs are not a big problem except up around 10,000 feet in the high areas. You won't see any oncoming cars in my photos because I don't take photos when there's other traffic coming at me. I try to stay as safe as possible and so far I have.

[Dave McElderry]

My dad was known for taking photos (slides) out the car windshield while we were on family vacations, typically out west. His favorite windshield cleaner was acetone, which in those days could be purchased by the gallon without going to much trouble or expense. Times have changed.