Is it me or my camera????

[sarasphotos]

I have been able to get excellent results from my camera without having to PP. It has been REALLY hot and humid here and I have been taking a lot of outdoor pics and then going to cold indoors. Could that have damaged my camera?? My pics look hazy...not blurry but like they have a film over them. When I pp them the pics look fine. Take a look....oh and my daughter just got home from school so excuse her being all dirty! LOL

BEFORE PP:

AFTER PP:

 

[graecyn]

What kind of camera are you using, might I ask?

 

[sarasphotos]

Nikon D3000....i've NEVER had problems to be able to produce great pics with no pp...until all of a sudden

 

[mrpink]

Nikon D3000....i've NEVER had problems to be able to produce great pics with no pp...until all of a sudden

every photo needs light work in PP, the trick is knowing just how much.




p!nK

 

[sarasphotos]

Well does the picture look hazy looking to you??? I think it lacks clarity...what do you think? Or does it look fine?? maybe I need new glasses...lol

 

[KmH]

Going from the cooled inside, to the hot humid outside will cause condensation to form on your camera, just like taking a cold drink outside does.

Condensation also forms inside the camera and lens.

You need to leave the camera in the camera bag for up to 45 minutes so the temperature can equalize before you expose it to the humidity.

In the winter it's just the opposite, condensation forms going from outside to inside.

If you are shooting JPEGs, your photos are post processed by the camera, meaning you have little control over what gets done.

 

[sarasphotos]

wow, ok so do I need to do something like clean it now?? Or just give it time to dry out??

Also, do the pics look blurry or fine?

 

[eccs19]

Sometimes when you buy electronics, they come with those little bags that absorb moisture. (Don't know what they are called) I keep a couple of those in my bag. Not sure if it really helps, but it can't hurt.

If you shoot JPG, have you recently made any adjustments to your camera's settings? If so, that could be why they don't look as good as they used to. If you were shooting JPG, and just recently switched to RAW, then you will see a difference as well, as RAW is pretty bland out of the camera, until you start playing with the settings.

Also take your lens off, put it up to a light / window, and see if the glass looks hazy. It's possible it's got a film on it from going inside to outside to different temperatures.

edit - they don't look super sharp, but it's possible you just missed the focus.

 

[graecyn]

Honestly... it doesn't look blurry to me. In fact, I think a quick sharpen filter in photoshop would make it look even sharper.

 

[sarasphotos]

I put the focus right on her eyes....so I don't think the focus could be wrong...I will take the lens off and look.

How do you do the sharpen layer??

 

[ababysean]

Here is the deal.
Your camera PP the image how it "thinks" it should be processed... so it is already getting post no matter what you do.
I feel like my post is undoing the cameras mistakes!

 

[sarasphotos]

ababysean: well said..lol

 

[pbelarge]

Sara
If you are unhappy with the jpg images, go to your menu (I am not familar with Nikon's terms), and adjust the photos settings to be more sharp, etc...

or

Shoot in raw and edit the photos. If you keep the edits simple, you can develop an action to do this as the photos download.

 

[sarasphotos]

Thanks for the info! I actually shoot jpeg/raw so I actually get both image files. I tend to like editing jpeg better because it is faster but I also like to have the option of raw just in case

 

[RobNZ]

Could be your PP as well perhaps?

I had a bit of a play with the original image to see how it would look if I processed as I would normally (we will all end up with different results if we processed exactly the same image).

Other than the very close to blown out bits on her nose and left cheek I couldnt see much wrong with it after a bit of PP. The original as shot does look a bit hazy, this is probably caused by the lighting at the time of the shot, looks quite flat and low in contrast. Sharpness is fine for unprocessed from what I could tell.

I noticed condensation on one of my lenses the other day as I was preparing my gear for a days shooting, just left it to adjust to the conditions and it was fine when I went to use it an hour later.

Your original

Your PP

My attempt, eyes maybe a little too dark still perhaps.

Curves, levels, selective burning, blending, photo filters and unsharp mask selectively for the eyes and then reduced/blended. Added a touch of magenta and blue to warm it a little bit, maybe 5 minutes work. Not what I would call fixing as such, just standard PP that I would do if it were my shot.