How to make photos look professional in PS

[Shane Anderson]

Nice pics Gary, love the first one!!

 

[Stephen.C]

I gave it a little go in LR3. Boosted Contrast and added a brush on it that lowered clarity / sharpness, and also boosted blacks / contrast.

 

[Fender5388]

sorry i didnt really read all the posts in here, but what got my attention were the bike tricks haha. for bmx photography, opposed to other sports you usually wanna scoot back some and get more of the environment in the shot.
this tells the story behind the trick. where he came from and where he's going all in one shot. im mean yea sure you cn zoom right in on the kid in the air. but it doesnt tell you anything about what he's doing. this is coming from a bmx rider/ photographer.

like these two shots, you can get more of a feel of whats actually taking place in the photo. and just from looking at your first shot, it seemed like the lighting was a bit flat and that the colors could be more vibrant. but all this is just my opinion.

 

[Destin]

sorry i didnt really read all the posts in here, but what got my attention were the bike tricks haha. for bmx photography, opposed to other sports you usually wanna scoot back some and get more of the environment in the shot.
this tells the story behind the trick. where he came from and where he's going all in one shot. im mean yea sure you cn zoom right in on the kid in the air. but it doesnt tell you anything about what he's doing. this is coming from a bmx rider/ photographer.

like these two shots, you can get more of a feel of whats actually taking place in the photo. and just from looking at your first shot, it seemed like the lighting was a bit flat and that the colors could be more vibrant. but all this is just my opinion.

I totally agree man. But they were just coming over a tabletop, so including it was rather boring. And trust me I know what the riders wanna see, I'm a mountain biker (mostly xc racing, some Downhill, and dirtjumping just for fun).

Honestly, the lighting was bad in the park I was shooting and I only had one flash set up. More or less my fault.

This is a mountain biking shot I took at a race over the summer. Nothing exciting, but photos like this sold. I made $450 off of selling prints after the race! Sorry about the watermark. Used mostly ambient, and 2 off camera flashes for fill.

 

[TerribleWone]

Man, its rays MTB! I have shot there before, and despite looking like there may be some usable light, its poorly lit. The same situation happens in the park I use to ride here in toronto.

I set this shot up two years ago and let someone take it for me. It really needs a third light to fill the ramp in a little but you get an idea about the separation between the rider and background using light. The photo I posted does lack some of the separation it should have since I was wearing a shirt and helmet that was the exact same color as the rafters. The photo could have been better had it be taken at F4.0 rather than F7 that if I remember correctly was taken at.

Anyways getting back to your photo I would never turn to PS for any form of simulated lens or action blur, just looks cheap. For any "still" ie lacking visible action (see motorsports pan) try to keep your app to 4 or lower and make use of light to form separation.

 

[Restomage]

You should be making your photos look professional straight off the camera.

 

[Destin]

Man, its rays MTB! I have shot there before, and despite looking like there may be some usable light, its poorly lit. The same situation happens in the park I use to ride here in toronto.

I set this shot up two years ago and let someone take it for me. It really needs a third light to fill the ramp in a little but you get an idea about the separation between the rider and background using light. The photo I posted does lack some of the separation it should have since I was wearing a shirt and helmet that was the exact same color as the rafters. The photo could have been better had it be taken at F4.0 rather than F7 that if I remember correctly was taken at.

Anyways getting back to your photo I would never turn to PS for any form of simulated lens or action blur, just looks cheap. For any "still" ie lacking visible action (see motorsports pan) try to keep your app to 4 or lower and make use of light to form separation.

Nice man! Haha I can't believe someone on here knows what rays is!! It's a 4 hour drive from my house, but I go there once a month in the winter just to keep myself sane through the winter. I'm going crazy right about now wishing I could be out riding!

That photo looks sweet man. It could definitely use a light on the ramp, but I like it. Mind telling me how your flashes were positioned in relation to the rider? I'm assuming one right and one left, but how far to the side? I really can't wait to get back there and get another try at getting some good photos (and riding). It's just hard to find a place to shoot where I'm not gonna get run over haha

I would never try to simulate blur in photoshop either, honestly. It really does just look crappy.

 

[mjhoward]

a) your shutter speed appears too high. 1/250 will freeze the rider but not the wheels and give more impression of motion.

Here are a couple of taken with my D5000 and 70-200 lens:

Its funny, because the EXIF for the pics you posted show that YOU used the exact same shutter speed (1/250) for your photos

 

[Dmitri]

I think Destin just wants to argue.

 

[TerribleWone]

That photo looks sweet man. It could definitely use a light on the ramp, but I like it. Mind telling me how your flashes were positioned in relation to the rider? I'm assuming one right and one left, but how far to the side? I really can't wait to get back there and get another try at getting some good photos (and riding). It's just hard to find a place to shoot where I'm not gonna get run over haha

With only two strobes and poor park lighting I had to make the compromise and choose to primarily light the rider. The flash on the left sits up on the ramps deck while the other sits down on the mini ramps flat bottom to the right further back. Both point towards the rider and are both set to full power. Normally I would not set both to 1/1 but since there is a big difference in distance to the subject the further light appears as if its not as strong automatically despite being at the same power. The end result is that the strobe on the left is the key light that gives the good separation and the light on the right acts as the fill light. This photo was edited before I color profiled my LCD so when I look at it now its been pushed way too hard. If I can find the NEF file I will be able to bring more of the ramps surface out with fill light adjustment and then edit the color and contrast accordingly. Man I should get on that!

