Too much contrast?

Nid · 07-05-2010, 12:57 PM

Hello all, I am new here and to photography

My sister gave me her old camera and lens. It is a Pentax *istD, the lean is Tamrom 28-75 Di 1:2.8 and Pentax AF360 FGZ flash.

What would you say happened to this image? Too much contrast, camera problem, lens problem, flash problem or I simply suck at it

Most of the photo I took like the image below. Does it look like it has too much contrast? I am not sure how to explain it. The image is what came out from CF just cropped nothing else done to it. (image was re sized by photobucket)

All kids had some pink spot on theirs cheeks. When I printed on a photo paper they look even worse. They all have hot-pink dull looking on their cheeks.

I probably doing something wrong. Just not sure what it was.

Thank you for the help and suggestion.

Nid

Tord · 07-05-2010, 01:12 PM

Looks like too little contrast, so everything becomes greyish!

enoeske · 07-05-2010, 01:20 PM

looks like a lack of contrast due to nuking by on camera flash

Steinback · 07-05-2010, 02:12 PM

I agree with lack of contrast. Fairly easy to adjust with software.

This is a quick curves adjustment:

Nid · 07-05-2010, 04:30 PM

Thank you every much all.

For some reason I thought it was too much contrast. What should I do to the camera settings to minimize the post process? I can try to increase the contrast setting in the camera menu. Would that help a little?

I am try to learn one thing at a time. I will playing with photo editing software when I get comfortable with the camera and most of it settings.

anthers · 07-05-2010, 06:16 PM

Some things you can try:

1. Dial back the flash exposure compensation by a stop or two.
2. If you have a manual flash, you can bounce it up and to the side to give some directionality to the light and make it more interesting.
3. Get a basic image editing program and use it to adjust white point, black point, contrast and curves. You can also adjust white balance and temperature to get rid of color casts. Post-processing is a big part of getting the images that YOU want, and not just accepting the images that the camera spits out.

All in all, though, I wouldn't say that this was a bad picture. Print a 4x6 and it would make a good scrapbook or photo album picture for posterity.

enoeske · 07-05-2010, 06:18 PM

Originally posted by anthers

Some things you can try:
2. If you have a manual flash, you can bounce it up and to the side to give some directionality to the light and make it more interesting.

Bouncing off what exactly? The picture was taken outdoors.

btw, here's my take at fixing the WB problem between the color of the flash and the natural light.

Last edited by enoeske; 07-05-2010 at 06:28 PM.

Marc Sabatella · 07-05-2010, 08:42 PM

Originally posted by Nid

For some reason I thought it was too much contrast.

Too much contrast would mean darks are extremely dark lights are extremely light. Ypu've got the opposite going on - darks just aren't much darker than lights.

Quote:

What should I do to the camera settings to minimize the post process?

Turn off the flash - or at least turn it way down in the situations where you do decide to use it.

The pink spots, though - hate to ask this, but are you sure those aren't just freckles?

mattdm · 07-06-2010, 06:45 AM - **1 Like**

Also, maybe move the table?

Mike Cash · 07-06-2010, 07:00 AM

Originally posted by mattdm

Also, maybe move the table?

Made a great flash reflector, didn't it?

ChooseAName · 07-06-2010, 07:34 AM

The AF360 flash can tilt upwards; did you do this when you took the picture? Looks like it was pretty bright outside, so you could've / should've dialed the flash strength down quite a bit.

Also, I agree with all the other posters who said that a little post-processing will help these pictures look a little better. If you're going to do post-processing, make sure that you are taking photos in RAW or RAW+JPEG mode.

Originally posted by enoeske

Bouncing off what exactly? The picture was taken outdoors.

They are sitting under shade. Definitely would've been possible to fire the flash upwards and bounce off the ceiling/umbrella.

Nid · 07-06-2010, 12:41 PM

I can assure you that are not freckles. I picked that part of the image imply because she was on the right side of the image. Most of images people have that pink looking spot on their cheek, forehead and face not just these 4 kids. Some images have more than the other. I tried to print a few of them, their faces look like a Chinese Opera. The colour of theirs face, cheek and forehead were out to lunch.

As far as the flash goes, I have an AF360FGZ with some kind of white plastic cover on it and tilted about 60* upward the sky when I took that photo. The camera was set to “P” and I believe the flash was set to “P-TTL”.

I will try to do RAW next time. I will need to buy some new memory card. My sister only gave me 2 of the 512MB. They are cheap anyway.

Actually I did bounced flash off the umbrella.

So is it safe to say the original image was overexposed and low in contrast?

Another question. Is this *istD still have a lot of life left in it? I guess I will learn more about it before I try to buy a new one. I really like it, small and fix perfectly in my hand. She also gave me an external battery holder for the camera as well I just do not have a chance to attach it to the camera yet.

Thank you very much and boy there are a lots to learn. I’m grad that I found this site.

Reportage · 07-06-2010, 01:07 PM

it depends just how well you know the camera, i am outgrowing having to use Raw for anything other then night or gym light assignments or if the client requests it. Other then that, tweaking the onboard settings often gets the jpeg just nice. I am using my picture editor more and more simply for just cropping nowadays.

here is my take.

Adjustments to white balance, saturation and sharpening. resized for wallet size in case want to see how it looks.

