Stephen Levitas
July 2024 - Hatusas ramparts
Original
About the Image(s)
Title: Hatusas Ramparts
This is recovered from an old slide I shot in the 70s, on my first tour of Turkey with my wife.
This image shows the ramparts below the so-called Lion Gate entrance to the ancient Hittite capital, from the third century BCE. A small section of the ramparts is not completely excavated, but is covered by grass and scrub. When first found, this area appeared to be an innocuous hillside covered with grass. Only after a bit of test digging did archeologists realize that the entire hillside was actually a built rampart.
After converting to monochrome, I did as much sharpening as the image would tolerate without looking over-sharpened.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
6 comments posted
First, can you tell me how you converted the slide to digi, please. I am looking at all my old slides and thinking I need to convert some for my children and then throw the rest away, but I want to do a good conversion.
The ramparts look interesting and it is always good when archaeologists find something new. Think of the amount of labour involved in constructing this when there were no JCBs, though the cost of slave labour was cheap! It is a pity that you can't recover more in the sky and that the top of the pyramid shape is so close to the top edge, but that is something you can't do much about now.
I think the conversion from a slide has worked well, though there are still overdark shadows, due partly to the original contrast and partly due to the strong sunshine.
The sharpening level is fine. Posted: 07/06/2024 11:32:12
The ramparts look interesting and it is always good when archaeologists find something new. Think of the amount of labour involved in constructing this when there were no JCBs, though the cost of slave labour was cheap! It is a pity that you can't recover more in the sky and that the top of the pyramid shape is so close to the top edge, but that is something you can't do much about now.
I think the conversion from a slide has worked well, though there are still overdark shadows, due partly to the original contrast and partly due to the strong sunshine.
The sharpening level is fine. Posted: 07/06/2024 11:32:12
Hi Stephen, nice to meet you!
I'm also curious to know how did you convert the slide to digi. Anyway, once you have a digital file, you can apply some corrections. Perhaps luminosity masks might improve these areas of overdark shadows and overexposed lights, especially of the big rock in the right part of the photo. Moreover, the small spots of the sky may be easily removed with Photoshop (PS); even more, you can add more sky to the photo with filling according to content PS tools.
All the best
Manel Posted: 07/15/2024 18:05:36
I'm also curious to know how did you convert the slide to digi. Anyway, once you have a digital file, you can apply some corrections. Perhaps luminosity masks might improve these areas of overdark shadows and overexposed lights, especially of the big rock in the right part of the photo. Moreover, the small spots of the sky may be easily removed with Photoshop (PS); even more, you can add more sky to the photo with filling according to content PS tools.
All the best
Manel Posted: 07/15/2024 18:05:36
Thanks to both for the comments so far. They are very helpful.
About converting old slides to digital, I have two methods. I have never used my rather good Epson scanner which has a slide holder. Instead I bought a standalone box that you can insert slides into and it produces a JPEG on a thumb drive that you insert. I have noticed that it adjusts for overall brightness automatically. I spent about $60 on this. I think it's satisfactory. But of course the more you spend the better conversion you will get. When I get home in September I will send you all the brand name and model that I'm using. Posted: 07/16/2024 12:43:10
About converting old slides to digital, I have two methods. I have never used my rather good Epson scanner which has a slide holder. Instead I bought a standalone box that you can insert slides into and it produces a JPEG on a thumb drive that you insert. I have noticed that it adjusts for overall brightness automatically. I spent about $60 on this. I think it's satisfactory. But of course the more you spend the better conversion you will get. When I get home in September I will send you all the brand name and model that I'm using. Posted: 07/16/2024 12:43:10
Thank you for the interesting historical image and the story about the location. The pyramid must have been really well constructed to be in such good shape today. You did a good job of scanning the old slide and your conversion to mono looks much better than the color. You could expand the canvas and use the clone tool to add more space at the top. Posted: 07/16/2024 15:07:44
Tom's comment to add canvas at the top makes good sense to me.
Interesting "historical" photograph and one not previously seen. Some students of this area may be interested in obtaining a copy.
Thanks for the information. Posted: 07/16/2024 21:16:16
Interesting "historical" photograph and one not previously seen. Some students of this area may be interested in obtaining a copy.
Thanks for the information. Posted: 07/16/2024 21:16:16
You've shown us yet another interesting location. I'm very grateful I didn't have to move all those rocks! I tried using an Epson scanner to scan slides for a while, but I wasn't very satisfied with most of my results, and then the scanner quite working. The box you used here did a nice job with this scan. As others already mentioned, I agree that it would be nice to have more space between the top of the pyramid and the edge of the frame. I'd also consider darkening the large, bright rock on the right side a little bit. Posted: 07/26/2024 05:52:51