Help on this one please...

[brewmaster15]

ignore the fish color... just look at the background...

This one has the brush strokes that Ricardo mentioned...
before.jpg

this one has them removed by using a harder brush...

after.jpg

al

[LoGeek]

Al, the fish and the picture are stunning! You should be proud!

[RichT]

Really nice image. May be one of my all time favorites !!

[rickztahone]

Ricardo,
Thanks, I just upped the hardness on the brush.. Hows it now?
IMGP1534GP1_03 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Only place I see it is a little around the tails?

al

Much much better. I do see some very faint ghosting around the tail as you mentioned. Honestly, I would work this image till you wouldn't see the tail ones either, simply because it is one heck of a shot and I'd consider even printing it.

[Discus-n00b]

Ricardo I'll see what I can do for workflow. I need to find some screen capture software, would make it so much cleaner than taking tons of screenshots lol. Going to research that more, been wanting something anyway so paid or not I'll see whats out there. And I have Lightroom, and access to the full adobe suite, but I mainly just do everything in Photoshop. I haven't really found a need to go with both yet. I'm fairly OCD with my files so I don't want any program cataloging for me. I already do that. I've heard Lightroom is faster, but I just feel more in control and confident with Photoshop. The camera RAW tools should all be the same. Photoshop is a big Caterpillar 993k loader and Lightroom is a Bobcat. They can accomplish the same goal, one just has a bunch more buttons and one is just a bit more nimbal and faster than the other especially when fully batch processing. I will do timelapses in Lightroom because of this. But if I'm only showing 1-2 images from any given set, especially when the lighting or scenery has changed I will use Photoshop. You know if Lightroom would get rid of it's constant cataloging I would be much more inclined to use it more......but I guess they wouldn't have a market for that beside photoshop.

It really is a striking image Al. Your final version there through that new software looks close or identical to mine tbh by my naked eye. Nice job there.

[Second Hand Pat]

Matt, if you are on a Microsoft OS try srip32.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions and feedback... I've settled on at least one method so far...


IMGP1520_01 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

[brewmaster15]

IMGP1518gp1_01 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

[Discus-n00b]

Al you have some perfect posters here lol These are excellent.

[Second Hand Pat]

They are excellent Al, love them all.
Pat

[Jack L]

dust and scratches + magic wands is what came to my mind, is that what did it? i see i mentioned above.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks again Guys. I got lucky and got a few more in this set, maybe I will hold out on them until the calendars Yesterday I separated the female from the fry and put her back with the male. Maybe I will have a take-2 in a few weeks with more fry.

Jack,
Theres alot of ways to post process pics... The ones you mention would work here. My software is open source linux software so I run in different pack than the rest of the team here. The software does the same thing but alot of the tools are different... I relied on using "brushes" of various hardness, mainly to blend the edges of the fish a little as I subtracted all the junk from the open water. Like Matts Technique, I had to zoom in really close as I worked the edges.

hth,
al

[Debow]

These are worthy of the Simplydiscus calendar.

[Jack L]

Thanks again Guys. I got lucky and got a few more in this set, maybe I will hold out on them until the calendars Yesterday I separated the female from the fry and put her back with the male. Maybe I will have a take-2 in a few weeks with more fry.

Jack,
Theres alot of ways to post process pics... The ones you mention would work here. My software is open source linux software so I run in different pack than the rest of the team here. The software does the same thing but alot of the tools are different... I relied on using "brushes" of various hardness, mainly to blend the edges of the fish a little as I subtracted all the junk from the open water. Like Matts Technique, I had to zoom in really close as I worked the edges.

hth,
al

So you run Linux instead of Windows then and i assume the open source photo sw won't run on Windows. My version of Photoshop is so old, not sure if it will even run on Windows 10 anymore

[brewmaster15]

I run Linux, though I have a small laptop with dual boot windows and Linux for presentations...I am a die hard Linux OS user. I use open source where I can. Darktable, RawTherapee and Gimp Mostly. Recently started playing with Lightzone,

You can download Gimp for Windows...its very similar to photoshop.
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
I highly recommend it. There are plenty of tutorials online as well.

The software I mentioned earlier this thread ... Lightzone does also offer windows versions.

http://lightzoneproject.org/content/about

for the budget minded.. GIMP and Lightzone are FREE though I always try and support open source where I can. Free to use doesn't mean resources didn't go into it. But you can try it all you want free.

These are very powerful processing engines.

al