Photography Thread

Pross

Went back into Lightroom with fresh eyes and now much happier with this.



Quite like it as a B&W too

briantrumpet

Pross said:

briantrumpet said:

pblakeney said:

Might be a screen calibration thing, or personal taste, but I prefer the original.

It was as much as anything a little exercise in tweaking, to see what's possible. I sometimes get a green or yellow haze when shooting towards the sun, and sometimes the auto adjust setting on Irfanview gives a one-touch improvement, and other times nothing. There's certainly an art to tweaking, which I'm no expert in... all trial and lots of error. Sometimes I come back to something the next morning, and wonder WTF my eyes were doing the night before.

Something I recently read is that when editing photos close your eyes for a while when you think you've got it right and then reopen them especially if you've been flicking through a few different presets. The sky on that one of mine was a bit frustrating as to bring out the foreground in such a high contrast image the sky darkened and I couldn't get a colour that reflected how I'd seen it. I should have taken more time and masked out the sky to edit it separately but I'd spent hours editing and uploading nearly 500 images from the race and got a bit lazy.

Haha, I'm very lazy on editing, unless it's a photo I want to turn into a big mounted print... mostly I rely on having picked the right auto setting and exposure on the camera, then next stop is the auto correction on Irfanview (which sometimes is great, other times barely noticeable, and other times bizarre), and if still necessary, a quick tweak on gamma, contrast, and lastly colour balance. If I take more than 30 seconds on a photo, it must be a problematic one.

My trick for checking is once I've done a batch I whizz through them all once or twice, as the poorly-done ones tend to stand out as you flick through, especially on the exposure front, or on the 'colour balance veil' (usually that green tinge, from my set up).

Pross

I initially tried batch editing but as the light conditions changed a lot and my photos were from slightly different angles J ended up having to go through and batch edit in much smaller groups in the end.

shirley_basso

Any photos of the N Lights? My phone was going bonkers with alerts...

briantrumpet

Pross said:

I initially tried batch editing but as the light conditions changed a lot and my photos were from slightly different angles J ended up having to go through and batch edit in much smaller groups in the end.

TBH, if I were doing 'documentary' photos running into the 100's (I'm guessing that's why you've got so many, for a race), I'm lazy enough that I'd be relying on the equipment to get it good enough in the first place, which is one reason that I get to know that various auto settings on the Sony HX60. The only batch processing I've done in the past is for resizing (using Fotosizer), but these days I know my way round Irfan well enough that I do the resizing manually very quickly one by one, as I rarely have more than a few dozen to do at a time.

pblakeney

Pross said:

...I should have taken more time and masked out the sky to edit it separately but I'd spent hours editing and uploading nearly 500 images from the race and got a bit lazy.

I made the decision a while ago not to buy into "instant gratification". I simply post a couple to keep whoever is interested and take my time. I'm still processing photos from September.

As an aside, time influences the final product. More time means a less realistic and more artistic final output. Depends on your goals. For events I just batch process sooc, then do a proper job.

masjer

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

... Sometimes I come back to something the next morning, and wonder WTF my eyes were doing the night before.

This is something that I have noticed. How a photo is viewed is very mood dependent.
I am convinced that I would process the same photo differently 5 days out of 5.

And I was thinking it was just me…

Two more things I’ve noticed that seem to affect PP is whether the processing software has a black or white border. Mine is black, so photos tend to look bright. Post them to (most) sites with a white surround, and they can look darker. Now, if the software had a grey border, that would be a happy medium for me.

Ambient light levels when processing can have a profound effect on judgement too.

If I tweak them later (on Flickr) it severs the link on BR, so usually just leave them.

briantrumpet

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

...I should have taken more time and masked out the sky to edit it separately but I'd spent hours editing and uploading nearly 500 images from the race and got a bit lazy.

I made the decision a while ago not to buy into "instant gratification". I simply post a couple to keep whoever is interested and take my time. I'm still processing photos from September.

As an aside, time influences the final product. More time means a less realistic and more artistic final output. Depends on your goals. For events I just batch process sooc, then do a proper job.

Certainly if selling files from events with dozens/hundreds of entrants, I think that's the approach I'd take - resize & watermark in batch, hand tweak for paid-for photos at higher res.

pblakeney

Masjer, are you sure there is no grey background option?
I always use that.

masjer

pblakeney said:

Masjer, are you sure there is no grey background option?
I always use that.

My editing options are limited on a Chromebook, but I use Lightroom free edition, which doesn’t have many user settings. Sadly, no grey option, which I thought I’d just invented . The ‘paid for’ Chromebook version has more functionality, but only a fraction of the PC version. The yearly subscription fee (£45) is something I will cough up for, but would prefer to purchase something outright.

I’ve got a dormant PC (Window 10 and probably a bit slow) which I could use, but I do like the Chromebook convenience.

