Flat/Fake looking images

ajpicture · Oct 31, 2009

I was taking some photos by the Falling Water House on a cloudy day and when I got around to looking at the pictures something was off. The portraits I took with the house in the background look like they were shot in front of a poster or a green-screen. Is there anything I can do to add depth in lightroom/cs4, or anything I can do in the future to prevent the occurrence. I'm not even entirely sure I'm dissatisfied with it.

donsnyc · Oct 31, 2009

Try increasing the brightness of the midtones using Levels, and increase the saturation by a tiny bit as well as the contrast by a tiny bit.

CCarsonPhoto · Nov 1, 2009

Wow. It does look like the background was dropped in. Huh. Maybe some fill flash on the subject, to make it not look so entirely seperate from the rest of the shot?

RONDAL · Nov 1, 2009

i think the lighting is the problem. your camera looks to be matrix metering the entire shot, so its exposing the background correctly and underexposing the subject. The light on the subject is also very flat, so it gives a weird effect.

Kegger · Nov 1, 2009

Lighting is the number one issue, you need some fill flash on the subject to make him pop out of the background.

Depth of field is the second. You need to open up the aperture the lose some of the focus on everything going on around him. trying to fit everything in focus actually makes the subject softer in the long run, especially with such a large frame.

Last crop it, get some of the busy background out of the way. Far too much to see and it draws attention away.

Torus34 · Nov 1, 2009

The 'effect' is exacerbated by the shadow [modeling] on the left side [the right side of the picture] of the subject's face. It appears to stand in contrast with the apparant lighting on the house itself. Selective focus, resulting in far greater background blur, might have helped.

nala · Nov 2, 2009

I would try to increase the contrast a bit and see if that helps.

PatrickHMS · Nov 3, 2009

nice backdrop...lol

Sn00bies · Nov 3, 2009

For any normal picture, I also would say there's too much in the background that needs to be cropped out... but considering this is Frank Lloyd Wright's Kauffman House, I think it would defeat the purpose of the picture for the OP to crop it out. I agree that you just have an interesting lighting combination going on. I would play with it in Levels/Curves, and add some contrast and/or saturation as others have recommended.

harkain · Nov 3, 2009

Quick curves mask, just lift the center of the curve a bit and mask over the bottom and left side. Maybe a slight color balance to remove the cast. Also, as stated above, fill flash will prevent this problem and balance the image.

pharmakon · Nov 3, 2009

harkain - That looks much better, thanks for the tip. Hopefully I'll remember it if I ever find myself in a similar situation!

Sn00bies · Nov 3, 2009

I didn't know we could edit that photo?

kundalini · Nov 3, 2009

What?...... no one mentions the hacked off feet?

What's your subject? The house where all the cool kids hang out or the lonely soul all on his own? IMO, the two do not mesh well together.

If the opportunity arises again, I would suggest to open up your aperture to de-focus on the background but leaving it distinguishable and add some fill flash to make your subject pop. You also have a domineering PoV which, unfortunately, makes him look ever more the lew-hoo-hoo-ser with the pose you have. Personally, I would think have him standing with a masculine stance against such a strong architectural feature to be fundamental.

What's that between his feet (assuming he has a right foot) ? Consider cloning it out.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm barking...... but I'm on a short leash.

Killer house. I've seen a few documentaries on F. L. Wright's houses. This is amongst my favorites.

ajpicture · Nov 3, 2009

Thanks, I appreciate all the feedback. In the future I'll remember to use the fill flash. The model is actually me shot by someone else. I took another photo without the feet hacked off, but the model didn't want her photo posted. They both suffered from the same problem though.