How do you edit fog photos?

hark

hark

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Today I took a few fog photos which, to the best of my knowledge, is the first time I've done so. I shot RAW+jpeg and converted the RAW to DNG. Here is a SOOC jpeg of an image which is quite similar to how the scene looked (resized for the forum was the only post processing done).

014 unedited resize.jpg



I used Bridge to open the DNG, applied the lens correction, and set the Blacks and Whites. As you can see below, doing so eliminated quite a bit of the fog. So how do you edit fog photos? Do you not set the Blacks and Whites? I'm not familiar with Curves (in case anyone suggests using it). Thanks for any ideas on how to proceed.

DNG Black & White applied.jpg
 
nikonpup

nikonpup

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i like what u did in processing, imo reducing the fog made the shot. I just play with the setting till i get something i like.
 
hark

hark

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nikonpup said:
i like what u did in processing, imo reducing the fog made the shot. I just play with the setting till i get something i like.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm glad you like the second photo, but I am looking for a closer match to the first...or at least have more fog than what the second one has. I'm wondering if I need to reset the Black adjustment or possibly not make such a big adjustment to it. Wondering if there are times when it doesn't matter about setting the Blacks and Whites....:confused:
 
hark

hark

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Blacktop said:
How's this?
Click to expand...

It was much foggier than that and I was hoping for more fog above the water. It's nice though! :) I guess I'm just wondering if low contrast photos are processed the same way as high contrast images. Will it matter if the Blacks and Whites are set?
 
B

Blacktop

Senior Member
hark said:
It was much foggier than that and I was hoping for more fog above the water. It's nice though! :) I guess I'm just wondering if low contrast photos are processed the same way as high contrast images. Will it matter if the Blacks and Whites are set?
Click to expand...

It depends on what you're looking to get out of the shot.

Ok, I added some contrast to the top half of the image, pulled back on the contrast on the bottom half, and added whites and some other stuff.
It would be nice to work with the RAW file, or even the DNG. It would be nice to do it in NIK.
 
hark

hark

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Blacktop said:
It depends on what you're looking to get out of the shot.

Ok, I added some contrast to the top half of the image, pulled back on the contrast on the bottom half, and added whites and some other stuff.
It would be nice to work with the RAW file, or even the DNG. It would be nice to do it in NIK.
Click to expand...

Blacktop said:
I think I know what you're trying to achieve. You're looking for that Into the Mystic feeling.
Click to expand...

I dunno. I just want it to look foggy but not hazy. Does that make sense?

Can you (and anyone who wishes) access the DNG from this link? https://www.dropbox.com/s/3pl403fa2q28qk0/014.dng?dl=0
 
O

oldhippy

Senior Member
I took a shot at it, working on laptop so not my best.
Added haze with dehaze tool in LR then
cleared the top using gradient tool.



014 unedited resize.jpg
 
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D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
The one thing I took away from your original post was " the Blacks and Whites."

Are you applying a standard correction to every photo that you do? That might work in many photos but you should really treat each photo as a separate photo and only do what is necessary to make it look like you want it to. Try starting over and instead of doing the standard setting of the Blacks and Whites just play with them only till you get the look you want.
 
hark

hark

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Don Kuykendall said:
The one thing I took away from your original post was " the Blacks and Whites."

Are you applying a standard correction to every photo that you do? That might work in many photos but you should really treat each photo as a separate photo and only do what is necessary to make it look like you want it to. Try starting over and instead of doing the standard setting of the Blacks and Whites just play with them only till you get the look you want.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I need to know. I remember Jake (BackdoorHippie) mentioned it is important to set those parameters to have the most data to work with in a file; however, in this case, doing so removes some of the detail I want to retain.

Later today I will start over and see what I can do even if I don't completely adjust the Blacks and Whites. Thanks, Don.
 
hark

hark

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oldhippy said:
I took a shot at it, working on laptop so not my best.
Added haze with dehaze tool in LR then
cleared the top using gradient tool.



View attachment 188994
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, oldhippy. I will try making more use of the dehaze tool. I still want to retain the fog in the upper half of the reflection which may involve using the brush to work with the dehaze tool on certain spots rather than to have the dehaze tool affect the entire image. One tool I've never used yet is the gradient tool in Lightroom. I will definitely look into learning more about it. Thanks again!
 
Marcel

Marcel

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If there was fog, the blacks should NOT be completely black. I normally use clarity to gain a bit of contrast in the mid tones and raise saturation to get the colors to come through the fog. But the histogram has to stay on the right side. More difficult to explain than to do as far as I'm concerned.
 
W

wornish

Senior Member
I just downloaded your dmg and loaded it into Photoshop.

The unedited untouched version looks very different to your DNG.

It looks almost exactly like the jpg image you posted initially.

Not sure whats going on.

Screen Shot 2015-12-03 at 13.24.39.jpg



Here is the jpg saved directly from this again completely untouched.

014.jpg



Here is a version where I tried to add more fog over the water. I simply added a levels layer and moved the top middle slider to the left to increase the fog.
I used a mask to ensure the effect only applied to the water. Painted the mask with a very soft brush and only 20% flow to build up the fog.

Not sure if this is what you were looking for.

More-fog.jpg
 
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hark

hark

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Marcel said:
If there was fog, the blacks should NOT be completely black. I normally use clarity to gain a bit of contrast in the mid tones and raise saturation to get the colors to come through the fog. But the histogram has to stay on the right side. More difficult to explain than to do as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

That makes sense, Marcel. And I understand the importance of the histogram staying on the right side. When I watched a couple of videos, that is something I noticed but wasn't sure about. Thanks! :)

wornish said:
I just downloaded your dmg and loaded it into Photoshop.

The unedited untouched version looks very different to your DNG.

It looks almost exactly like the jpg image you posted initially.

Not sure whats going on.

View attachment 189020


Here is the jpg saved directly from this again completely untouched.

View attachment 189021


Here is a version where I tried to add more fog over the water. I simply added a levels layer and moved the top middle slider to the left to increase the fog.
I used a mask to ensure the effect only applied to the water. Painted the mask with a very soft brush and only 20% flow to build up the fog.

Not sure if this is what you were looking for.

View attachment 189023
Click to expand...

In my original post, I moved the Black and White sliders in Bridge which dramatically altered the DNG, but it's not what I wanted. Did you use LR? If so, I will definitely check out how to add a levels layer as I've not done that in LR or Bridge. Thanks, wornish!

Carroll said:
I like your fog image...very nice.

Here is my vision of it:

View attachment 189024
Click to expand...

This is terrific, Carroll! It's very similar to what I wanted. What did you do?
 
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