Pross

shirley_basso said:

Any photos of the N Lights? My phone was going bonkers with alerts...

I got the alerts but didn't bother going out as the weather was mixed and I'm heading off to Norway to (hopefully) see them / photograph them on Sunday. Knowing my luck I won't see them up there and will come home to hundreds of Instagram photos people have taken of them from their gardens back here!

Tashman

pinno said:

Tashman said:

Not the best quality, but I do love the atmosphere at a Sussex bonfire

Was that at Lewes Tash?

No, this was my village, which is a part of the Lewes District. Bonfire season lasts for about 8 weeks in these parts with different villages hosting other societies each weekend from late September through til the later part of November. We're always the Saturday before "The 5th", unless, like this year, that is a Sunday. Can't possibly burn effigies on the Sabbath

pblakeney

masjer said:

pblakeney said:

Masjer, are you sure there is no grey background option?
I always use that.

My editing options are limited on a Chromebook, but I use Lightroom free edition, which doesn’t have many user settings. Sadly, no grey option, which I thought I’d just invented . The ‘paid for’ Chromebook version has more functionality, but only a fraction of the PC version. The yearly subscription fee (£45) is something I will cough up for, but would prefer to purchase something outright.

I’ve got a dormant PC (Window 10 and probably a bit slow) which I could use, but I do like the Chromebook convenience.

I was going to suggest Affinity Photo which has a relatively cheap one-off payment but not available on Chrome. Google gave me this:-
"Your best bets for online Chromebook alternatives to the Affinity range of products include Figma, Canva, Gravit, Vectr and Photopea."

pblakeney

briantrumpet said:

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

...I should have taken more time and masked out the sky to edit it separately but I'd spent hours editing and uploading nearly 500 images from the race and got a bit lazy.

I made the decision a while ago not to buy into "instant gratification". I simply post a couple to keep whoever is interested and take my time. I'm still processing photos from September.

As an aside, time influences the final product. More time means a less realistic and more artistic final output. Depends on your goals. For events I just batch process sooc, then do a proper job.

Certainly if selling files from events with dozens/hundreds of entrants, I think that's the approach I'd take - resize & watermark in batch, hand tweak for paid-for photos at higher res.

I'm no pro but was the unofficial photographer at my niece's wedding in the summer.
Offered to tweak my SOOC shots on demand but got no demand.
I think the general public are less critical and are quite happy with anything a phone will provide. Anything better is a bonus.
I will be giving them a proper photo calendar as a Christmas present though.

briantrumpet

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

...I should have taken more time and masked out the sky to edit it separately but I'd spent hours editing and uploading nearly 500 images from the race and got a bit lazy.

I made the decision a while ago not to buy into "instant gratification". I simply post a couple to keep whoever is interested and take my time. I'm still processing photos from September.

As an aside, time influences the final product. More time means a less realistic and more artistic final output. Depends on your goals. For events I just batch process sooc, then do a proper job.

Certainly if selling files from events with dozens/hundreds of entrants, I think that's the approach I'd take - resize & watermark in batch, hand tweak for paid-for photos at higher res.

I'm no pro but was the unofficial photographer at my niece's wedding in the summer.
Offered to tweak my SOOC shots on demand but got no demand.
I think the general public are less critical and are quite happy with anything a phone will provide. Anything better is a bonus.
I will be giving them a proper photo calendar as a Christmas present though.

Oh yes, for sure, I'd want to fiddle with wedding photos, though not sure I'd trust myself to take them in the first place if I were the 'official' photographer.

Yes, agree, that the ease of taking photos on phones has drastically increased people's tolerance of both very average photos and heavily in-phone processed ones, so that just good well-executed ones are more likely just to get a shrug and people not wanting to pay for them.

briantrumpet

Here's what I mean by the 'green veil' - it seems to happen most often on the HDR setting, which is great for not losing detail in high contrast situations, and preserving depth of colour, but... well, see for yourself... the first is the original, the second is with green turned down, blue up, and a slight bump on saturation to bring back the luminosity of the foliage as I think I saw it in situ.

masjer

More from mushroom world on yesterday's forage.

pblakeney

I guess you mean the path? I had similar with a statue in a forest. I think it is reflected light as the statue in question was orange in colour to match the leaves.
Our eyes and brains auto correct better than cameras. 😉

briantrumpet

pblakeney said:

I guess you mean the path? I had similar with a statue in a forest. I think it is reflected light as the statue in question was orange in colour to match the leaves.
Our eyes and brains auto correct better than cameras. 😉

Yeah, absolutely. Throw in variation between device screen calibration and one's memory of the scene, and it leaves a lot of guesswork back at home.

