I can't get rid of the haze.

[Brooks P]

Hi, I’m new to this site and this is my first post other than the one on the New Members forum. I am hoping this is the correct forum to post a question like this.

My Wife and I went down to the harbor when we heard the USS Ronald Reagan would be leaving in less than 30-minutes. When we got there the tugs had her in the main channel and she was getting underway. I snapped this picture as she was pointed right at us. Standing there the haze was not all that apparent. The time was 9:20 am, I was facing just a little east of due south, and it was beginning to cloud up.

When I got home and looked at my photos I was struck by the amount of haze. I had checked the histogram when I took the picture but didn’t notice the haze, but then I have learned the LCD on the D50 isn’t real good for checking the IQ of pictures, so I pretty much just look at histogram. Well here is the photo, converted to JPEG using View 6; nothing was done to the photo but conversion and downsizing.
http://bmiddleton.smugmug.com/photos/127242913-L.jpg

I have repeatedly tried to PP this picture, and I keep running into the same problem, when I get the contrast up and color saturation up the noise goes through the roof. This is my best attempt.
http://bmiddleton.smugmug.com/photos/127262041-L.jpg

But I know it can be done. I started a thread on dpr (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=21921424) and one member posted a really nice post PP photo, http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=21922074.

Unfortunately he has not shown any interest in sharing his workflow. Something I don’t really understand, but then that’s me, I have always enjoyed showing others how to do something. Knowledge is a wonderful thing, you can share it and you don’t have less. Share your money, or your food, etc and you have less for yourself, but share your knowledge and you still have it. You can latterly have your cake and eat too.

So does anyone here what Harry might have done in the way of PP to get the photo he displayed? BTW I’m currently using Adobe PS Elements 4.0.

[beaucamera]

Your image looks fine to me. The only differences with the image posted on DPR and yours seems to be minor adjustments in contrast and brightness as far as I can tell.

Do you a noise reduction program?

Virginia
aka beaucamera

[Corry]

Hi, I'm more than willing to share anything I can...

That being said... Often cameras pick up things our eyes don't normaly see, I take alot of pictures around Vancouver and often they have haze that I didn't really notice with my naked eye. I could be wrong but I think it's the result of UV rays on the smog of the city, so using a UV filter could fix things.

However, for post processing I sometimes use photoshop with similar methods you use and then saturate the image to get some color back... but I discovered a nice little program that simplifies things. It's called icorrect and it does a lot of PP task and turns them into one or two clicks, one of them is very effectively eliminating haze while maintaining overall image quality. It cost's about $100 dollars and works with Raw too.

This is an example... I took this a few years ago with a point and shoot, the haze was even worse than that of yours

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n125/corsmith/IMG_2519-iC.jpg

here's a link to the icorrect site

http://www.pictocolor.com/editlabpro.htm

[Jeff JTPhoto]

My results. For best effect it should be done on the full size image..

EDIT didn't work out in PS7 will try CS2 on other computer later..

[MGlennn]

A trick I learned long ago which is easy and has served me well is to go into image>adjustments and click "autocolor" .....this removes most haze...click more than once if you wish....simplist method I know ;) ;) ;) this is in CS2 but should be same in Elements.

http://mglennn.smugmug.com/photos/128232954-M.jpg

[Harv]

A trick I learned long ago which is easy and has served me well is to go into image>adjustments and click "autocolor" .....this removes most haze...click more than once if you wish....simplist method I know ;) ;) ;) this is in CS2 but should be same in Elements.



Thanks for the tip, Mike. That is quick and easy and works pretty well. I also played a little with it after that using auto-curves and auto-contrast. Hmmmmm.

You are more than just a pretty face. :wacko:

[stilllearning]

I found out that working with the levels accomplished about the same thing as the autocolor. I got rid of most of the haze but still wasn't able to restore the color. I need to learn to work with masks more.

[Lisa]

Brooks:

Well, I agree with Virginia in that the final version at DPR looks like a difference in brightness and contrast. I also suspect a little shadow/highlight in there somewhere but I cannot be sure.

What I did with this is basically the same as Mike. I did an auto contrast followed by auto color but faded the auto color by 50%. With the history brush at 50% and the state set to the auto contrast step, I painted back just the water to give it some of the blue it lost.

