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11/29/2005 05:30:20 PM · #1 |
| Can someone suggest why my photos are turning out so 'grey'? They just don't come out in the bright colours I see in many of the photos on this site. Is it the settings or me?! I'd really appreciate any comments you might have. |
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11/29/2005 05:31:50 PM · #2 |
| Would you like to post one, and the exif and maybe someone could tell you if it has anything to do with settings. |
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11/29/2005 05:33:16 PM · #3 |
I'm sure most photos on here are post-processed to some extent. I know my Nikon 8700 comes out flat to my tastes... usually autolevels in Photoshop will boost the colors for me.
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11/29/2005 05:33:24 PM · #4 |
People are probably post-processing their RAW files and uploading the shots.
You may need to up your EV +1 depending on what you are shooting. Shooting snow for instance. Slower shooting speed on a tripod with a circular polarizer filter, warming filter, etc will make a difference also.
Provide some links to your photos so we can see what you are talking about.
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11/29/2005 05:34:00 PM · #5 |
Custom white balancing may also help.
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11/29/2005 05:35:15 PM · #6 |
Sounds like white ballance. Also if you are shooting RAW images are generally dull until you tweak with curves and what not.
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11/29/2005 05:46:37 PM · #7 |
Here is an example from the Grand Canyon. I always shoot in JPEG.
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11/29/2005 05:49:05 PM · #8 |
The problem with that pic isn't your camera... but the effects of haze... a UV filter might have helped some... just try to bump up the contrast and saturation some in PS or whatever graphics program you use.
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11/29/2005 05:57:14 PM · #9 |
If that's "straight from the camera" you're overexposing. This is not a haze issue. It is possible you are underexposing and then automatic adjustments in some software are making it too light but I doubt it. It's impossible for me to tell from this posted example, which is only 76Kb. I have no idea what steps you have taken to get to this point.
But for what it's worth, here's your image popped into photoshop and auto-leveled: no other adjustments at all.
More info is needed to help you further.
Robt. |
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11/29/2005 06:00:41 PM · #10 |
Listen to bear_music, not me... landscapes aren't exactly my strong point.
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11/29/2005 06:03:36 PM · #11 |
Just wondering what kind of metering did you use on the Grand Canyon shot?
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11/29/2005 06:04:17 PM · #12 |
| You can get the Exif from his posted photo, if that helps to give him some ideas. You will have to save it or drag and drop it to get the Exif |
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11/29/2005 06:24:33 PM · #13 |
Sorry but I had to take a shot at it. A few adjustments in PS will make a big difference.
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11/29/2005 06:26:47 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by Pioneer:
You can get the Exif from his posted photo, if that helps to give him some ideas. You will have to save it or drag and drop it to get the Exif |
Cool! Right click, "properties", and there's the bare-bones EXIF: 1/200, f/8, ISO 200.
Now the "sunlight rule" says shoot at reciprocal of the ISO at f/16 in normal sunlight. That would be 1/200 at f/16, making this 2 stops overexposed at 1/200 and f/8. That's about what it looks like. The EXIF further tells me it was matric metering mode (correct for landscape, basically) and programmed auto exposure. So the question is, is the EV compensation on your camera dialed up to +2 or what? I'd expect a scene like this to be properly exposed in full automatic mode, more or less.
R. |
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11/29/2005 06:27:47 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by SDW65:
Sorry but I had to take a shot at it. A few adjustments in PS will make a big difference.
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Damn, yer CHEATING, man! all I did was set autolevels to show that soemthign was basically "off" in his parameters. Nice edit, btw!
R. |
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11/29/2005 06:31:07 PM · #16 |
Remember to use your in camera histogram to get a closer shot to what you saw. Most newer cameras have this feature and all dLSR hav it. Main reason why the newer cameras can, if used correctly outshine the older ones.
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11/29/2005 06:33:49 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by bear_music:
Originally posted by SDW65:
Sorry but I had to take a shot at it. A few adjustments in PS will make a big difference.
