I reckon that the PL version in the original post is not far off. Colours and tonality seem ok for a travel photo, just a bit overexposed. With this sort of subject, raising shadows and reducing highlighlights can produce an unnatural forced hdr look lacking in contrast.
Not having access to the original file, I just took a screen capture of the screen capture from PL and reduced the gamma to give an idea of where I would go with this photo. I might use subtle local adjustments to the sky and perhaps lighten any areas made too dark while maintaining a natural looking contrast.
Left: image modified with local adjustments and some HSL (to desaturate the greens)
Middle: as left, but with a different crop
Right: note the cloud. I did not like its tilt, so I sloppily straightened its bottom with the 8 point tool. This made the LAs not fit the image any more and thatās what it is. B&W with HSL tool, which was not reacting as expected here, maybe a consequence of the misaligned LAs.
For the benefit of others in the forum, I propose you attach the original file. Others might a) have more ideas and b) could try the changes themselves. Your call @Jibz .
Thank you for all your replies, it definitely broadened my editing horizon.
Iām still trying to replicate my LrC rendering, just for fun or because Iām really stubborn (obsessed?).
Iām getting there, and learning interesting things in the process!
My main findings so far:
SmartLighting acts kind of like a ābrightnessā setting. In general, the lack of a brightness slider in Photolab has always puzzled me.
The āColor Renderingā tool has a HUGE impact of the overal look of the image. In my example, switching it off gives much nicer colors. Switching it on with the default camera setting (the DxO GRIII profile) gives a rather dull rendering.
You can widen the range by trying DCP profiles, e.g. from Adobe Camera RAW or DNG Converter.
They currently provide about 6k camera profiles from Apple to Zeissā¦one might possibly find something to like
Smart Lighting has two modes and, as you should be able to see from my DOP, I use the Spot Measure mode, by placing a rectangle over the brightest area and another over the darkest area. This effectively uses the info in the image to set the white and black points. It really is quite magical.
Basically, all this does is apply a preset, which you are free to choose, either from DxOās own emulations or any other preset you can obtain or create. I rarely, if ever use anything other than the Optical Corrections Only preset and then tune the image by eye.
Nice, I wasnāt aware that it was possible to sample 2 areas with the spot measure modeā¦ Not really intuitive, but if it works Iām happy with that!
Again, I always thought that this was somehow linked to optical corrections. I will definitely uncheck this tool in my default preset from now on.
I will try that!
I already created a specific GR III profile with a Colorchecker, but the resulting color profile raises exposure too much for my taste.
You can place more than two, depending on which parts of the image you want to prioritise.
Since a lot of the presets available are full presets, they will only serve to override your default preset anyway.
Donāt forget, the ColorChecker profile is specific to one lighting situation, normally that of the subject you are currently photographing. It is not meant to be a camera specific profile.
As soon as the lighting changes, that profile will no longer be fully valid, hence you perception that the exposure might be changing. Not ignoring that a DCP from a colour chart doesnāt necessarily relate to a particular exposure.
PhotoLab 6 currently provides 265 presets. Most are partial presets though. The only full presets I found with a sloppy check are the DxO Standard, Optical only and No correction presets found in the top drawer of the preset editor.
Sure would be nice if the tone curve changed to reflect the āselective toneā settings. Sort of an interactive tutorial for users unfamiliar with the curve - and making it clear what ST is doing with each slider.
Guess Iād ought to submit this to āfeature requestsāā¦
More than just a picker (though that would be great), I would like the facility found in e.g. Photoshop where you can click on a tone in the image and drag up or down to lighten/darken. Such an easy method to tweak the tones.
