Brighter Xmas Decorations?

[Hannah16]

Hi all,

Am pretty new to photography and interested to learn as much as possible so would be really grateful for any suggestions or advice.

I took this image of a Christmas decoration on my tree and think the tree looks really dull. Tried to brighten it using Photoshop Elements but it just made the image grainy. Is it something I should have done with the camera? Or lighting when I took the image? Or do you have any suggestions for PP?



Exposure Programme: Aperture priority
F stop: f4.5
ISO: 400
No flash

Thanks in advance!

[Narginia]

Hi Hannah! Welcome to DPS!

From your post, you are trying to brighten up the tree and make it a little greener?

As far as the picture taking itself goes, I would suggest a lower ISO and if possible a tripod with a slightly lower shutterspeed to allower a little more light in. Also, you might try changing the exposure setting and testing different settings until you achieve what you are hoping for. Also, it depends on the actual color of your tree ofcourse. Ours wasnt too bright after a week or so :/

As for photoshop here was what I was able to come up with. (Please let me know if you would like me to take it down.)



I created a duplicate background layer
I used the magnetic lasso to cut the ornaments into a new layer
I adjusted the hue/saturation for greens until it just created the tree a little bit more vibrant green on the duplicate layer underneath the cut out ornaments

[Hannah16]

Hi Narginia,

Many thanks for your feedback, you're right the tree wasn't that bright but I like what you've done with it. I've got to get some practice on creating duplicate layers now!

Thanks so much
Hannah