Rays is awesome, I do have a photo of me riding there, but its pretty brutal. It again suffers from asking two lights to do too much. It would have been a lot better with a third light, or changing the angle of the shot to behind the ramp on the landing. I could have then repositioned my strobes to light the subject and the ramp. Anyways these are all very old photos, I really have to try shooting BMX now that I have came a long way.

PS if you are 4 hours from rays where are you from? Mi or NY? I am about 5 hours away since I live near Toronto.

 

[OrionsByte]

I know the rule of thirds. But most of the time it doesn't apply to sports photography because you want the subject to fill the frame. The main reason my subject in the example photo doesn't fill th frame is that I was trying to show how high off the ground he was.

Working from Edsports' edit, I did a slight crop. The biker now lies along one of the third-lines, and their upper body is right near a power point. It's not that much of a crop, and if it was done from the full-size original instead of the web'd version, it would still make a fine print.

Before

After

 

[TerribleWone]

The problem with a crop such as that in BMX is that we now have no idea what the rider is doing. Is he flying out of a ramp, jumping into foam or jumping a box rhythm? The original photo still suffers from the same problem despite the fact that I know it was taken on the medium rhythm at rays. Had I never been to the park I really cant tell whats going on. This is the issue that anyone shooting action sports must work around. Generally you want to have where they came from and where they are going to in the same frame. It gives the action some form of continuity.

 

[OrionsByte]

The problem with a crop such as that in BMX is that we now have no idea what the rider is doing. Is he flying out of a ramp, jumping into foam or jumping a box rhythm? The original photo still suffers from the same problem despite the fact that I know it was taken on the medium rhythm at rays. Had I never been to the park I really cant tell whats going on. This is the issue that anyone shooting action sports must work around. Generally you want to have where they came from and where they are going to in the same frame. It gives the action some form of continuity.

Point taken, but even with some foreground interest to show context you can still crop the photo so that the biker isn't just centered.

 

[Destin]

That photo looks sweet man. It could definitely use a light on the ramp, but I like it. Mind telling me how your flashes were positioned in relation to the rider? I'm assuming one right and one left, but how far to the side? I really can't wait to get back there and get another try at getting some good photos (and riding). It's just hard to find a place to shoot where I'm not gonna get run over haha

With only two strobes and poor park lighting I had to make the compromise and choose to primarily light the rider. The flash on the left sits up on the ramps deck while the other sits down on the mini ramps flat bottom to the right further back. Both point towards the rider and are both set to full power. Normally I would not set both to 1/1 but since there is a big difference in distance to the subject the further light appears as if its not as strong automatically despite being at the same power. The end result is that the strobe on the left is the key light that gives the good separation and the light on the right acts as the fill light. This photo was edited before I color profiled my LCD so when I look at it now its been pushed way too hard. If I can find the NEF file I will be able to bring more of the ramps surface out with fill light adjustment and then edit the color and contrast accordingly. Man I should get on that!

Rays is awesome, I do have a photo of me riding there, but its pretty brutal. It again suffers from asking two lights to do too much. It would have been a lot better with a third light, or changing the angle of the shot to behind the ramp on the landing. I could have then repositioned my strobes to light the subject and the ramp. Anyways these are all very old photos, I really have to try shooting BMX now that I have came a long way.

PS if you are 4 hours from rays where are you from? Mi or NY? I am about 5 hours away since I live near Toronto.

Awesome man. I'm definitely excited to get back down there in a few weeks to try shooting it again. I know I can do alot better, I just need to slow down and think about what I'm doing more. Most of the knowledge is in my head, I just need to get better at implementing it correctly, which is harder than it sounds haha.

I'm from Buffalo man, so we aren't far apart. I actually went to the Toronto international bike show 2 years ago, before I needed a passport to come across. I was looking forward to coming there to take some photos too, but don't have a passport yet.

 

[TerribleWone]

OrionsByte:

In terms of contemporary photography you are spot on, but for me as a rider I find the OG and especially the crop perplexing. For the average person these issues may not be present, but lets say the photo was in a BMX mag a lot of people would be confused. Just to me as a rider I like to see where one is coming from and going to. Additionally I like some scale in the photo, and thats something even the photo I posted of the miniramp air lacks. For example in my photo you can see that I am airing out and back into the same ramp. However its hard to tell how tall the ramp is or how high I am airing. Take a guess how high I am out of the ramp and how tall the ramp is.

A. 3 feet out of a 4 foot ramp?
B. 4 feet out of a 5 foot ramp?
C. 5 feet out of a 6 foot ramp?
D. 6 feet out of a 6 foot ramp?

Contrary to the way it looks, I am actually 6 feet out of a 6 foot ramp. The photo lacks any kind of real scale so its deceiving. had the photo been taken further back the scale of the ramp and the air would look MUCH larger. Unfortunitly the option does not exist since it was a tight indoor ramp.

Destin:
Man get yourself a passport and save yourself the massive drive. Joyride150 just opened up near toronto. Its a almost exactly like rays but about 50-65% the size. The park is only 2 hours from your place and its nearly as good.