Overexposed?

[Bitter Jeweler]

I dunno what lens you used, but I don't care for the quality of the background blur. It's nauseating.

 

[SabrinaO]

The wb is off how?? I intended for this set to be a litttle warm...
There's nothing I can do about the dappled (spotty?)sunlight... or is there? Does it really look "bad"? If it does... help me see it.

They're not warm -- the opposite. They're cyan. As for dappled sunlight -- best to avoid it unless you have fill along.

If you look at the luminosity histograms of these images you'll see that they fall short of reaching the left (shadow) corner. They need Levels corrections. I adjusted the one of the flags. I made the Levels correction in Photoshop -- pulled the shadow end slider to the left. I also tweaked the midpoint slider to the left (just a little) and removed the cyan color cast.

You noted you have a MAC desktop and that you also looked at these on a laptop and on PCs. You need a standard for image viewing that you can trust. Never look at a photo on a laptop and try to pass judgment. Your MAC desktop has a basic calibration routine built into the OS -- have you run through that calibration? Go to preference and select Display. Then click on Color and then Calibrate. Do the tone adjustments but stay off the color (right side). If you want you MAC to look like most computers then answer 2.2 to the gamma question.

Joe

Wow your edit looks great! I'm going to do what you did exactly!! Thanks. What is the midpoint slider? I have lightroom. Also when you say you removed the cyan... How did you do it? Did you warm it up or did you just desaturate the cyan a little?

 

[SabrinaO]

i guess ill fix the exposure. :er: Its just so frustrating because final edits look so perfect my mac desktop... but when i go to my hp laptop or a regular pc they look different. :meh:....

Too late you already took the photo, it is not good to have to adjust every shoot in photoshop

Oh get over yourself...
Nothing is 100% perfect straight out of camera. Pictures could always use a pop of contrast, a levels boost or a wb/exposure tweaking. When I shoot I try to get it best SOOC for minimal editing... but I shoot RAW so I have to edit.

 

[antiquerookie]

I suggest you take a look at "The Art of Photography" by Bruce Barnbaum. What is the story / point of the pictures? Had you not mentioned the tea party, I wouldn't have been able to figure them out.

I'm sorry but they look like rejects to me. No matter how many hours are spent Photoshoping them, they still don't have a story.

 

[clanthar]

The wb is off how?? I intended for this set to be a litttle warm...
There's nothing I can do about the dappled (spotty?)sunlight... or is there? Does it really look "bad"? If it does... help me see it.

They're not warm -- the opposite. They're cyan. As for dappled sunlight -- best to avoid it unless you have fill along.

If you look at the luminosity histograms of these images you'll see that they fall short of reaching the left (shadow) corner. They need Levels corrections. I adjusted the one of the flags. I made the Levels correction in Photoshop -- pulled the shadow end slider to the left. I also tweaked the midpoint slider to the left (just a little) and removed the cyan color cast.

You noted you have a MAC desktop and that you also looked at these on a laptop and on PCs. You need a standard for image viewing that you can trust. Never look at a photo on a laptop and try to pass judgment. Your MAC desktop has a basic calibration routine built into the OS -- have you run through that calibration? Go to preference and select Display. Then click on Color and then Calibrate. Do the tone adjustments but stay off the color (right side). If you want you MAC to look like most computers then answer 2.2 to the gamma question.

Joe

Wow your edit looks great! I'm going to do what you did exactly!! Thanks. What is the midpoint slider? I have lightroom. Also when you say you removed the cyan... How did you do it? Did you warm it up or did you just desaturate the cyan a little?

I'm afraid I don't use Lightroom at home -- it's at the office but I'm a Photoshop user. When you're editing in Lightroom you see a histogram above the editing panel. I believe it shows a combination of color channels as well as luminosity -- luminosity is white?

I don't believe Lightroom has a direct Levels adjustment. The goal in most cases is a photo in which the luminosity histogram extends all the way from the left end to the right end. In your photos the histogram falls short of the left end. It's easy to correct in Photoshop -- in Lightroom I'm afraid I can't help till I get to work on Monday.

Lightroom I'm sure can alter the white balance to remove the cyan color cast. What I did specifically was again to use Levels in Photoshop. I converted the image to Lab color and then simply adjusted the two color channels until the tree trunk looked right and the white of the white flag was just a little blue while the white of the rope was a little yellow -- compromise. In Lightroom the method would be different.

I'm sure Lightroom can handle it -- but it sounds like you need to back up a bit and start by getting control of your viewing conditions.

Joe

 

[SabrinaO]

I suggest you take a look at "The Art of Photography" by Bruce Barnbaum. What is the story / point of the pictures? Had you not mentioned the tea party, I wouldn't have been able to figure them out.

