This was one of them.
It's easy to see what is wrong with this photo, but let me give you a short rundown:
1. It's washed out.
2. The colors are all wrong (too blue).
3. The highlights are blown out.
How did this happen? It was a cloudy day and I was not quite aware of which direction the sun was coming from when I squatted down to get this photo. As soon as I took it, I realized the mistake and moved to keep the light behind me. But I didn't get another shot quite like this.
In attempts to edit it, I ultimately ended up with this as a photo.
This is somewhat better. She's not quite as faded. The colors are somewhat better though her face is still blue and washed out funny. The background is still blown out a bit. And after editing it, another flaw was brought to light: there's something hanging out in the top lefthand corner of the photo. What was it? A treat bag that had floated into the photo.
At this point, I was ready to give up, but I had one more thing to try. I got into Adobe Lightroom and turned the photo B&W, which immediately improved it. I lowered the exposure quite a bit (-1.24), increased the blacks (17), and also increased the contrast (+9). Then I edited out the baggy by using the cloning tool in Adobe Photoshop. And voila! This photo.
I'm really quite pleased with it.
So basically, what I'm trying to say is: Don't give up on a photo just because it didn't come out good right from the camera!
That's pretty awesome! I've heard a lot of good things about Lightroom, but until I get a dslr (and all the extra information that DSLRs store in their images) there isn't much point in getting it.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photo of the ever-gorgeous Dahlia :)
Thank you! I'm pretty pleased with Lightroom. I like the editing capabilities, though I can do more with photoshop (e.g. the cloning thing). But for good basic photo editing, Lightroom is great. If you know someone who is a teacher or student (or you are!), you can get it for about $80, which is good deal!
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