Help Making Photos 'Pop'

[Paul11]

I understand what you are saying Paul1, but processing an image that starts off with nice colours and is not dull will result in an image with less noise.

I've never shot with jpg, only raw, as I want to learn how to get the colours right by using the right settings, rather than a digital camera applying it for me.

i understand and of course you should be taking the best image you can but just thinking what you are saying is not quite correct about the noise

a dull image can be brought to life with post processing with no noise

RAW files are designed for post processing and some very small adjustments in photoshop or lightroom will make all the difference

have a look at the before and after thread on POTN
ill get it for you. brb

 

[martinturner]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, however I'm unsure how you expose for the foreground and the background.

The subject I want to shoot is the foreground, how do I set up the camera to cater for the lighter background?

This bit of knowledge is lacking in my head. I want to take a picture of the people in front of me, why is it so dark? The camera should focus on the foreground as that is the subject I want!

[EDIT]: I understand composition is poor, these are just examples from my flickr account, not my best from a selection of pictures.

If you have a really bright background and your subject is in the foreground there is no 'setting' in the camera to resolve this. You could take several shots (of different exposures, one -1 under, +1 over and one normal) and blend them afterwards (bracketing), but if you have people or anything moving in the shot this is not ideal as they are likely to move between shots. Plus you really need a tripod to get the shot identical. As D.P. has already said using an ND Grad filter on the front of the lens will allow the camera to correctly meter against the bright sky (crudely speaking, it darkens the the top and lightens the bottom). This means you can take the one shot and it be exposed more ideally. This method is still not perfect but is the closest you can get to a correct exposure when the sky is very bright. Ideally shoot with the sun behind you too as this will mean your colours will naturally be a touch more pleasing.

As already said, shooting in RAW means a certain amount of in camera processing does not happen. Saturation being one of them. some people alter the white balance in camera, personally, I do it aftewards. This varies between camera models/brands to a certain extent and process a RAW file is standard workflow for anyone. If using Adobe Bridge, three sliders will make the most impact 'Blacks', 'Saturation', 'White Balance'. A slight adjustment of these three will give you what you are looking for. Don't shoot in jpeg as a shortcut as its just pap.

Composition comes with practice, just stick with it. Personally, I think your first two shots are nicely exposed.

 

[Paul11]

have a look through this thread of before and after

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=684360

this does not take away from trying to get the best shot you can

 

[aztechnology]

Hello all,

.... I'd like to be able to shoot subjects with vibrant colours straight from the camera.

What tips has anyone got to help with this? I know I can post process it but that's not the point.

....

With your kit you should be able to get great images straight out of the camera.

There's a lot of good advice here already, but no one's really stressed the point that Light is everything. You need to take pictures in good light, with good technique (right aperture / exposure for the situation). You should be able to get great images whatever aperture you use (though stay away from the extreme apertures as most lenses get a bit soft when shooting with a really narrow aperture. Both your lenses should be OK wide open.

Also, Canon are a bit conservative on in camera processing, so up the sharpness and saturation a notch or two.

There are some situations that will require post processing, but that's not what you originally y asked

 

[D.P.]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, however I'm unsure how you expose for the foreground and the background.

The subject I want to shoot is the foreground, how do I set up the camera to cater for the lighter background?

This bit of knowledge is lacking in my head. I want to take a picture of the people in front of me, why is it so dark? The camera should focus on the foreground as that is the subject I want!

[EDIT]: I understand composition is poor, these are just examples from my flickr account, not my best from a selection of pictures.

I will try to give tips you can play with in the camera but I still recommend reading some books.

The main thing to realise is the camera sensor has a limited Dynamic Range (that is the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of the scene that can be recorded by the sensor is small). Therefore, you cannot have both very bright highlights and dark shadows simultaneously in the correct exposure.

The way human eyes perceive a scene is very different because we make local adjustments to exposure and contrast as we scan the scene.


There are various solutions.

