Rock & Roll

[ajax_andy]

I was wondering if I could get some feedback on this pic?

I thought it looked a little purple for some strange reason, so did a colour balance and boosted the yellows a bit to try and balance it out.

Does it look ok? I think his face is still a little purple but that's probably from trying to hold his head like that for too long lol!

Also any other feedback RE concept, composition etc would be great




EXIF Data:
Camera Canon EOS 450D
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/7.1
ISO Speed 200
Lens EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

[JFSanders]

No, the overall photograph has a bluish/purple cast still. Do you have the original to compare with it? Also, your blacks seem a little washed out. Try setting a black point on his guitar pick guard.

Jim

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

No, the overall photograph has a bluish/purple cast still. Do you have the original to compare with it? Also, your blacks seem a little washed out. Try setting a black point on his guitar pick guard.

Jim

I wonder why it ended up that way? I boosted the clarity right up, could that have caused the colour cast? I'm just shooting with the kit lens so not sure if that + boosting the clarity caused the issue?

The blacks might be a bit washed out as I removed a lot of the saturation from the image to try and minimise the purple cast... I'm not sure how to set a black point and what to do from there, so if you could explain that would be much appreciated

I'll post a SOC tonight once I'm back home.

[ajax_andy]

Ok so here's the SOC:

[JFSanders]

Ok, look at the guitar. You know that the pick guard is supposed to be black. Not overexposed black. So you have to tell the software program that you are using to develop this photo that the guard is black (in computer terms this would be represented as 0,0,0 for the Red, Blue, Green channels that digital capture uses to recreate the image in numbers) Depending upon what software program you are using it can be involved or easy. In Light Room 3 it is as simple as selecting the black point dropper tool and placing it over the guard and left clicking or just clicking if you are using a mac.

What then happens is the software algorithm finds all values represented by the original numbers from the guard and changes them to 0,0,0. Black and it uses a sliding scale to adjust the other color values in the picture to keep the same tonal range through out the image.

The other way to do it in image editors such as CSE5 and Gimp is to use a curves adjustment. This works with sliders placed on the histogram of the image. If you look at the histogram of this image there are blacks in the background of the image but the subject is washed out by overexposure. So what we are going to do is push the slider to the right so that the washed out blacks become real blacks and not deep dark grays.

What image editor are you using?

The thumbnail you see below has only been adjusted for blacks but as you can see the colors are richer and the highlights are not blown out and the blacks not washed out. There are several more steps to do before I would consider this image finished and ready for publication. That is outside of the scope for this discussion but I have acquired an tutorial creation program and am in the process of learning it. When I get competent I will start posting tutorials on image development.

By learning to develop your image in post it will make you a better photographer as you will learn what is happening in camera and adjust in the field so as to make your development process more efficient and creative. You won't spend so much time and effort fixing mistakes that could have been avoided.


Jim

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

Ok, look at the guitar. You know that the pick guard is supposed to be black. Not overexposed black. So you have to tell the software program that you are using to develop this photo that the guard is black (in computer terms this would be represented as 0,0,0 for the Red, Blue, Green channels that digital capture uses to recreate the image in numbers) Depending upon what software program you are using it can be involved or easy. In Light Room 3 it is as simple as selecting the black point dropper tool and placing it over the guard and left clicking or just clicking if you are using a mac.

What then happens is the software algorithm finds all values represented by the original numbers from the guard and changes them to 0,0,0. Black and it uses a sliding scale to adjust the other color values in the picture to keep the same tonal range through out the image.

The other way to do it in image editors such as CSE5 and Gimp is to use a curves adjustment. This works with sliders placed on the histogram of the image. If you look at the histogram of this image there are blacks in the background of the image but the subject is washed out by overexposure. So what we are going to do is push the slider to the right so that the washed out blacks become real blacks and not deep dark grays.

What image editor are you using?

The thumbnail you see below has only been adjusted for blacks but as you can see the colors are richer and the highlights are not blown out and the blacks not washed out. There are several more steps to do before I would consider this image finished and ready for publication. That is outside of the scope for this discussion but I have acquired an tutorial creation program and am in the process of learning it. When I get competent I will start posting tutorials on image development.

By learning to develop your image in post it will make you a better photographer as you will learn what is happening in camera and adjust in the field so as to make your development process more efficient and creative. You won't spend so much time and effort fixing mistakes that could have been avoided.