I'm sorry but they look like rejects to me. No matter how many hours are spent Photoshoping them, they still don't have a story.

These photos are not "rejects" ... I already said these are promo photos for a tea party event I'm hosting and taking pictures for. I was thinking about combining them into a story board but I shouldn't have to because once I post the event anyone can figure out they are just shots of the potential setup. It's not like I took these to frame on my wall or something, so some rules of photography can go out the window. I suggest you put that "The Art of Photography" book DOWN and open your mind a little...

 

[SabrinaO]

I dunno what lens you used, but I don't care for the quality of the background blur. It's nauseating.

35mm 1.8. What's wrong with the quality? I know some lenses are better w/ bokeh than others. I'm curious to what you are thinking.

 

[SabrinaO]

They're not warm -- the opposite. They're cyan. As for dappled sunlight -- best to avoid it unless you have fill along.

If you look at the luminosity histograms of these images you'll see that they fall short of reaching the left (shadow) corner. They need Levels corrections. I adjusted the one of the flags. I made the Levels correction in Photoshop -- pulled the shadow end slider to the left. I also tweaked the midpoint slider to the left (just a little) and removed the cyan color cast.

You noted you have a MAC desktop and that you also looked at these on a laptop and on PCs. You need a standard for image viewing that you can trust. Never look at a photo on a laptop and try to pass judgment. Your MAC desktop has a basic calibration routine built into the OS -- have you run through that calibration? Go to preference and select Display. Then click on Color and then Calibrate. Do the tone adjustments but stay off the color (right side). If you want you MAC to look like most computers then answer 2.2 to the gamma question.

Joe

Wow your edit looks great! I'm going to do what you did exactly!! Thanks. What is the midpoint slider? I have lightroom. Also when you say you removed the cyan... How did you do it? Did you warm it up or did you just desaturate the cyan a little?

I'm afraid I don't use Lightroom at home -- it's at the office but I'm a Photoshop user. When you're editing in Lightroom you see a histogram above the editing panel. I believe it shows a combination of color channels as well as luminosity -- luminosity is white?

I don't believe Lightroom has a direct Levels adjustment. The goal in most cases is a photo in which the luminosity histogram extends all the way from the left end to the right end. In your photos the histogram falls short of the left end. It's easy to correct in Photoshop -- in Lightroom I'm afraid I can't help till I get to work on Monday.

Lightroom I'm sure can alter the white balance to remove the cyan color cast. What I did specifically was again to use Levels in Photoshop. I converted the image to Lab color and then simply adjusted the two color channels until the tree trunk looked right and the white of the white flag was just a little blue while the white of the rope was a little yellow -- compromise. In Lightroom the method would be different.

I'm sure Lightroom can handle it -- but it sounds like you need to back up a bit and start by getting control of your viewing conditions.

Joe

I have photoshop too so I'm gonna see what I can do in that. Thanks for all your help Joe! What is lab color and why did you convert it?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I dunno what lens you used, but I don't care for the quality of the background blur. It's nauseating.

35mm 1.8. What's wrong with the quality? I know some lenses are better w/ bokeh than others. I'm curious to what you are thinking.

It looks so busy and overlappy, and jaggedy...it is visually disorienting to me. It's just not smooth and pleasing,

I suggest you take a look at "The Art of Photography" by Bruce Barnbaum. What is the story / point of the pictures? Had you not mentioned the tea party, I wouldn't have been able to figure them out.

I'm sorry but they look like rejects to me. No matter how many hours are spent Photoshoping them, they still don't have a story.

These photos are not "rejects" ... I already said these are promo photos for a tea party event I'm hosting and taking pictures for. I was thinking about combining them into a story board but I shouldn't have to because once I post the event anyone can figure out they are just shots of the potential setup. It's not like I took these to frame on my wall or something, so some rules of photography can go out the window. I suggest you put that "The Art of Photography" book DOWN and open your mind a little...

I disagree with the ancientrookie, I totally got tea party from the first 2 images.

I love how you selectively toss information to suit your needs. From seeing your posts repeatedly, you would only benefit from reading as many books as you can. Maybe you would come here less looking for the quick fix of your problem du 'jour. Yoou provide a great example of this in the colorspace thread. You specifically asked to have it watered down so you can get what you need, and not have to fully understand it. You need a deeper understanding of what you are doing. You need to open your mind AND some books.

I do find it funny that here, you are willing to toss "rules", yet in another thread of someone elses work, you are quick to enforce them.
So which is it Sabrina? Do you even know?

 

[Pgeobc]

May I suggest? A tea party is a very light-hearted affair, so just enough overexposure to make these into high-key photographs might be just the thing.

