First Post

[Poolee0311]

Hello, I've started to transition over from airshow photography to stationary photography and I could use some help on how to my my photo more vivid and make the colors pop. Here is the one that I feel I have done the best with so far.

[aetnajojo]

Here's a try:



Photoshop Lightroom
Exposure: +1.27
Blacks: 11
Contrast: +58
Vibrance: +15
Len Vignetting: Amount -62 with Midpoint 0

[Poolee0311]

Thank you, thats exactly what Ive been looking for! Is there any other way to achieve this other than photoshop? And what about the composition of the photo? As for composaition, here is a different ngle that shows how everything is arranged better.

[Nicole]

Are you in the military? Just based off the subject matter

There are a number of ways to make the colours in pictures pop more. First, on my screen your picture looks fairly underexposed, so that is going to influence whether or not your subject pops. This shot seems to have low contrast and dark colours, which is fine if that's what you're going for, but your comment seems to suggest otherwise.

So, depending on your camera you may be able to start out by changing settings to something that is more vibrant. Second, you may want to make sure that after editing your picture you save it in sRGB colour space. This is the set of colours that comes closest to what internet browsers display (aside from Safari, which actually reads colour profiles).

Now, if you're looking for ways to make colours pop in post-processing, you could try using the Velvia technique or one of the Color Pop actions here (if you're using photoshop or another program which lets you use photoshop actions).

To show you how that might come out, what I've done here is added a duplicate layer set to screen and then used the velvia technique on it to brighten up the colours a little. This may be too much for this particular subject, but it may give you an idea of where to start.

[xxpinballxx]

try this program...great reviews and totally free. Alot choose this over photoshop since the price is right.
GIMP

[Nicole]

Include a link for him The GIMP

[Poolee0311]

I have enlisted in the United States Marine Corps but I am in whats called the Delayed Entry Program because I have to graduate high school before I can ship out to boot camp. For the camera setting I would have to talk to my dad about those since all of my photography up to this point has been airshows and getting material for his company www.afterburnerimages.com and Im not too familiar with all the various settings other than single frame and continous. But as far as the colors go I like what aetnajojo did a lot better. Personally the colors in your version look to me like they are washed out. The deep contrast and excentuated shadows is what I've been looking for. Thank you for all the help!

[Poolee0311]

Originally Posted by xxpinballxx

try this program...great reviews and totally free. Alot choose this over photoshop since the price is right.
GIMP

The thing is since my dad color balances the pictures we use in our products, he has a pretty nice copy of photoshop. But its on his computer so I havent messed around with it a lot. So now my next angle of attack is about the composition of the photos and how can they be improved?

[Nicole]

If they are looking washed out you might also consider calibrating your computer monitor... only because of the difference between what you're seeing as well exposed and what I'm seeing I have one monitor that I don't do any editing on because of this. But both shots seem quite underexposed on my screen. So take that for what it's worth. But perhaps you were also meaning something different than making colors pop if you're looking for contrast-y dark shadows.

[Poolee0311]

Okay so Im comlicated or I just can not articulate what I want. To put it simply I want my pictures to look more like this


than this

Pictures from www.arniesairsoft.co.uk