Photos look Dull?

[photo_jon]

I need help so my photos don't look so dull. I have a Sony WS150.

 

[SnappingShark]

One thing *I* do is in camera boost the saturation by 1
also, use a shallower depth of field ... and of course - set up some lights, or use lightroom

 

[BananaRepublic]

Could it have been cloudy at the time

 

[sashbar]

The picture is dull because the light is dull, cold and boring. No experienced photographer will even think of taking photos in this kind of light. Good light is what creates shadows, shapes, depth, 3D perspective, makes colours look attractive and makes you pictures exiting. Just wait for low warm early evening sun and watch how it illuminates the scene, changes shades and casts shadows. Select the best angle, choose the appropriate aperture and shoot.

 

[Designer]

I need help so my photos don't look so dull. I have a Sony WS150.

Yup, it's the light, not your camera. If you can get a flash, do that. Then learn how to make it flash even when it is not attached to your camera. (like a cable, for instance)

If not a flash, and if your subject is not moving, mount your camera on a tripod or brace it securely on a rock, or a fence for instance, and use a flashlight trained on the flower. You'll need to keep the shutter open longer than with flash, (maybe 1/15 of a second, or even longer) while you shine the light on the flower. (So that's why you need to use a tripod.)

 

[BananaRepublic]

The picture is dull because the light is dull, cold and boring. No experienced photographer will even think of taking photos in this kind of light. Good light is what creates shadows, shapes, depth, 3D perspective, makes colours look attractive and makes you pictures exiting. Just wait for low warm early evening sun and watch how it illuminates the scene, changes shades and casts shadows. Select the best angle, choose the appropriate aperture and shoot.

There is need to go with the"No experienced photographer" line, that exactly why people lose interest.

 

[Designer]

He means "no need".

 

[Ysarex]

You have a couple different problems here coming together and exacerbating each other.

You took the photo in the shade on an otherwise sunny day. Which is fine by the way. Open shade light is low contrast (dull if you will) but also in some ways very good and not your major problem. Not really a problem at all because your camera has a setting for contrast and you could use that to increase contrast and counter the flat lighting. (It's also possible to raise contrast with editing software).

Your bigger problem in this photo involves your camera's white balance setting. I'm going to say with near certainty that the camera was set to Auto White Balance. And the auto white balance function has crashed and burned. The color of the foliage in your photo is way wrong. It's way too blue because the light was way blue. The software in your camera didn't "automatically" figure it out. When the camera white balance software makes an error like this (don't panic they all do it so your camera is working like it should) it typically cascades into both exposure and processing errors and it's not uncommon to see results like your photo above.

What you need to do: learn to set your camera's white balance function. Your camera should let you both set a custom WB as well as chose from a menu of WB presets. An open shade preset would have been better and a custom WB would have been best. So look into those options for the future.

This is to give you an idea of how your camera goofed this one. Compare the color of the plant leaves between your photo and this version.

When I looked at your photo I saw that the blue channel was blown out. As soon as I repaired that problem I was able to Levels adjust the photo to get much better contrast. I tweaked the contrast a little more and cropped the photo a little. With proper white balance and use of your camera's contrast adjustment you should have been able to get this corrected version of the photo from the camera.

Joe

 

[photo_jon]

You have a couple different problems here coming together and exacerbating each other.

You took the photo in the shade on an otherwise sunny day. Which is fine by the way. Open shade light is low contrast (dull if you will) but also in some ways very good and not your major problem. Not really a problem at all because your camera has a setting for contrast and you could use that to increase contrast and counter the flat lighting. (It's also possible to raise contrast with editing software).

Your bigger problem in this photo involves your camera's white balance setting. I'm going to say with near certainty that the camera was set to Auto White Balance. And the auto white balance function has crashed and burned. The color of the foliage in your photo is way wrong. It's way too blue because the light was way blue. The software in your camera didn't "automatically" figure it out. When the camera white balance software makes an error like this (don't panic they all do it so your camera is working like it should) it typically cascades into both exposure and processing errors and it's not uncommon to see results like your photo above.

What you need to do: learn to set your camera's white balance function. Your camera should let you both set a custom WB as well as chose from a menu of WB presets. An open shade preset would have been better and a custom WB would have been best. So look into those options for the future.

This is to give you an idea of how your camera goofed this one. Compare the color of the plant leaves between your photo and this version.

View attachment 122434

When I looked at your photo I saw that the blue channel was blown out. As soon as I repaired that problem I was able to Levels adjust the photo to get much better contrast. I tweaked the contrast a little more and cropped the photo a little. With proper white balance and use of your camera's contrast adjustment you should have been able to get this corrected version of the photo from the camera.

Joe

Thanks, checkin' out the white balance stuff, I'll try that. What did you use to fix the photo?