Lincoln over Lincolnshire.

[Paul K]

Hi Dave,

I've tried things like noise and sepia, neither of which I find very convincing. Looking through a huge box of family photos my mum had, going back to the 1940s, I honestly can't remember a single one having a noticeable sepia tint. I think sepia is something people expect to see in an old photo merely because it's old, not because its actually there. Personal opinion and personal optician's prescription, of course.

Here's the result of using a warming filter in Elements, on the picture above. It's not really sepia, so much as slightly faded black and white...something like that. This would have been taken in the early 1960s, so which of the two pictures below do you find the more convincing - the original one, as previously posted:





...or this one with the warming filter applied:



EDIT: Actually, now I can see them both together, I think the second one is more convincing.

EDIT: Inserted the final one between the two above

[DaveB]

Yup.. I like the second one better too

Sepia, for all it's faults, can be used as a good base to age pictures and had you not said you'd used a warming filter.. I'd have presumed you'd used sepia and tweaked it. Not sure my Elements 2 has a warming filter so I have to get the hammer out
ATB
DaveB

[Paul K]

Dave, thanks for that. These things are very subjective so a second opinion is extremely useful. I can't remember Elements 2 now, but in Elements 9, 'Filter/Adjustments/Photo Filter and is Warming Filter (85). As you say, to all intents and purposes it is sepia, but wound right back to just a smidgin.

So, now the gloss effect to sort out...

[DaveB]

I actually downloaded and installed the latest version of Elements not that long ago. Would it be 12? Anyhow.. I didn't care for it much. A lot of what I can do in #2 had gone or been replaced with things I didn't want and in the end.. it doesn't handle groups any better than #2 (eg.. not at all!!) so I kept it until Adobe sent me a reminder then uninstalled it. Used in it's intended for.. photo editing.. I'm sure it's very capable but as a paint program (not it's intended use..) it sucks Even the big daddies like PS4 and 5 (probably the last editions on disc) still command outrageous amounts of money and there's no guarantee a new FS paint kit will open without errors so I see little point investing over £200 in something that is more difficult to operate than Elements#2 and still may not work. I'm most certainly NOT going to PS10 (maybe CC now)

Time for me to retire.. not that many will notice
ATB
DaveB

[Paul K]

I have Elements 2 and the full Photoshop 5.5, and for what we need, I'm not sure Elements 9 offers any great advantages over either of them. But it was on offer and they said it would never be on sale at that price ever again, and so, what was I to do ? It's what I now call the Alabeo Effect.

I'm still messing around with PSE 9's rendering filters, and so far have turned the Lincoln into a piece of frosted bathroom window glass, and another where there seems to be an atomic weapon detonating above it. I think I'll try GIMP.

[blanston12]

One thing I tried when converting color to BW, try looking at the various color channels in isolation (red, green, blue) and see which gives you the best contrast, then convert just that channel.

[ChrisHunt]

Second picture for me too Paul - more detail and easier on the eye. Speaking of Watton, outlaws lived in Watton until both expired. Suspect Watton has changed considerably since your boyhood. If you're in Watton with time on your hands there's a decent pub just Southwest of the old airfield (can't remember it's name) - can be reached only via the road to the prison; some idiot put an airfield between it and Watton.

[Paul K]

I settled on this one, and have inserted it in the post above - its a half-way house between the two, with only the slightest hint of warming/sepia



Still never found a way of adding a slightly gloss finish, however. Ah well, it was only for fun.

Chris, I do pass through Watton now and then, as a change of scenery on my way up to Norwich. Apart from a few buildings and the well known signals tower near the road, the airfield has all but disappeared. The only hint of Eastern Radar is a little section of chain-link fence and a couple of concrete posts - nothing else remains. As for pubs, the only one I know of is the Flying Fish, which my parents went to on occasion. What's the name of the pub you refer to ?

[ChrisHunt]

It's the Waggon and Horses Paul in Griston just South of the old airfield. Had to look it up - it's a while since we were there. Good bar, reasonable food and not expensive.

Military architecture is a fascinating subject - some people plan whole holidays around exploring it!