Going too far with an edit?

[adamhiram]

My usual editing style is pretty conservative - keep things looking natural, and enhance important details. But something I noticed when taking snapshots on my iPhone was that the Auto-Enhance feature in the Photos app can sometimes clean up an otherwise dull image and give it some “pop”. I thought I would try this out with a recent photo I took on my D500 and edited in Lightroom, and the results were interesting.

It looks like the main setting the Photos app changed was “Brilliance”, which seems to be a combination of brightening shadows, reducing highlights, increasing contrast, and adding a bit of vibrance or saturation. I made similar changes to my photo in Lightroom, and in some ways I like the result.

My dilemma is that when comparing 2 photos, it’s common to show preference for the one that is brighter, or has more contrast, or more vibrant colors, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. How far is too far? Grass that’s too green or a sky that’s too blue, unnatural skin tones or an exaggerated HDR look are obvious signs.

What are your thoughts on the edits below, and what practical tips can you offer on knowing how far to take an edit?


RAW


Original Edit


iPhone Auto-Enhance


Lightroom Re-edit

 

[KmH]

Wrong forum, according to the forum description.

 

[Derrel]

Wrong forum, according to the forum description.

I like the last two edits quite a bit! The iPhone did a good jobm and your re-work of the iPhone edit was also nice.

 

[adamhiram]

I like the last two edits quite a bit! The iPhone did a good job and your re-work of the iPhone edit was also nice.

Thanks Darrel, I appreciate the feedback. I'm often hesitant to push the sliders beyond +/-50, but in this case I think it works considering the original flat lighting (taken around noon on a warm but gray winter day). For shots with better light, I think a more conservative approach still makes sense.

 

[DanOstergren]

I don't think this is the wrong forum, as your photo qualifies for "People Photography", and asking for feedback does not make it so it doesn't belong here. Please keep sharing here.

I like the original edit, but I personally like a natural looking edit anyways.

 

[KmH]

The thread got moved here because it was first posted in a forum not for photo C&C.

 

[407370]

How far is too far?

Every person on the forum will have an opinion on that but they dont matter. YOU decide what happens to your pics.

I posted on another thread with some stunning SOOC JPG's which looked spectacular and another thread with spectacular cartoon HDR / TONE MAPPING. In each case the the photographer decided what was right for the pics.

As a little experiment try editing a pic to the max (sliders to + or - 100) it might surprise you.