pictures don't pop

[hombredelmar]

I tanned his very white areas because they were distracting for some reason..

you did a really good job, how did you do it?
thanks

 

[frommrstomommy]

highlights -100
shadows +40
clarity +31
vibrance +21

i brought the shadows up in tone curve and a few other little adjustments there

and i used a brush to paint in his tan lol

all in LR5

 

[bianni]

 

[480sparky]

thank you, i don't see much of a difference, the only thing i see is that it became darker

A web-sized image doesn't have much data to work with in the first place. A full-size JPEG would be much better. A raw file would be nirvana.

 

[timor]

Hm, let see, computers were supposed to make life easier ? O yeah... right... in the future !

 

[hombredelmar]

View attachment 84198

looks good, but LimePanda

A web-sized image doesn't have much data to work with in the first place. A full-size JPEG would be much better. A raw file would be nirvana.

agree

 

[Alexr25]

Hello all !

I have been spending lots of hours in PS and LR but cannot get any satisfaction……

Before spending hours in PS / LR spend some time looking at the photo. List its good points and bad points, then think about how you can bring out the good and nullify or hide the bad points.

Here are my thought processes as I looked at the photo, others may see it differently and see different strengths and weaknesses.
1. The composition straight out of the camera leave something to be desired. There is a strong diagonal element in the picture but the framing does not bring it out.

2. I like the big ripples of water around the subjects legs but they are being lost in the general murkiness of the water.

3. The reeds at the right of the photo add the diagonal composition but the effect lost because their colour is similar to the water.

4. The bare background hills merge with the muddy water and do nothing to add interest.

5. The featureless sky adds nothing to the interest of the photo.

My fixes are:
1. Crop the photo to bring out the diagonal composition.

2. 3. 4. Colour adds nothing to this photo so get rid of the colour and convert it to B&W. This will allow you to create contrast in the ripples and reeds while hiding the fact that the background hill are bare and boring.

5. Some people would photoshop in a new sky but I prefer to work with what the camera gave me so I just added a gradient filter to burn in the right hand corner of the sky.

This the final result.

 

[Vince.1551]

Sorry to say a snapshot is still a snapshot. Post can do little to 'pop' a snapshot unless you want to render it totally away from original shot. I would have selected a different lens with more shallow DOF and probably crop it the way Alexr25 did.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[480sparky]

Before spending hours in PS / LR spend some time looking at the photo. List its good points and bad points, then think about how you can bring out the good and nullify or hide the bad points......
This the final result.

After all that, the horizon is still crooked.

 

[Alexr25]

After all that, the horizon is still crooked.

Not unnecessarily. Only sky/water horizons are guaranteed to be level. That is a land/water horizon and as such the angle presented to the viewer will depend on the configuration of the land.
Actually I try it with a levelled horizon it put the fisherman at an un-natural angle.

 

[480sparky]

.............Actually I try it with a levelled horizon it put the fisherman at an un-natural angle.

The human body is rarely perfectly plumb, especially when it's in motion.

 

[KmH]

'Pop' is all about the lighting, and only using direct sunlight (at any time of day) pretty much kills any chance of a photo having any 'pop'.

 

[Holejee]

Try a hotter model...lol

 

[Pejacre]

Another attempt at an artificial pop injection

 

[hombredelmar]

Before spending hours in PS / LR spend some time looking at the photo. List its good points and bad points, then think about how you can bring out the good and nullify or hide the bad points.

Here are my thought processes as I looked at the photo, others may see it differently and see different strengths and weaknesses.
1. The composition straight out of the camera leave something to be desired. There is a strong diagonal element in the picture but the framing does not bring it out.

2. I like the big ripples of water around the subjects legs but they are being lost in the general murkiness of the water.

3. The reeds at the right of the photo add the diagonal composition but the effect lost because their colour is similar to the water.

4. The bare background hills merge with the muddy water and do nothing to add interest.

5. The featureless sky adds nothing to the interest of the photo.

My fixes are:
1. Crop the photo to bring out the diagonal composition.

2. 3. 4. Colour adds nothing to this photo so get rid of the colour and convert it to B&W. This will allow you to create contrast in the ripples and reeds while hiding the fact that the background hill are bare and boring.

5. Some people would photoshop in a new sky but I prefer to work with what the camera gave me so I just added a gradient filter to burn in the right hand corner of the sky.

This the final result.

Alexr25, first of all thank you for your time and detailed aswer, I do agree with all your points, about the color , crop and the diagonal composition which i never thought about so thank you for your deep thought, i will try to learn from you comment
Thank you again