Dull images - Why and how to correct?

[DSLR noob]

It looks much better now

 

[skieur]

The fact that the boat toward the centre of your edit is not the original red indicates how far off the colour and contrast is in your edit.

The real solution is not letting the brightness of the sky overpower your camera meter reading and burying the detail in your lower foreground in darkness. The second part of the solution is training your eye to look carefully at colour and detail in your shot and learning how to adjust it in postprocessing.

skieur

 

[gtkelly]

Yes - this is WAY off. Unfortunately, I think there is a limit to how much I can fix in PP. Just a good example of why we still need good photo skills, not just photoSHOP skills.

 

[Mike_E]

GT, try going the other way and burn the clouds and water to get a dark/moody look. you might save this yet!

mike

 

[gtkelly]

Good idea. I'll try that. If nothing else this has been quite a learning experience!

 

[|)\/8]

Photo just looks a little dark and gloomy, I am sure it had to do with cloud cover. I gave it a go, warmed it up a bit and reduced some of the noise.

 

[Tom_Tom]

I think the main problem is underexposure in the houses. Try running a curves up layer mask to brighten up the houses and bring out some punch. Then mask back the clouds so that they stay dark.

If you look at the white trim on the houses they are far from white. This is because you also exposed for the sky so the end result was a compromise. Luckily you have ample information in both areas is I would try to isolate each and work on the brightness through curves for each one.

 

[abraxas]

... my images seem to be. I'm fighting this and not exactly sure where the problem lies or what to do about it.

...

GTKelly,

I quoted what I think is the important part of your post. After that there seems to be a degradation into fixing photos/fighting fires. I advise against getting caught in the trap.

Following is probably the most valuable response you've recieved in the thread as far as future development, and it seems to have been overlooked;

Shoot at the right time of day. Photography is all about capturing light.

What this means is that if you really want to get into this you may have few regular meals with your family ever again. When most folks are eating breakfast or dinner is when light happens.

The rest takes care of itself the other 20 hours of each day.

Pick a meal and lose it a couple times a week.