Jim

Hi thanks for the indepth post, its very helpful!

I'm using CS5 to edit my pictures, and did use the Curves tool on the picture... maybe I just didnt use it correctly?

I definately like the colours on the version you posted, they seem a lot richer and more importantly they look correct!

I appreciate the time you put in to your reply as I am very keen to learn and improve my skills.

[ajax_andy]

I just googled "curves tutorial" and it came up with this:

Photoshop tutorial: Tonal range and the Curves tool (page 4)

Is this what you mean about using the dropper tool?

I've always just used curves as a more global image change rather than sleecting the correct part of the image and adjusting from there... I guess this is where i've been going wrong?

[ajax_andy]

So I've done a bit more research and used the dropper tool to set the black to 5% and white to 95%, then clicked on the darkest and brightest parts of the image to set them to these values, then found a grey in the image and selected that for the midtones (as per this website's tutorial which is for levels but is the same principle for removing colour casts - Color correction using levels and eyedroppers in Photoshop)

I think this looks better than my 1st attempt, but the black part of the guitar still looks a bit grey, and I dont feel like the image really "pops"... What do you think? Have I removed the colour cast, and how can i make this image have that real "wow" factor?

[JFSanders]

Andy, return to your edit and just set the black point. Adjust that point until the guitar guard shows nice and black. Look at your photo at that point. It helps to be able to compare it to your original during the edit so what I do is make a copy, actually two and open them in your editor. Adjust one and then compare it to the other copy and see what differences your edit did. I think you are headed in the right direction but I would fore go the white set point as the image is a little overexposed as it was taken and by setting a white at 95 percent you are making some of your highlights go whiter than you want them to. Also, unless there is a clear mid level (128) tone in your image don't set that point as it will flatten or even out the image to mid gray such as you see in your edit. Go one step at a time and compare. You will see it happen and that will make the connections in your mind and THAT will help you to gain confidence in your developing process.

Yes, the skin tones are now in the right spectrum and with a little tweaking you should be able to get that POP! The WOW factor is a little harder because you have to take composition into serious consideration. The subject is lost quite a bit in the scene mainly due to the POV (point of view) from which you made the image. I would try to crop this in different ways to see if I could increase the subject's prominence or by putting him closer to the left side of the image scene so that the eye sees him first instead of the blue pads. Lots of varying colors are competing for your attention as well so a conversion to black and white may bring him to the fore and give it that wow factor as well.

Make copies and chop it up fifty different ways you may find what you are looking for in there yet!

Jim

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

Andy, return to your edit and just set the black point. Adjust that point until the guitar guard shows nice and black. Look at your photo at that point. It helps to be able to compare it to your original during the edit so what I do is make a copy, actually two and open them in your editor. Adjust one and then compare it to the other copy and see what differences your edit did. I think you are headed in the right direction but I would fore go the white set point as the image is a little overexposed as it was taken and by setting a white at 95 percent you are making some of your highlights go whiter than you want them to. Also, unless there is a clear mid level (128) tone in your image don't set that point as it will flatten or even out the image to mid gray such as you see in your edit. Go one step at a time and compare. You will see it happen and that will make the connections in your mind and THAT will help you to gain confidence in your developing process.

Yes, the skin tones are now in the right spectrum and with a little tweaking you should be able to get that POP! The WOW factor is a little harder because you have to take composition into serious consideration. The subject is lost quite a bit in the scene mainly due to the POV (point of view) from which you made the image. I would try to crop this in different ways to see if I could increase the subject's prominence or by putting him closer to the left side of the image scene so that the eye sees him first instead of the blue pads. Lots of varying colors are competing for your attention as well so a conversion to black and white may bring him to the fore and give it that wow factor as well.

Make copies and chop it up fifty different ways you may find what you are looking for in there yet!

Jim

Hi, thanks for your help... I had moved the slider to the right to increase the depths of the blacks but it seemed to make the image very under exposed when I did that

I appreciate all your help, and I think it's going to take a bit of practice for me to fully get to grips with everything regarding when and how to set the blacks, whites and midtones.

I was trying to keep a lot of the background in as the whole theme was to include a lot of rubbish and decay in the shot... I understand what you are saying about the blue pads though as the definately compete for attention due to them being a bold colour.

Thanks again for all your help, I feel I've learnt a lot due to your feedback