How to make a picture pop?

[jess28]

I am in *no* way an expert, and often have the wash out problem myself. I would not skip a shot that I could not recreate later because of poor lighting. I wouldn't expect it to be amazing, and it would probably get filed away in the pics no one else sees, but IMO a mediocre shot of a once in a lifetime location is better than none at all.

I think the post processing standards really depend on what you are okay with. Personally, I am horrid at PP work so I am focusing on trying to get better in camera rather than developing my PP skills right now. Then when my in camera skills are improved I'll move on to PP work. The way I look at it you can always improve or play with a good shot, but there is only so much you can do with a crappy one, KWIM?

 

[Josh220]

Thanks for the feedback. Well, I drove to several locations & this picture is the least washout one from all the pictures I took. I guess maybe what make a good photographer is he/she always waits for the right hour to get the best light, right?

Back to my original question, if you cannot wait for the right time say you are a tourist & you only have only from noon to 3pm to be at this location, do you just give up not taking any picture or you use polarizer & then post process it? I recently was at Arches NP, I was so helpless. The sun was so bright & there is no shade. I kept asking myself how a experienced photographer would do it if he is under this 'harsh' situation? What kind of tricks under his sleeves that I am not aware of.

Also, do people make sure their pictures are 90% good & 10% post processing to make them perfect or 50%/50%.

Sorry for all these elementary questions.

Well if you only have from noon to 3, and you have a DSLR, you can purposefully underexpose the picture to darken it up, and setting the white balance to the daylight settings also helps.

 

[KmH]

Landscape photographers use a variety of filters.

• Cl (circular) Polarizer filter
• Neutral Density (ND) filters
• Graduated ND filters
• Skylight filters

Using filters is pre-processing images and some of the filter effects can be accomplished with software in post processing in an image editor.

Someone recommended Adobe Photoshop Lightroom as image editing software. Technically, Lightroom is a database manager intended to be used in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop CSx.

Adobe sells a consumer version of Photoshop they call Photoshop Elements. The current version in Elements 7. Amazon.com is currently selling E7 it for about $75. Photoshop CS4, the Pro version is $665 and the Extended version (having 3D editing) is $900.
Adobe has student versions of all it's software at big discounts if you qualify. Student versions can not be used for commercial purposes.

GIMP is free www.GIMP.org and lots of people like Googles free Picasa 3 Picasa 3: Free download from Google

 

[KmH]

A graduated ND filter would have helped tame the bright sky which is overexposed and is washing out the image.
Here is an edit I did with ACR, Photoshop, Imaginomic noiseware and Topaz Adjust 3. I reduced the exposure 2 stops, added fill a minor Curves adjustment, de-noised, and used the Photo Pop pre-set in Topaz. Is this closer to what you saw with your eye?

 

[DScience]

I like Aperture for macs and Lightroom for PC's for general editing programs. I use both as well as photoshop, but I think that if you want really good pictures that 'pop', it's mostly about capturing a really great shot. Post processing allows you to make a great shot, creative and personlized.

Which do you prefer?

Hmm that's hard...I have to say that I prefer them for different purposes.

Aperture - there is NO comparison when talking about file handling. Aperture is what I use for all my file management. If I edit a photo in Lightroom or photoshop, I always import back to aperture to store the picture.

PS - I use this for B&W photos, and other photos that I really want to do a lot of work with.

Lightroom - I use this to edit most photos. It has better editing capabilities than Aperture for most purposes. But I don't like the program format very much.

 

[wet]

Thanks guys, I learn so much from you. I am impressed my picture can be rescued & looks very good actually after PP. I guess I should not give up due to poor ligthing.