[Culture]

Hi guys,
I will like some critique on my processing. I have been trying to shoot RAW, but I never know what to do with processing. Any I shot this sunset last week and managed to do some processing.

What will you have done differently?

The first two pictures are not the same but taken in succession of each other. The first one is what the real situation was like. The second one is after processing. I tinkered with the saturation, contrast and temperature. Also the exposure.

My question is, does processing look fake?

I also know this might be subjective, but which of the images would you say is better?






I guess the same questions here.

[VTerlakyPhoto]

I think you did a pretty good job as is, but both are a little too cold after the processing. In a sunset shot you expect to see warmer shades in the sky. Your biggest issue though is composition I think, not the processing. If the image isn't taken right in the first place then all the processing in the world isn't going to make it a "wow" shot. For example in both shots your horizon is nearly centered. While this works in some instances, usually it's better to put the horizon either at the top or bottom third (roughly) of the image. Also, in the first image the edge of the shore you're standing on is distracting, and should most definitely be cropped out. As a final note, shooting into the sun directly left you with the foreground very dark and the sun completely blown out. There is not much you can do about that, but there are ways to minimize the contrast, especially if you shoot RAW (pull up shadows etc.).

I hope you don't mind, but I pulled the first image from your post and did a quick and dirty example of what you could do. First I cropped it so that the composition is more flattering to the scene. Then I adjusted the highlights and shadows to preserve as much data as possible without clipping or blowing out areas. Next I adjusted the hue a little and then added a tiny bit of saturation and vibrance. That is all. Like I said, it's just a little quick and dirty from the low-res image in your post - with the RAW file there is a ton more you can do!

[Culture]

I think you did a pretty good job as is, but both are a little too cold after the processing. In a sunset shot you expect to see warmer shades in the sky. Your biggest issue though is composition I think, not the processing. If the image isn't taken right in the first place then all the processing in the world isn't going to make it a "wow" shot. For example in both shots your horizon is nearly centered. While this works in some instances, usually it's better to put the horizon either at the top or bottom third (roughly) of the image. Also, in the first image the edge of the shore you're standing on is distracting, and should most definitely be cropped out. As a final note, shooting into the sun directly left you with the foreground very dark and the sun completely blown out. There is not much you can do about that, but there are ways to minimize the contrast, especially if you shoot RAW (pull up shadows etc.).

I hope you don't mind, but I pulled the first image from your post and did a quick and dirty example of what you could do. First I cropped it so that the composition is more flattering to the scene. Then I adjusted the highlights and shadows to preserve as much data as possible without clipping or blowing out areas. Next I adjusted the hue a little and then added a tiny bit of saturation and vibrance. That is all. Like I said, it's just a little quick and dirty from the low-res image in your post - with the RAW file there is a ton more you can do!

Thanks very much for the advice. Certainly helpful. and its nice what you did with your version.

I did take pictures with the horizon on the low part but i thought they were not interesting. I will work on them following your advice and post it.

In the case of metering, I was was locking exposure off the grey clouds above the sunset but I guess i might have done something wrong.

[Gregory_51]

For what it's worth I completely agree with VTerlakyPhoto. It's almost exactly what I would have said and suggested. Good that you are working in RAW as it gives you the most leeway in processing and correction. It isn't hard to do once you learn what the various sliders do. There are lots of videos on YouTube on how to do it. Just type "camera raw in photoshop" for example and you will get about 3,800 videos to choose from. It's probably the easiest way to learn it. Watch the video, stop it, switch to photoshop and try it out and gocamera raw in photoshop back and forth.
Cheers

[Culture]

OK I tried to look for something from my shots but couldnt get anything that looked decent enough. For most of the shots I had zoomed in too. The sunset was there but the landscape was missing. In my opinion making it boring shots. At the time I thought it was a good idea.

So what I have done is to just crop the two files to change the compositions. As was suggested. I did not do any changes to the processing I have made as I felt they were good.

It has been suggested that sunset should normally be warm, but I seem to like this first one that is cold.

[Culture]

For what it's worth I completely agree with VTerlakyPhoto. It's almost exactly what I would have said and suggested. Good that you are working in RAW as it gives you the most leeway in processing and correction. It isn't hard to do once you learn what the various sliders do. There are lots of videos on YouTube on how to do it. Just type "camera raw in photoshop" for example and you will get about 3,800 videos to choose from. It's probably the easiest way to learn it. Watch the video, stop it, switch to photoshop and try it out and gocamera raw in photoshop back and forth.
Cheers

Thanks for your advice. I have been doing just what you are saying with the videos.