Re the 'veil' - it's all over, which is easier to see if you toggle between the two photos (which you can't do here).

rjsterry

pblakeney said:

I guess you mean the path? I had similar with a statue in a forest. I think it is reflected light as the statue in question was orange in colour to match the leaves.
Our eyes and brains auto correct better than cameras. 😉

Or rather, the camera sees what is there and your brain filters to extract the maximum amount of information. It's not really correcting. Someone was commenting earlier about the perceived difference of a black or white frame.

pblakeney

rjsterry said:

pblakeney said:

I guess you mean the path? I had similar with a statue in a forest. I think it is reflected light as the statue in question was orange in colour to match the leaves.
Our eyes and brains auto correct better than cameras. 😉

Or rather, the camera sees what is there and your brain filters to extract the maximum amount of information. It's not really correcting. Someone was commenting earlier about the perceived difference of a black or white frame.

Yeah, two takes of the same thing, perception. My view is that you either have to modify the photo to how you'd like it to be, or accept that cameras see differently.

briantrumpet

rjsterry said:

pblakeney said:

I guess you mean the path? I had similar with a statue in a forest. I think it is reflected light as the statue in question was orange in colour to match the leaves.
Our eyes and brains auto correct better than cameras. 😉

Or rather, the camera sees what is there and your brain filters to extract the maximum amount of information. It's not really correcting. Someone was commenting earlier about the perceived difference of a black or white frame.

I think the correct word would be that the brain 'interprets' what the eyes feed to it, which is why visual illusions are so interesting. Our brain's learn to interpret from its experience of all the commonplace phenomena we're surrounded by, to allow us to negotiate (safely, it hopes) the world our bodies have to navigate. Machines still have a long way to go to match tens of thousands of years of human neurological evolution.

Just a small for instance: our brains have to understand shadow. Not only that, our eyes and brains have to be able to see into it the best it can (which is much better than cameras can on a single shot) to survive the dangers that lurk in shadows. Once our brains have understood what shadow does to tone/colour, it can't not interpret.

masjer

After eating some of these bad boys, my brain perceived the scene more like this.

pinno

Tashman said:

pinno said:

Tashman said:

Not the best quality, but I do love the atmosphere at a Sussex bonfire

Was that at Lewes Tash?

No, this was my village, which is a part of the Lewes District. Bonfire season lasts for about 8 weeks in these parts with different villages hosting other societies each weekend from late September through til the later part of November. We're always the Saturday before "The 5th", unless, like this year, that is a Sunday. Can't possibly burn effigies on the Sabbath

I am aware of that. I lived in Eastbourne for a while and bonfire night was always spent in Lewes accompanies by loads Sussex 4x and grilled whatever. Late train home.

Tashman

pinno said:

Tashman said:

pinno said:

Tashman said:

Not the best quality, but I do love the atmosphere at a Sussex bonfire

Was that at Lewes Tash?

No, this was my village, which is a part of the Lewes District. Bonfire season lasts for about 8 weeks in these parts with different villages hosting other societies each weekend from late September through til the later part of November. We're always the Saturday before "The 5th", unless, like this year, that is a Sunday. Can't possibly burn effigies on the Sabbath

I am aware of that. I lived in Eastbourne for a while and bonfire night was always spent in Lewes accompanies by loads Sussex 4x and grilled whatever. Late train home.

Been here 20 years and never been into Lewes for the 5th. Nightmare access and ours is always a good night, so don't feel the need to do it twice.

rjsterry

briantrumpet said:

rjsterry said:

pblakeney said:

I guess you mean the path? I had similar with a statue in a forest. I think it is reflected light as the statue in question was orange in colour to match the leaves.
Our eyes and brains auto correct better than cameras. 😉

Or rather, the camera sees what is there and your brain filters to extract the maximum amount of information. It's not really correcting. Someone was commenting earlier about the perceived difference of a black or white frame.

I think the correct word would be that the brain 'interprets' what the eyes feed to it, which is why visual illusions are so interesting. Our brain's learn to interpret from its experience of all the commonplace phenomena we're surrounded by, to allow us to negotiate (safely, it hopes) the world our bodies have to navigate. Machines still have a long way to go to match tens of thousands of years of human neurological evolution.

Just a small for instance: our brains have to understand shadow. Not only that, our eyes and brains have to be able to see into it the best it can (which is much better than cameras can on a single shot) to survive the dangers that lurk in shadows. Once our brains have understood what shadow does to tone/colour, it can't not interpret.

There's also the difference between a digital sensor and the rods and cones in your eye, the latter being more sensitive to change/stimulus than absolute values of hue and brightness. That effect you get of everything looking purple if you take off a pair of yellow tinted glasses.

TheBigBean

Tashman said:

pinno said:

Tashman said:

pinno said:

Tashman said:

Not the best quality, but I do love the atmosphere at a Sussex bonfire

Was that at Lewes Tash?