• If the Dynamic range is not very extreme then you can try to expose for the middle between high-lights and shadows and in PP bring down high-lights and increase shadow exposure to squeeze the dynamic range. Always shoot RAw for this method.
• Choose what the most important part of the photograph is to expose. This is usually your subjects (be that animals, people, mountains, buildings), which are often too dark. Increase exposure and let the highlight get blown. Careful composition to minimize blown hgih-lights is required.
• Bracket multiple exposures and blend in PP. Select different areas of different exposures to include. Fancy ways to do this.
• If used carefully, HDR techniques using multiple bracketed exposures will solve the problem without looking ridiculous. Unfortunately, most people can't make good HDR photos and in general this is not always the best solution, due to issues such as subject motion.
• Use a flash to increase exposure of foreground subject.
• Use external lighting to increase exposure of foreground subject.
• Use ND-Grad filters to reduce exposure of sky or other bright parts. This is a very good option if the horizon is somewhat continuous without full-height subjects in the frame.
• Combined flash and no flash exposures. Shoot once with a flash to get the subject (if close) well exposed. Then a 2nd photo for background without flash, combine in PP
• Choose the right day, the right time of day (sunrise or sunset is usually better than midday, winter sometimes better than summer, the correct weather etc. Often this is not possible, but thats why photographs need a great deal of patience (and sometimes luck).)
• There are more techniques. Understand what to expose for and how to expose for it is very important. This is not something you can switch on your camera or do in PS. You have to learn.

 

[Lead_Head]

If you have a really bright background and your subject is in the foreground there is no 'setting' in the camera to resolve this. You could take several shots (of different exposures, one -1 under, +1 over and one normal) and blend them afterwards (bracketing), but if you have people or anything moving in the shot this is not ideal as they are likely to move between shots. Plus you really need a tripod to get the shot identical. As D.P. has already said using an ND Grad filter on the front of the lens will allow the camera to correctly meter against the bright sky (crudely speaking, it darkens the the top and lightens the bottom). This means you can take the one shot and it be exposed more ideally. This method is still not perfect but is the closest you can get to a correct exposure when the sky is very bright. Ideally shoot with the sun behind you too as this will mean your colours will naturally be a touch more pleasing.

As already said, shooting in RAW means a certain amount of in camera processing does not happen. Saturation being one of them. some people alter the white balance in camera, personally, I do it aftewards. This varies between camera models/brands to a certain extent and process a RAW file is standard workflow for anyone. If using Adobe Bridge, three sliders will make the most impact 'Blacks', 'Saturation', 'White Balance'. A slight adjustment of these three will give you what you are looking for. Don't shoot in jpeg as a shortcut as its just pap.

Composition comes with practice, just stick with it. Personally, I think your first two shots are nicely exposed.

Great post, thanks for that.

I'm half decent at composition, but this will improve with time and more practice. Those examples above are not my best pictures, just examples that I've already got online that I could pick to support this thread.

I've got an online stock portfolio that I do post processing for, so I understand what bits to do post processing, but I want to try and get the image to stand out from the camera as tight quality control is hot on noise. The more editing you do the more noise you create.

The better the starting image, the better the final product.

 

[Paul11]

Also, Canon are a bit conservative on in camera processing, so up the sharpness and saturation a notch or two.

There are some situations that will require post processing, but that's not what you originally y asked

in camera processing has no effect on RAW files, hence why most shots in RAW do require some processing

 

[PaulyD]

Another option for bright backgrounds and dark foregrounds where you want the foreground to be exposed is to use "fill flash", this will brighten up the forground subjects whilst keeping the background exposed from the natural light.

Obviously not always possible but is another tip. Trying to get a balance between foreground and background is always hard, espcially on dull grey days as its so easy to blow the sky

(Can't see your images at work so can't comment on them directly)

EDIT: so slow to reply, damn work! D.P covered it in his write up

 

[aztechnology]

in camera processing has no effect on RAW files, hence why most shots in RAW do require some processing

I know, the OP asked for out of the camera POP, you can't do that in RAW.