Unfortunately I am using Linux with Rawstudio and there is not much tutorials on that software. But I am still searching.

[Culture]

As a final note, shooting into the sun directly left you with the foreground very dark and the sun completely blown out. There is not much you can do about that, but there are ways to minimize the contrast, especially if you shoot RAW (pull up shadows etc.).

Any suggestions on how to keep the sun from being blown out?

[Gregory_51]

I'm not familiar with the Linux operating system or Rawstudio. I think if you are going to do editing of the photos you need lightroom or photoshop or photoshop elements. They are the software that sets the standard and everything (plugins and tutorials etc.) is designed or written for them. As far as the sun blowing out in a photo. The only way to get some details is to bracket the photos and do HDR. If you stop down to get some details in the brightest reflections the rest of the photo will be black and have no detail. If yo expose for the darker parts or even just shoot on auto the meter will read the blinding light from the sun and underexpose. The dynamic range is just too much to contain in one image. A bracket of three or more is the way to go.It depends on the camera and model. With my K7 I can shoot a three frame bracket or expand to a five frame bracket which is better. A tripod is highly recommended for alignment. You can hand hold it sometimes but you have more problems in pp with alignment and ghosting. I'm not a fan of in camera HDR as you have to shoot it as a jpeg and you are losing the advantages of RAW. Again with the software available it's easy with Adobe software or dedicated software like Photomatix but you need to use Windows or Apple operating system. It depends how much you shoot these kinds of things. It's not limited to just sunsets though, any high contrast scene can benefit from pp manipulation. If you look at high contrast photos, a sunlit snow scape as an example you may have taken yo will see that if you expose to get shadow detail the highlights blow out and there is nothing you can do to get the detail back. (With raw you can recover maybe a stop of over exposure but you are on the line and some details may be lost.) If you expose to save the highlights then the shadows block up loose detail and get noisy. You have to work with the limitations of equipment, which is part of the challenge of photography. One final thought on exposure you can process (develop if you will) the same image a couple of times and blend them together. Process one for the best results for the highlights and one for the best results in the darker parts and blend them together. Still not ideal but it may help some.
Cheers

[VTerlakyPhoto]

Any suggestions on how to keep the sun from being blown out?

Basically what Gregory said above

[southlander]

Another option that helps somewhat is to use a graduated neutral density filter to darken the above horizon section of the photo as you take it. However, a blazing sun like that is hard to deal with. I would encourage you to keep taking a number of photos a few minutes apart and see what works best. The lighting changes rapidly at that time of day. Even a shot a few minutes after the sun has sunk behind the hills might work better, although I acknowledge that the lake may dip into shadow and not work as well.

[tibbitts]

Thanks for your advice. I have been doing just what you are saying with the videos.

Unfortunately I am using Linux with Rawstudio and there is not much tutorials on that software. But I am still searching.

Rawstudio is more intented for initial raw processing - it's meant to be more of a front-end to other editing software. However if you want to stick to free software, you can still do a great deal without adobe products - by using gimp, etc.

Paul

[Culture]

Rawstudio is more intented for initial raw processing - it's meant to be more of a front-end to other editing software. However if you want to stick to free software, you can still do a great deal without adobe products - by using gimp, etc.

Paul

Yes I am using gimp too. But I dont know the software that well. I am not sure if I can do all of this saturation, and white blanace that well with gimp.

I normally use gimp for croping, sizing image, rotation, watermarking, and a little bit about using brushes. That is it. Learning on my own doesnt make it easy.

[djupdal]

Yes I am using gimp too. But I dont know the software that well. I am not sure if I can do all of this saturation, and white blanace that well with gimp.

I normally use gimp for croping, sizing image, rotation, watermarking, and a little bit about using brushes. That is it. Learning on my own doesnt make it easy.

For linux, you should try Darktable. I use Darktable to develop all my raw images:

darktable | the photo workflow software

And be sure to read the Darktable book, which explains a lot about raw image manipulation:

darktable Book Maintenance Release (v1.1.1) | darktable

[Culture]

I have installed darkatble but I have always found that it does some processing already when you open the file and that really confuse me because I dont see what has been done. Rawstudio doesnt do that.

But I will check the workflow. Thanks.