No, this was my village, which is a part of the Lewes District. Bonfire season lasts for about 8 weeks in these parts with different villages hosting other societies each weekend from late September through til the later part of November. We're always the Saturday before "The 5th", unless, like this year, that is a Sunday. Can't possibly burn effigies on the Sabbath

I am aware of that. I lived in Eastbourne for a while and bonfire night was always spent in Lewes accompanies by loads Sussex 4x and grilled whatever. Late train home.

Been here 20 years and never been into Lewes for the 5th. Nightmare access and ours is always a good night, so don't feel the need to do it twice.

They used to run late night trains, but I saw this year they were saying there would no trains after 3pm. Would like to take the kids one day and maybe another Sussex one would be a good starter.

Tashman

TheBigBean said:

Tashman said:

pinno said:

Tashman said:

pinno said:

Tashman said:

Not the best quality, but I do love the atmosphere at a Sussex bonfire

Was that at Lewes Tash?

No, this was my village, which is a part of the Lewes District. Bonfire season lasts for about 8 weeks in these parts with different villages hosting other societies each weekend from late September through til the later part of November. We're always the Saturday before "The 5th", unless, like this year, that is a Sunday. Can't possibly burn effigies on the Sabbath

I am aware of that. I lived in Eastbourne for a while and bonfire night was always spent in Lewes accompanies by loads Sussex 4x and grilled whatever. Late train home.

Been here 20 years and never been into Lewes for the 5th. Nightmare access and ours is always a good night, so don't feel the need to do it twice.

They used to run late night trains, but I saw this year they were saying there would no trains after 3pm. Would like to take the kids one day and maybe another Sussex one would be a good starter.

Trains not an option for me unfortunately, would be a good yomp into town from the nearest points I'd be able to get to park, or an 8 mile yomp home on country lanes if I was able to get dropped in early. I do enjoy all the local brew from these parts though.

briantrumpet

rjsterry said:

briantrumpet said:

rjsterry said:

pblakeney said:

I guess you mean the path? I had similar with a statue in a forest. I think it is reflected light as the statue in question was orange in colour to match the leaves.
Our eyes and brains auto correct better than cameras. 😉

Or rather, the camera sees what is there and your brain filters to extract the maximum amount of information. It's not really correcting. Someone was commenting earlier about the perceived difference of a black or white frame.

I think the correct word would be that the brain 'interprets' what the eyes feed to it, which is why visual illusions are so interesting. Our brain's learn to interpret from its experience of all the commonplace phenomena we're surrounded by, to allow us to negotiate (safely, it hopes) the world our bodies have to navigate. Machines still have a long way to go to match tens of thousands of years of human neurological evolution.

Just a small for instance: our brains have to understand shadow. Not only that, our eyes and brains have to be able to see into it the best it can (which is much better than cameras can on a single shot) to survive the dangers that lurk in shadows. Once our brains have understood what shadow does to tone/colour, it can't not interpret.

There's also the difference between a digital sensor and the rods and cones in your eye, the latter being more sensitive to change/stimulus than absolute values of hue and brightness. That effect you get of everything looking purple if you take off a pair of yellow tinted glasses.

I was thinking just this morning how when processing a sequence of photos while staring at the screen, the perception of each photo might be affected by the preceding one one's just been looking at.

TheBigBean

Tashman said:

TheBigBean said:

Tashman said:

pinno said:

Tashman said:

pinno said:

Tashman said:

Not the best quality, but I do love the atmosphere at a Sussex bonfire

Was that at Lewes Tash?

No, this was my village, which is a part of the Lewes District. Bonfire season lasts for about 8 weeks in these parts with different villages hosting other societies each weekend from late September through til the later part of November. We're always the Saturday before "The 5th", unless, like this year, that is a Sunday. Can't possibly burn effigies on the Sabbath

I am aware of that. I lived in Eastbourne for a while and bonfire night was always spent in Lewes accompanies by loads Sussex 4x and grilled whatever. Late train home.

Been here 20 years and never been into Lewes for the 5th. Nightmare access and ours is always a good night, so don't feel the need to do it twice.

They used to run late night trains, but I saw this year they were saying there would no trains after 3pm. Would like to take the kids one day and maybe another Sussex one would be a good starter.

Trains not an option for me unfortunately, would be a good yomp into town from the nearest points I'd be able to get to park, or an 8 mile yomp home on country lanes if I was able to get dropped in early. I do enjoy all the local brew from these parts though.

Trains weren't an option for anyone this year. Genuinely interested how anyone got home or whether they finally managed to reduce the crowds.

A few years ago, I stood next to one of the bonfire's enemies. He had tried to bring in a bit of health and safety. As a result, an effigy of him was burnt one year. His teenage daughter was very proud of that.