 

[Paul11]

I know, the OP asked for out of the camera POP, you can't do that in RAW.

which is why it is worth mentioning that to the OP



im not saying that you shouldnt take as best photo you can (with the best pop)

i am saying that you should edit them to make the pop better

would be intresting to see how many people shoot in RAW and dont do any post processing

 

[p0ss3s3d]

I know, the OP asked for out of the camera POP, you can't do that in RAW.

Indeed. I find that real 'pop' can only be found by shooting jpegs.

Having said that I always shoot RAW, even at sports (only exception being football- I like the RAW format for motorsport and everything else) and if your using lightroom you could try a preset import process. Just bit of contrast, black slider to about 7 and drag fill light to about 5. Add a bit of vibrance, saturation boost, teeny bit of clarity (about +5 I find gives the photo that bit more punch) and set the camera calibration profile to 'camera standard'. TaDa!! Punchier shots, this shoud work well if your processing bulk in a short space of time. Just apply the settings during import menu. Great for sports shots, when you might have 800 or more to go through.

 

[Johnny|lucidcomposure]

Read a bloody book!

hahaha just breaking balls.

But on a serious note the book mentioned "understanding exposure" is a god send to some people struggling. They have released a digital version now so I advise do that but mainly ask questions and try to replicate what you see.

I advise youtube for photoshop, raw processing etc.

 

[At The Gates]

Yes I shoot raw. I think my main fault is
DULL:

You're shooting into the light, this one needs a flash. For example, point the camera at the sky and lock exposure (AE function on Nikon). With the exposure locked recompose to shoot the players and let the flash go. Would work best with a decent flash, looks a bit too far for the onboard.

For general 'pop' in software. Use Lightroom/CaptureOne/whatever to sort out the exposure and boost colour contrast. Lots of people like to add a vignette to photos. You can try HDR although 9/10 examples i see look horrible. CaptureOne has a nice Dynamic HDR function (not Tone Mapping) which can boost shadows and highlights. Although as reviously stated, exposure is the big one. If your photo highlights/shadows aren't horribly clipped and you shoot in RAW you can usually rescue them very easily and it really helps.

Oh yeah almost forgot. White Balance! Can really help to make sure this is correct, especially if you're not shooting in natural light. Can turn a rubbish photo into a keeper.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I understand what you are saying Paul1, but processing an image that starts off with nice colours and is not dull will result in an image with less noise.

I've never shot with jpg, only raw, as I want to learn how to get the colours right by using the right settings, rather than a digital camera applying it for me.

There are no right setting, whats right for one scene can be and will be off in the next click, even if you are standing on the exact same spot 2 minutes after the first one. This could be due to the sky (cloud), you zoomed in on a particular part, or just because the people in the scene is now different (their clothes are lighter or darker).

So, it's difficult for me or anyone to say use x, y, z settings for certain shots. You really do need to learn what works, and what doesn't and the way to do it is to go out there and try it yourself.

 

[Raymond Lin]

btw, the photo of the street (4th) is taken in midday, which is a harsh light and it WILL be flat. These things you'll know once you take more photos.

 

[Kei]

Best "out of camera" methods of making photos "pop" for me has always been:

1. Good exposure - as stated already
2. Quality Lens - A high quality lens used correctly can really make a difference. Best lenses i've ever used for this effect were contax fit zeiss T*, few other lens i've used have come close.

The easiest and cheapest way is to get no. 1 right and use post-processing to enhance the result.

 

[Firegod]

I'm quite new to using an SLR and, not sure if it helps the OP, I just shoot in RAW mode. I found a guide online for my SLR with some recommended settings to set, which helped. Then, I just always tweak the images in Photoshop (i.e. clarity, exposure, etc). I find that this works best for me. But my photo's don't look amazing straight from the camera, until after I apply some PP to them.

 

[BruceLee]

If you are using aperture or shutter priority check which metering mode you are using as this will affect the exposure, if you are using spot metering and the subject is not in the centre of the frame you can half press the shutter button to get better metering before composing. On the 1st of your problem photos it looked like it was underexposed, and agree on either a ND grad/bracketing or a different time of day for the 2nd.