Snow is melting in Wisconsin! Outdoor shots for C&C

Kyna · Mar 29, 2011

I just started using Photoshop Elements last night. All I've used prior is Gimp. So......with that please C&C these!

I downloaded a few actions so I tried them out......that is why there is a different feel/tone to each picture but I tried to keep them similar at least.

Thanks!

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6.

RedWylder · Mar 29, 2011

The first couple seem overexposed to me, I can't comment on the photoshop job because I haven't used it yet.

Stryker · Mar 29, 2011

These are uver exposed shots and tough to "salvage". If you look at the histograms, they are cramped to the right! Anyway, here is my take on one of them and you may download it here if you want to: vintagesawyer1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

crimbfighter · Mar 30, 2011

Ahh, greetings from Madison! Not too many other Sconies around these forums! I heard you guys got dumped on pretty heavily with the snow last week... Good thing it's Wisconsin, if you don't like the weather, stick around. It'll change... Anyway, onto the photos.

I would agree, the first couple are way overexposed. If you shoot RAW, I'd suggest lowering you exposure and recovering some of the highlights on these in the camera RAW plugin. In the future, I'd watch your histogram to keep an eye on the exposure. Were the actions you were using, by chance, set to create that overexposed look? I know that's become a popular trend with child photos.

I think #5 is the strongest, and I prefer it over #6 because of the better contrast. Vignetting might be just a tad heavy, but otherwise not bad. I particularly like the "candid" appearance of the interaction between subjects.

The lighting in most of them was also very harsh causing some bad squinty eyes and deep shadows. Perhaps try some fill flash.

Hope that's helpful.

Kyna · Mar 30, 2011

Thanks for the tips everyone. So how do I combat bright light? This was shot at about 3:30pm so the sun was still pretty strong. I tried to face us away from the sun so that there wasn't squinting but..........it still happend.

Anyway is there something I should do on camera setting to combat the bright light?

Thanks!

Also yes the actions I used were meant to make them look light and vintage..........I was just playing around with them. I'm not 100% sure I love them for this setting........

And YES we got dumped with snow, it's ok it allowed hubby and me to take one last snowboarding day!

Turbo · Mar 30, 2011

The snow is melting? It's melting, freezing, snowing on top of the ice, melting again and getting into the 60's, then raining, dropping back down to 10 degrees... I don't know what to wear anymore. One day it's T-shirt weather, the next I need my parka.

They definitely suffer from exposure issues... #1 and 2 the highlights have been nuked. #2 has a huge gap on the left side of the histogram. 3 also has a gap, might be salvageable since the highlights aren't blown.

Kyna · Mar 30, 2011

How do I repair exposure issues? In post processing? How can I avoid having these exposure issues when taking pictures in high sun?

Thanks!

Stryker · Mar 30, 2011

Kyna said:
How do I repair exposure issues? In post processing? How can I avoid having these exposure issues when taking pictures in high sun?

Thanks!

Blown out photos may still be repaired in CS5 by adjusting the levels, curves, gamma, and channel mixers. How can you avoid these exposure issues? you have to look at your histograms often and make exposure adjustments. If you find the subject interesting, shoot as many as you can and keep adjusting until you get the best exposure. I also keep my highlight alert enabled. I find this very helpful especially when viewing the LCD outdoors. If the highlight alert flashes, it means my shot is blown out and I adjust my exposure until the LCD stops flashing.

Shoot, adjust, and have fun with your camera.

On photo #6, Sawyer's face and the wall behind him is really blown out and may be hard to edit.