Grinding Coffee

[wulf]

I'm taking part in another 7 Days project - a new self portrait every day for a week. Today, I wanted to take a shot with reflections from some of the equipment I use to prepare my coffee. Here is the shot I picked out of about 20 (mainly trying to get a good pose).



That is okay but I was sure I could make it look a bit better. I applied some of my regular tricks:

- cropped to 2000x3000. It probably says a lot about me that I find this perfect 2:3 ratio much more satisfying than the D40's default 2000x3008!

- using the levels tool to improve colour balance and contrast (selecting black, white and grey points)

- further contrast adjustment using the curves tool

- high pass sharpening. I used two sharpening layers here - one where the blur was about 8px and the contrast of the resulting overlay was increased to bring out the detail and a second with a 25px blur, applied as a more translucent overlay to intensify some areas of the image.

- relating to this week's assignment, a graduated blue -> transparent filter layer in overlay mode, with the darkest colour in the bottom right of the image. I reduced the opacity so it didn't make the image noticeably blue but reduced the orange cast of the hand.

Here is the result:



I did wonder if the whole thing should be a bit brighter but decided to stick with a darker, moodier look to invite the eye to peer more closely.

Wulf

ps. Check out my nostrils - there is something funny going on with the reflection!

pps. All work done in The Gimp, although it should be applicable to any advanced photo editor.

[jiminyClickit]

So that's what that was! The after is crisper and I like what the blue filter does to dark areas in an image. Can't help with the nostrils; maybe an involuntary caffeine inhalation (wake up and smell the coffee?)

[peeperita]

i'm a 2:3, 3:2 kinda girl myself.....

i enjoy your post work, wulf.....it's very subtle and effective....your image is crisper on two fronts....one with the highpass filtering....(your suggestion and my new favorite tool)......and the blue filter which, to my eye, gives a greater separation of the background from your subject....

and yes, with two nostrils on the same side of your nose you seem to take the love of coffee to new heights......

peeper

[dlaf]

I really enjoy your self portraits, wulf. They are so whimsical!

Thank you for including your work flow. I'm amazed at how the blue filter worked so well with the tones. I haven't figured out how to do the equivalent of a high-pass filter in my PSPXI, so now have a reason to check out The Gimp.

Debbie

[wulf]

Does PSP XI have different blending modes? All you need are overlay (to apply the effect) and grain extract (the magic one that creates the sharpening mask).

BTW, I hit on a neat idea regarding colour filters while working on another image today. I used one of the built in gradient fills that sweeps across the colour spectrum on a new layer and set that to overlay. I was then able to quickly assess which overlay colour worked best against the photo, select that and refill the whole layer in that hue.

Wulf