 

[j28]

The shallow DOF in the first one looks artificial to me. It looks like it has been added in PP rather than created in the shot. What settings were you using?

The shot with the banner and tree is very visually cluttered to me, and I cannot tell what I am supposed to be focusing on. Editing it helped a little with the overall feel, but it still seems to be about the tree to me. I would look for a space with fewer leaves on the ground and not as many competing colors (the brown leaves are what is killing it, IMO)

 

[kundalini]

If these are promo shots for a tea party, I'd opt for a shot of tequila.

Exposure issues have been exhaustively discussed, so I'll touch on some other problems. Bitter already mentioned the nervous background blur. It really is poor and I think it is exacerbated because of the harsh sunlight that's hitting it.

Why the tilt in #1? The stacked cups do not stack well and look haphazardly positioned. Having multiple colored cups without its matching colored saucer looks shoddy compare to the white tea pot. The banner flags add nothing, even if they are coordinating colors to the multiple colored cups.

Why is the vase the prominent subject in #2? Why is the tea cup amputated? Why is the bottom of the vase cut off? Aren't you promoting a tea party? I would have placed the vase behind the main subjects. Again, the banner flags add nothing.

The only suggestion I can offer for #3 is to find another location and a different PoV. I would try to find a solid daker background, 6' to 12' in the distance.

Honestly, if you're trying to shoot props for a tea party, I would consider shooting them indoors under controlled lighting without all the busy-ness of distracting backgrounds. If you want to shoot a scence of what a possible tea party setup would look like, then it would behoove you to shoot the entire scene, not bits and pieces.

Lastly, consider throttling back the attitude. It seems people are trying to give solid advice. Although some of the advice segued to other aspects of the images, the intent seems to be in good faith.

 

[KmH]

If you want to learn how to use the editing tools/functions/features that are available in Lightroom 3, get the book: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5

CS5 Camera Raw and Lightroom 3 use the same edit rendering engine (editing tools/functions/features) ACR 6.

Lightroom has a tool that can fix most of the CA the 35 mm f/1.8 produces, and Lightroom has a tool for adjusting levels.

 

[clanthar]

I have photoshop too so I'm gonna see what I can do in that. Thanks for all your help Joe! What is lab color and why did you convert it?

Lab color is a different color model than RGB which is the default for digital photos. Photoshop allows conversion to Lab (Image menu - Mode). In the RGB model you have three channels, one for each color Red, Green, BLue. In Lab you have one channel for the tone of the photo (L) and two channels for color (a) is magenta/green and (b) is yellow/blue. I often convert a photo to Lab mode to edit it. I prefer to make color corrections in Lab as it's easier for me and makes more sense. To do that I use Levels in Photoshop and adjust the midpoint slider for either/or both the (a) and (b) channels. An alternative in RGB mode would be to use Photoshop's Color Balance dialog.

Joe

 

[SabrinaO]

I dunno what lens you used, but I don't care for the quality of the background blur. It's nauseating.

35mm 1.8. What's wrong with the quality? I know some lenses are better w/ bokeh than others. I'm curious to what you are thinking.

It looks so busy and overlappy, and jaggedy...it is visually disorienting to me. It's just not smooth and pleasing,

I suggest you take a look at "The Art of Photography" by Bruce Barnbaum. What is the story / point of the pictures? Had you not mentioned the tea party, I wouldn't have been able to figure them out.

I'm sorry but they look like rejects to me. No matter how many hours are spent Photoshoping them, they still don't have a story.

These photos are not "rejects" ... I already said these are promo photos for a tea party event I'm hosting and taking pictures for. I was thinking about combining them into a story board but I shouldn't have to because once I post the event anyone can figure out they are just shots of the potential setup. It's not like I took these to frame on my wall or something, so some rules of photography can go out the window. I suggest you put that "The Art of Photography" book DOWN and open your mind a little...

I disagree with the ancientrookie, I totally got tea party from the first 2 images.

I love how you selectively toss information to suit your needs. From seeing your posts repeatedly, you would only benefit from reading as many books as you can. Maybe you would come here less looking for the quick fix of your problem du 'jour. Yoou provide a great example of this in the colorspace thread. You specifically asked to have it watered down so you can get what you need, and not have to fully understand it. You need a deeper understanding of what you are doing. You need to open your mind AND some books.

I do find it funny that here, you are willing to toss "rules", yet in another thread of someone elses work, you are quick to enforce them.
So which is it Sabrina? Do you even know?

What are you talking about? Im not trying to create works of art here... im just trying to take some promo shots of my props and setup. About the colorspace thread... so what? It was early in the morning and that was a ton of info to be reading. I just wanted it simplified. Again... SO WHAT?