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09/21/2009 10:25:35 AM · #1 |
I asked  glad2badad about his comment on one of my HDR images for the challenge. It seems that all my images are looking a little flat. I received 2 comments on my entry telling it was flat. glad2badad told me that flat in photography would be "Low contrast lighting or lighting which provides little or no shadowing."
I wish i knew why they are looking flat. Can this be a mistake on the edition steps about not giving enough emphasis to the contrast? Or a limitation of my camera for some kind of shot?
And this last one is the original of my entry, does it look flat too?
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09/21/2009 10:41:17 AM · #2 |
| when you sent me those photos, i also commented on the flat look. Photos need depth. IMO you need to think that you can actually walk into a photograph. So there has to be shadows and contrast as well as highlights etc. Instead of it looking like a piece of paper, it needs to look like the inside of a box. That is where your DOF comes in as well |
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09/21/2009 10:45:16 AM · #3 |
yeah I mean these images all look a bit too 'muddy' with the amount of greys in them...
in addition to the normal contrast tools that help to eliminate those greys (curves, levels), i would recommend [ adjustments > selective color ] and then open up the Grey Color tab, and slide the black notch over to the right. This adds more black to the greys in your image which has the effect of making the colors richer.
love the rose shot, btw |
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09/21/2009 10:47:10 AM · #4 |
A slight increase in local contrast can make quite a bit of difference. One way is to use a 'curves' layer with a slight s-shape to increast contrast. Alternatively, you can use large radius unsharp mask to increase local contrast. I like to use a setting starting point around 25%, 50pixels, 0 threshold.
Here is a quick single USM treatment on one of your photos. You can get the same result using curves as well, but with more control
Oh, and USM can be done in Elements while selective colors and curves are not normally available without after market plug-ins.
Message edited by author 2009-09-21 10:49:15. |
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09/21/2009 10:53:01 AM · #5 |
 .....  ..... 
Hi pedrobop
If you can, look at the histogram while you're editing, it gives you a quick idea of how much contrast you have, as well as other things.
Another way is to do a quick conversion to greyscale. I took your original, then did a bit of editing for #2, then a bit more for #3. Little changes can make a big difference. The human eye is very sensitive to greyscale, you will see the composition w/new eyes. I often do a quick horizontal flip as a way of getting a fresh look at the composition while editing.
And then I used Topaz Adjust on it. I couldn't resist.
Message edited by author 2009-09-21 11:48:20. |
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09/21/2009 11:02:04 AM · #6 |
I popped it into PaintShop Pro and looked at the histogram. It IS flat on the right (light) end. This makes the image look flat and is literally flat in the histogram. By dragging the highlight slider in the levels adjustment inward to match where the brightest area is, it stretches the dynamic range and improves the contrast. Look at the before and after previews and you can see the difference.
Often this can be the biggest single thing that can improve a shot, especially when using a compact. My shots from the S5 and A530 need way more adjustment of this than the SLR shots do. This can also be done with curves, but I like to do levels as a separate adjsutment, and it is usually the very first thing I do. |
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09/21/2009 11:10:26 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by pedrobop:
I asked glad2badad about his comment on one of my HDR images for the challenge. I
I wish i knew why they are looking flat. |
Could it be because your computer screen is flat?
Sorry, couldn't resist the impulse. : )
eta, In the shot with the single flower, the centered composition also tends to make it look 2D.
Message edited by author 2009-09-21 11:12:29.
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09/21/2009 11:11:36 AM · #8 |
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09/21/2009 12:31:43 PM · #9 |
Thanks guys. I'll watch this thread for my next submission. This image i sent is already tonemaped. I did it with three shots in different exposures.
All the other ones were already edited, so you can see that i'm not familiar with curves, which seems to be a important thing to change on my shots.
Message edited by author 2009-09-21 12:32:04. |
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