Help with post processing

[adamjenzerr]

I need help with post processing. I like both the BW and color but not sure how to make it POP. ANyone have ideas?

 

[chuasam]

go for a tighter crop

 

[adamjenzerr]

More like this

 

[chuasam]

does that feel like it pops more?

 

[adamjenzerr]

Kinda lol I guess. What about the actual photo itself as black and white?

 

[chuasam]

Think of Black and White is a way to focus on and study the shape and texture of an image without the interference of different colours.

 

[adamjenzerr]

I get caught up in the white and blacks

 

[Ysarex]

I like the color one:

I agree tighter crop.
Then white blance and tone correct.
I also put a little color into the blank sky showing through the trees.
And darken the water.

Joe

 

[adamjenzerr]

Wow it looks better already. How did you do that. Did you use a gradient filter in lightroom or something else?

 

[fjrabon]

Getting a photo to 'pop' is mostly about using selective 'brushed in' versions of contrast, burning and dodging (and also highlight and shadow recovery). This picture has large global contrast, but the local contrast is often pretty flat. Also, it's almost all within just a few shades in color, further adding to the flatness.

I'll mostly speak to the B&W since you already got some good advice on the color rendition.

First thing I would do is add some selective sharpening to the boat. This will bring it out a bit more already. Next, I'd burn the foliage to the boats left and the water a bit, as they're both tonally about the same value of grey as the boat is, which is causing the boat to get 'sucked in' instead of 'popping'.
Next I added some mid contrast globally and then some overall global contrast. Then I decided to do a horizontal crop instead of the original vertical crop, since the boat is more horizontal, and I added some very mild sharpening globally, and a little bit of medium sharpening to the area of the water underneath the boat.

Here is the resulting image:
boatbw (1) by franklinrabon, on Flickr

 

[adamjenzerr]

Great, I appreciate your comments. im finding out that taking a picture is only half the battle. You did that in lightroom im guessing. I will mess around a bit thanks

 

[fjrabon]

Great, I appreciate your comments. im finding out that taking a picture is only half the battle. You did that in lightroom im guessing. I will mess around a bit thanks

I did it in Aperture for mac, just FYI. Lightroom does all the same things though.

 

[fjrabon]

Just as a general comment, the more practice you get with it, the more it becomes a second nature. It probably took me all of about 5 minutes to download your picture, import it into aperture, do all the edits I mentioned, then upload it to my flickr and post. It probably took me at least twice as long to describe my edits.

The biggest key, really even more than knowing 'how to do it', is quickly recognizing what needs to be done. The "how to" is generally fairly straight forward. It's knowing exactly what is needed to make the photo look the way you want it that is the challenge. This is sort of the digital equivalent to what they used to call 'reading the negative' in the old days of film. Being able to look at an unprocessed image and knowing exactly what first edits to make to get you in the ballpark, then further refining when you get there, and so on.

 

[Ysarex]

Wow it looks better already. How did you do that. Did you use a gradient filter in lightroom or something else?

I used Photoshop.

First I rotated the photo slightly to straighten the water line.
Crop next.
Then I fixed the color -- your original is way too blue. I fixed the color by removing the blue until the foliage looked correct.
The sky seen through the trees was burned out so I tinted it blue.
The photo was flat so I used Levels to adjust the tone-response.
The photo was still flat so I applied a contrast increase using a Soft Light blend which I held back from the shadows.
The large expanse of water is fine to support the boat but it helps to darken it.
I did that with a Multiply blend that I restricted to only the water.
Finally I cloned out the blue plastic trash that was hanging in the tree left above the water.

Joe

 

[Ysarex]

Just as a general comment, the more practice you get with it, the more it becomes a second nature. It probably took me all of about 5 minutes to download your picture, import it into aperture, do all the edits I mentioned, then upload it to my flickr and post. It probably took me at least twice as long to describe my edits.

The biggest key, really even more than knowing 'how to do it', is quickly recognizing what needs to be done. The "how to" is generally fairly straight forward. It's knowing exactly what is needed to make the photo look the way you want it that is the challenge. This is sort of the digital equivalent to what they used to call 'reading the negative' in the old days of film. Being able to look at an unprocessed image and knowing exactly what first edits to make to get you in the ballpark, then further refining when you get there, and so on.

I'll second what Franklin says here. The key to editing is first seeing what's wrong. It took me all of a blink to look at your photo and respond to myself "way too blue and flat." You need to have that same reaction. You saw that the photo needed help. You said it was missing POP. What is POP? You want to pick up the correct vocabulary that photographers have used for over a century and be able to specifically name what's wrong. That vocabulary connects directly to the software editing controls. It's too blue = white balance and/or color correction. It's flat or low in contrast = tone response controls.

Joe