Trying Some Photo Manip
Jan. 20th, 2010 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unforthSo I got my hands on a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, as it seems to be decent software for doing this kind of thing, and I was able to get it at no cost. Win. So I thought I'd try to see what I can do with a picture - I went with the the pic of the sunset over the Thames.
Here's the original:
Manip 1: Exposure to -2.76; Fill Light to 83
Manip 2: Recovery to 100; Contrast to 62; Clarity to 100
Manip 3: Recovery to 100; Vibrance to 86; Saturation to -21
Manip 4: Exposure to -.67, Recovery to 100; Brightness to 79; Contrast to 41; Clarity to 100; Vibrance to 33; Saturation to 38
Manip 5: Recovery to 100; Fill Light to 21; Blacks to 6; Brightness to 18; Contrast to 18; Clarity to 100; Green Hue to 88; Aqua hue to 36; Blue hue to 40
Manip 6: Exposure to -2.19; Recovery to 32; Brightness 93; Contrast -4; Clarity 100; Vibrance 14; Saturation 17; Yellow Hue 14; Green Hue 60; Blue Hue 19; Yellow Saturation 81; Green Saturation 55; Aqua Saturation 40; Blue Saturation 43
Manip 7: Recovery to 100; Brightness 36; Contrast -21; Clarity 100; Green Hue 71; Blue Hue 14; Yellow Saturation 31; Green Saturation 76; Aqua Saturation 14; Blue Saturation 17; Red Primary Hue 100; Red Primary Saturation 40; Green Primary Hue: 100; Green Primary Saturation 69; Blue Primary Hue -21; Blue Primary Saturation 33
So, I'm going to stop there. Obviously, there's a lot of things I can do to a picture. I think that pretty much all of the manips look at least a little better (more crisp, less washed out) than the original. That said, I would love to market my photos as unmanipulated. All in all, I imagine this post makes it clear that I have no clue what I'm doing...
So I'm taking a look at all of these. I like the ones that draw out the green of the tree leaves, and that increase the saturation of the blue of the sky and the yellow gold of the sunset. I like the crispness of the clouds in Manip 2, and I like that all of the manips bring out sun rays while reducing the saturation of the sun. Looking at all of them, I think my favorites are Manip 2 and Manip 7. Manip 5 is not bad either. I kept worrying that I was making them too dark, but looking at the progression, I think that actually I ended up making most of them too bright.
Since the idea was to do a few manips and print them all, I was thinking that I'd try printing out the original, Manip 2, and Manip 5. I think these two manips look the most natural while emphasizing different elements of the photo.
But...I could really, really use some input. :)
Here's the original:
Manip 1: Exposure to -2.76; Fill Light to 83
Manip 2: Recovery to 100; Contrast to 62; Clarity to 100
Manip 3: Recovery to 100; Vibrance to 86; Saturation to -21
Manip 4: Exposure to -.67, Recovery to 100; Brightness to 79; Contrast to 41; Clarity to 100; Vibrance to 33; Saturation to 38
Manip 5: Recovery to 100; Fill Light to 21; Blacks to 6; Brightness to 18; Contrast to 18; Clarity to 100; Green Hue to 88; Aqua hue to 36; Blue hue to 40
Manip 6: Exposure to -2.19; Recovery to 32; Brightness 93; Contrast -4; Clarity 100; Vibrance 14; Saturation 17; Yellow Hue 14; Green Hue 60; Blue Hue 19; Yellow Saturation 81; Green Saturation 55; Aqua Saturation 40; Blue Saturation 43
Manip 7: Recovery to 100; Brightness 36; Contrast -21; Clarity 100; Green Hue 71; Blue Hue 14; Yellow Saturation 31; Green Saturation 76; Aqua Saturation 14; Blue Saturation 17; Red Primary Hue 100; Red Primary Saturation 40; Green Primary Hue: 100; Green Primary Saturation 69; Blue Primary Hue -21; Blue Primary Saturation 33
So, I'm going to stop there. Obviously, there's a lot of things I can do to a picture. I think that pretty much all of the manips look at least a little better (more crisp, less washed out) than the original. That said, I would love to market my photos as unmanipulated. All in all, I imagine this post makes it clear that I have no clue what I'm doing...
So I'm taking a look at all of these. I like the ones that draw out the green of the tree leaves, and that increase the saturation of the blue of the sky and the yellow gold of the sunset. I like the crispness of the clouds in Manip 2, and I like that all of the manips bring out sun rays while reducing the saturation of the sun. Looking at all of them, I think my favorites are Manip 2 and Manip 7. Manip 5 is not bad either. I kept worrying that I was making them too dark, but looking at the progression, I think that actually I ended up making most of them too bright.
Since the idea was to do a few manips and print them all, I was thinking that I'd try printing out the original, Manip 2, and Manip 5. I think these two manips look the most natural while emphasizing different elements of the photo.
But...I could really, really use some input. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 04:59 am (UTC)I personally think is 4 a step in the right direction, but this is a hard photo to work with because of that vibrant light.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 02:01 pm (UTC)I kinda wish I could average 2 and 4...which I probably can (that's why I took notes on what I did to each one, so I could try to isolate what seemed to be working.)
And thanks so much for your input and time on this!! I don't have a clue what I'm doing, so it really helps. If it wasn't for you guys, I'd not have even considered doing any manip work.
By the way - I know you use Adobe Photoshop Elements - have you tried Adobe Photoshop Light Elements? It's available from IU, too - it's what I used to do these...I haven't tried Elements or GIMP yet, though I did install both of them....
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 04:56 pm (UTC)I actually use Photoshop CS4, I just happened to have Elements from some software that came with my laptop and it works about the same. I might try Light to see how it works, but no experiences with it so far. I personally hate GIMP; I used it back in the day and it was horrid. GIMP may have come a long way, and it's free, but I have prejudices.
No problem! I'm just glad I can be helpful and put all my "fun" classes to use.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 04:50 pm (UTC)I used to use JASC all the time - I used to do a lot of image manipulation (I was a winamp skinner back in the day) but never this kind of work.
I'd like to take a photography class at some point, but not quite yet...