PLease help : Photos are not vibrant/rich enough.


NormanSelvaraju

Senior Member
Dec 12, 2012
894
9
18
Singapore
Hello dear Clubsnap Members,

I went on a walkabout around Chinatown yesterday. I came away with some shots that I was rather happy with.
I'm a newbie and I read so many articles and user posts and finally managed to capture some moments on the camera.
However, on returning home, I found that the images weren't as vibrant or rich or as colourful as I saw on the streets.

I am putting up 2 examples. The lighter ones are before post processing in PS. I only manipulated the curves (used the dropper to point to take reference from a black object in the photo)

My questions are :

1) Were my settings right?
Shot mostly on P mode with a +0.5 stop exposure.

2) Is this equipment related?
-Do I need a polarizing filter or some other filter instead?
-I used a Canon EOS 650D. Lens : EF50mm F1.8 with a standard uv filter only.

3) Is this always the case and post-processing is necessary all the time?
-I don't think so, as picture 5, taken on the same day, with same settings looks so rich and vibrant without any post processing.
-But please advise.

Thank you in advance for all your input, advice and help.

Pic 1 - Slurp! (Before processing)
IMG_1571 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Pic 2 - Slurp! (After processing)
IMG_1571editcolour | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Pic 3 - I'm stuck (Before processing
IMG_1468 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Pic 4 - I'm stuck (After processing)
IMG_1468edit | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Pic 5 - Lantern Patern
IMG_1538 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 

your first two photos are overexposed.

third photo is underexposed.

if you are not shooting in RAW, which you have little room to recover when you don't nail down the exposure correctly.
 

1) there are no magic settings
2) you don't need the cpl till you know what it's for
3) By any chance are you shooting raw? If you are, you will have to add in the saturation, play with the hsl, add contrast, sharpening etc... yourself
 

Canon by default is quite bright Liao. Don't need to +0.5
 

Wow..

Thanks for the quick responses guys!

tweakmax >> Got it. Shall set exposure compensation to 0.

catchlights >> OK, I shall work on nailing the exposure. So, in your opinion, once I get the exposure right, the colours will come out more naturally?


SKyStrike >> Yup.. I'm shooting in RAW. But I didn't use the RAW for the post processing yet as I haven't installed the patch to upgrade my PS cs4. I just wanted a quick fix so I adjusted the curves in PS. I'll work with the post processing in RAW and see how it turns up.

Thanks all for the helpful input. Really appreciate it.
 

If you're after saturation, then cloudy/ overcast days should produce such effects. The quality of light has the most effect on saturation for digital photography.

The other things that I find really help to bring out good saturation in post processing, are 'hue' and 'color temperature'. Your final shot, for example, looks a tad warm.

And I agree with the other posters, usually with Canon cams, I want to be −0.3 instead of +0.5. Hope this helps.
 

you can tweak the camera modes (portrait, landscape, etc) and push up its contrast and saturation. P
 

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You can do a test yourself, find a scene, take 3 frames with three exposures, one over by one stop, one under by one stop, one is spot on, compare three frames side by side on your computer monitor, then you will understand better.

Btw, the exposure compensation is for you to overrite camera metering, and each scene the situration is not the same, using exposure thru out the same is not making sense. Just like you can't add a teaspoon of salt to every dish you cook.
 

TS: do also read up about how the metering system works. There are 3 .. 4 modes available which help you to get the correct exposure. Your manual has the explanations.
Secondly, the dynamic range of sensors is lower than the one of our eyes. Which means: the range from very bight to very dark where the camera still can record details is narrower. Good to see in the blown out whites of the shirt in second pic.
Taking picture is recording light. It looks as if you took the pics during lunch time (according time stamp), which usually produces a very harsh light from top. Wait and shoot after 3..4pm and the results will look better.
Beside this, #1 is OOF, likely due to shallow Depth of Field at f/1.8 and maybe some handshake as well. Using ISO 400 and closing aperture will help to have the man completely in focus. No point tweaking images with such basic flaws.
 

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Don't forget your White Balance. Normally it was set to Auto. If you shoot in RAW, you could also play with your white balance to achieve more accurate colour reproduction.
 

Hello dear Clubsnap Members,

However, on returning home, I found that the images weren't as vibrant or rich or as colourful as I saw on the streets.

3) Is this always the case and post-processing is necessary all the time?

If say most of the time a photo can be improved with post processing.

I shoot RAW all the time. There's enough extra data in a RAW file that you can tidy up most photos and make the as good as--or even better than--real life.
 

fast fix - use GIMP . Dupe layer, Set layer mode= overlay. Adjust top layer opacity until satisfied with saturation. very fast and intuitive.
 

3) Is this always the case and post-processing is necessary all the time?
Do you add sugar to all dishes you eat?
Post-processing is necessary to get the result that you want or the result that are required. Obviously, a digital artist has more freedom to process the image than a photojournalist. A hobby snapper can do whatever he wants where a professional wedding photograph has to deliver what the paying client is expecting and paying for.
Even for your pictures there is no hard and fast rule to increase saturation. You could also decrease it further, thus bringing a certain mood and expression into the image - if this is your intention. What was our intention, actually..? :)
 

Octarine>> thanks for your very helpful input. To answer your question, my overall objective was to capture moments in chinatown that i found interesting. The specific intention of the photo of the man eating was that i wanted to capture him slowly savouring his food.

And with the other picture, intention was to capture the scene of the old gentlemen watching the chess game with the focus on theold man who was squatting.

I now have a better idea of how subjective the levels of exposure are. Thanks Octarine.
 

Rhino & jfxberns>>> yup. I shot in RAW. Never worked with it though. Shall go home and try tonight. Thanks!

Shizuma>>> ive not used GIMP. Heard a lot about it tgough. But ill stick to PS and see how it can be used to manipulate the exposure. There are several videos on youtube i beloeve. Thanks!
 

Catchlights>>> you're absilutely right! I totally forgot about the ecposure bracketting! Thanks for reminding!
 

Rhino & jfxberns>>> yup. I shot in RAW. Never worked with it though. Shall go home and try tonight. Thanks!
That's like driving a car with manual gears and never using more than 3rd gear .. All camera settings have a purpose. Make sure you know it, then selct what you need, unselect what is not required. No point having the RAW data if you start messing around with the JPGs instead.
Your camera came with a software pack, it can process RAW images. Do read up about RAW in general and the resulting workflow. There are a few things to learn before you start clicking around the sliders :)
 

The great Ansel Adams said:

"The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways."

The RAW file is the modern equivalent of the negative and your output medium (screen, print, whatever) is the equivalent of the print.

The idea being, the print is always somebody's interpretation of the negative, and the negative, in turn is just a representation of the reality you sought to capture.

In the end (at least in my opinion), our job is not to capture some image that absolutely reflects reality (isn't all reality subjective?), but render an interesting and personal interpretation of the reality we captured.

Photography, as an art, is as much a reflection of who we are as the light we seek to capture is a reflection of the reality we observe.
 

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Octarine >> Am back home now.. Tried installing DPP, but there is some software problem. I tried downloading an older version. It works but doesn't open my CR2 files. So updating using the updates from canon, but installation stops towards the end. So I'm gonna get a diff RAW file editor. Gonna try GIMP and Capture One Pro. Shall not get stuck in 3rd gear!!! Thanks!

jxberns >> Man.. That is way profound. But it makes absolute sense. Thanks for that bit of enlightenment. Appreciate it.