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Damn, yer CHEATING, man! all I did was set autolevels to show that soemthign was basically "off" in his parameters. Nice edit, btw!
R. |
LOL! I wish I could edit as good as you but then again most of your shots look GREAT out of the camera with just a little tweak.
Thanks for complement.
-SDW |
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11/30/2005 10:27:20 AM · #18 |
SDW65 - that's an awesome edit. I don't know how to use Photoshop. Have just got a copy and the Photoshop Bible is in the post from Amazon. Any pointers about how you got to this?
Bear_Music - thanks for the comment. Never heard of a sunshine rule. Shall try that next time...err...in the Spring! All the settings were Automatic, which is why I'm a bit bemused. EV compensation hasn't been touched since I bought the camera.
OK - I'll play a bit more and see what happens. Seriously love those photoshop edits. |
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11/30/2005 10:51:29 AM · #19 |
Originally posted by bear_music:
Originally posted by Pioneer:
You can get the Exif from his posted photo, if that helps to give him some ideas. You will have to save it or drag and drop it to get the Exif |
Cool! Right click, "properties", and there's the bare-bones EXIF: 1/200, f/8, ISO 200.
Now the "sunlight rule" says shoot at reciprocal of the ISO at f/16 in normal sunlight. That would be 1/200 at f/16, making this 2 stops overexposed at 1/200 and f/8. That's about what it looks like. The EXIF further tells me it was matric metering mode (correct for landscape, basically) and programmed auto exposure. So the question is, is the EV compensation on your camera dialed up to +2 or what? I'd expect a scene like this to be properly exposed in full automatic mode, more or less.
R. |
right click on properties to get EXIF? hummm. doesn't seem to work for me. The sunshine rule. BAck in my film days I used an old KONICA for months with no light meter using the sunshine rule. slight shade, knock it down a stop. heavy shade, 2 stops or so. It works well and forces you to think a little instead setting everything on auto.
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11/30/2005 11:09:59 AM · #20 |
Originally posted by samchad:
SDW65 - that's an awesome edit. I don't know how to use Photoshop. Have just got a copy and the Photoshop Bible is in the post from Amazon. Any pointers about how you got to this?
Bear_Music - thanks for the comment. Never heard of a sunshine rule. Shall try that next time...err...in the Spring! All the settings were Automatic, which is why I'm a bit bemused. EV compensation hasn't been touched since I bought the camera.
OK - I'll play a bit more and see what happens. Seriously love those photoshop edits. |
Once you have learned to use all the settings available on your camera your shots will be like what bear and Scott have posted without having to do much post processing at all, maybe none. Their is a lot to learn on a DSLR, but practice and experience will pay off in the end.
A first step would be to switch from Auto to Program and see how that works. It works a lot like Auto except that you can change settings if you want to, whereas Auto will not allow you to taylor your exposure settings. When shooting in bright sunlight it helps to reduce the exposure by -1/3 or -2/3 stop using exposure compensation. In post processing it's easier to bring up brightness in an image without losing detail than to tone it down.
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11/30/2005 11:22:36 AM · #21 |
Originally posted by samchad:
Any pointers about how you got to this?
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Sam, why don't you start with the built in tutorials that come with photoshop? They are an excellent start for beginners.
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11/30/2005 01:25:08 PM · #22 |
Originally posted by samchad:
SDW65 - that's an awesome edit. I don't know how to use Photoshop. Have just got a copy and the Photoshop Bible is in the post from Amazon. Any pointers about how you got to this? |
There's a pretty fundamental Photoshop Basics Mentorship Thread here: start at the beginning and check throuigh the actual lessons for a quick overview of what Photoshop does and how to structure a workflow to take advantage of it.
R. |
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11/30/2005 01:46:22 PM · #23 |
| Ok the Edit by SDW you can see at the top edge a lense flare. Judging by the shadows and the location of the flare the sun was to the right of the picture, adding a lense hood could help elminate this, not to mention a a strong lense flare could also cause a pic to wash out like that. I do agree though the image looks overexposed |
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