I then duplicated the layer and set the blend mode to soft light and reduced the opacity to 70%. Merged the layers and then did an USM of 71/0.7/0

After that I used a little NeatImage on the sky and it seemed to take care of the noise in the shadows as well. If you don't use NeatImage, you can use the blur tool at about 30% and paint over the noisy areas. You can also use the saturation sponge to increase the depth of the yellow on the boats.

http://www.pbase.com/image/74110199.jpg

[Harv]

Lisa, you did an incredible job on this. Wow! When I look back and compare this to the original, I can't believe it's the same image.

[Lisa]

Hi Harv: I thank you much. I really liked what the guy did on DPR but he gave no hints on what he did so I tried to wing it. :brows:

[Brooks P]

I want to thank everyone who took the time to read my post and extend a special debt of gratitude to all who responded and posted a reply. I’m sorry I didn’t get back to this thread yesterday but we had plumbing problems and I just wasn’t much in the mood when it was over.

To answer one question, yes Virginia I do have noise reduction software. I have Neat Image but only the 8-bit home addition. I did discover that N.I. works better if I use it as one of the very first steps rather than farther along in the workflow. I have been toying with the notion of updating to the 16-bit version; it’s just there are so many other photography related items I have also been toying with – some a lot more exciting.

Cory, I appreciate the link to iCorrect but at the moment, especially after getting the plumber’s bill, new software isn’t at the top of the list for what limited funds I have available right now. But I will keep the link for later, as the software looks interesting.

The image is available on SmugMug as a “full size” JPEG (1600x1063 801.5KB). I would’ve made it available as a NEF file except I don’t know any way to do that.

Mike, I was a bit surprised that Auto Color removed the haze as well as it did, but it also introduced a strange pinkish-orangish glow to the sky which is particularly noticeable in the upper right of the frame. That wasn’t new to me, I had the same result with manually tweaking the colors and I can't seem to avoid that either.

Lisa, I’m going to have to play a little with your workflow, I need some hands-on to fully understand what you are saying – I sometimes have trouble grasping the gist of what people are telling me by just reading the explanation. I see one problem in that PSE-4.0 doesn’t have a history brush. I like the colors although I think the shadows are still a little dark. DPR Harry not only got the colors boosted, he managed to bring out a lot of details in the shadows, and without sending the noise through the roof.

I’m somewhat surprised that no one here or at dpr used NX and its U Point Technology that is supposed to be so good with manipulating colors.

I did use Nikon Editor and was surprised at the outcome, clicked on Auto Contrast w/color change and Medium Sharpening and got this, which is almost as good as what I could do in PSE-4.0 with hours of effort.
http://bmiddleton.smugmug.com/photos/127262054-L.jpg

Anyway thanks a lot everyone, I hope to be able to return the favor in the future, just not with haze removal.

[Lisa]

Brooks:

You did a fine job. As for DPR Harry, maybe he used the shadow/highlight filter as that would bring out shadows. You could also try to duplicate the image and set the blend mode to screen and remove what you feel is too light....erase out what you don't want. Or if PSE4 has a dodge tool, you could use it and lighten only specific areas.

I'm sorry, I forgot that PSE 4 does not have a history brush. I'd be lost without that one. I need to open up that program again.

[Desert Rat]

Looks ok to me the fixed images you tried. BTW I know someone stationed on the Reagan...

[Jeff JTPhoto]

Brooks .. Looks to me that the Shadow/Highlight tool was used to bring out the detail.. For generally hazy images try a simple USM of:

Amount - 30
Radius - 60
Threshold - 1.0

One or two applications usually does a good Job, then do your brightness/contrast adjustments.. Due to the color shift in the image you posted it works OK but the color correction is the challenge....

[Brooks P]

I got to this, which I think is the best I have been able to achieve.
http://bmiddleton.smugmug.com/photos/128417083-L.jpg

and a significant improvement from the original
http://bmiddleton.smugmug.com/photos/127242913-L.jpg

Again, thanks for all the imput, it helped more than you know.

[stilllearning]

Very very good. I think your getting the hang of it.:cheer:

[Lisa]

Brooks:

You did a wonderful job!

[cspringer]

looks good to me....and I don't see noise in the first one either.

Change blend modes and edit in 16 bit to avoid noise/posterization.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=18831452

[wankston]

Brooks,
Here is a result I got in PS by opening curves and setting my whites and blacks...the little colour tools in the bottom right corner of the curves box. If you are not familiar it is a quick way of balancing your raw image and sets your highlights and shadows. The rest is just colour balance to bring the original colours into line.

Dan.