ChooseAName · 07-06-2010, 04:22 PM

Strange about the pink dots. Maybe it's time for the *istD to say bye bye. I have no personal experience with the *istD, but it is pretty old. That said, it would be fine to practice on it, but if you're ready to take the next step, upgrade the body to a K-x.

If your original picture was straight out of the camera JPEG, there are probably settings in the camera itself to adjust saturation and contrast. That might help your colors look a bit more lively.

I'm guessing the plastic cover on the flash goes over the actual flashy part? That's a flash diffuser meant to lessen the harshness that can occur when using flash. Makes the light "softer."

Marc Sabatella · 07-06-2010, 05:18 PM

I suppose those could be dust spots on the sensor, then, or some or of semi-dead pixels. Would be interesting to see if the pattern is always the same.

07-05-2010, 12:57 PM	#1
Nid Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 5	Too much contrast? Hello all, I am new here and to photography My sister gave me her old camera and lens. It is a Pentax *istD, the lean is Tamrom 28-75 Di 1:2.8 and Pentax AF360 FGZ flash. What would you say happened to this image? Too much contrast, camera problem, lens problem, flash problem or I simply suck at it Most of the photo I took like the image below. Does it look like it has too much contrast? I am not sure how to explain it. The image is what came out from CF just cropped nothing else done to it. (image was re sized by photobucket) All kids had some pink spot on theirs cheeks. When I printed on a photo paper they look even worse. They all have hot-pink dull looking on their cheeks. I probably doing something wrong. Just not sure what it was. Thank you for the help and suggestion. Nid

07-06-2010, 01:07 PM	#13
Reportage Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 739	it depends just how well you know the camera, i am outgrowing having to use Raw for anything other then night or gym light assignments or if the client requests it. Other then that, tweaking the onboard settings often gets the jpeg just nice. I am using my picture editor more and more simply for just cropping nowadays. here is my take. Adjustments to white balance, saturation and sharpening. resized for wallet size in case want to see how it looks. Last edited by Reportage; 07-06-2010 at 01:39 PM.

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07-05-2010, 01:12 PM	#2
Tord Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Gothenburg, aka Göteborg Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 234	Looks like too little contrast, so everything becomes greyish!

07-05-2010, 01:20 PM	#3
enoeske Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Surprise, Az Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,136	looks like a lack of contrast due to nuking by on camera flash

07-05-2010, 02:12 PM	#4
Steinback Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: GTA, ON, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,673	I agree with lack of contrast. Fairly easy to adjust with software. This is a quick curves adjustment:

07-05-2010, 04:30 PM	#5
Nid Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 5 Original Poster	Thank you every much all. For some reason I thought it was too much contrast. What should I do to the camera settings to minimize the post process? I can try to increase the contrast setting in the camera menu. Would that help a little? I am try to learn one thing at a time. I will playing with photo editing software when I get comfortable with the camera and most of it settings.

07-05-2010, 06:16 PM	#6
anthers Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: California Photos: Albums Posts: 125	Some things you can try: 1. Dial back the flash exposure compensation by a stop or two. 2. If you have a manual flash, you can bounce it up and to the side to give some directionality to the light and make it more interesting. 3. Get a basic image editing program and use it to adjust white point, black point, contrast and curves. You can also adjust white balance and temperature to get rid of color casts. Post-processing is a big part of getting the images that YOU want, and not just accepting the images that the camera spits out. All in all, though, I wouldn't say that this was a bad picture. Print a 4x6 and it would make a good scrapbook or photo album picture for posterity.

07-05-2010, 06:18 PM	#7
enoeske Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Surprise, Az Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,136	Originally posted by anthers Some things you can try: 2. If you have a manual flash, you can bounce it up and to the side to give some directionality to the light and make it more interesting. Bouncing off what exactly? The picture was taken outdoors. btw, here's my take at fixing the WB problem between the color of the flash and the natural light. Last edited by enoeske; 07-05-2010 at 06:28 PM.

07-05-2010, 08:42 PM	#8
Marc Sabatella Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Denver, CO Photos: Gallery Posts: 10,685	Originally posted by Nid For some reason I thought it was too much contrast. Too much contrast would mean darks are extremely dark lights are extremely light. Ypu've got the opposite going on - darks just aren't much darker than lights. Quote: What should I do to the camera settings to minimize the post process? Turn off the flash - or at least turn it way down in the situations where you do decide to use it. The pink spots, though - hate to ask this, but are you sure those aren't just freckles?

07-06-2010, 06:45 AM - 1 Like	#9
mattdm Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Boston, MA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,948	Also, maybe move the table?

07-06-2010, 07:00 AM	#10
Mike Cash Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Japan Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,950	Originally posted by mattdm Also, maybe move the table? Made a great flash reflector, didn't it?

07-06-2010, 07:34 AM	#11
ChooseAName Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Southeast USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 390	The AF360 flash can tilt upwards; did you do this when you took the picture? Looks like it was pretty bright outside, so you could've / should've dialed the flash strength down quite a bit. Also, I agree with all the other posters who said that a little post-processing will help these pictures look a little better. If you're going to do post-processing, make sure that you are taking photos in RAW or RAW+JPEG mode. Originally posted by enoeske Bouncing off what exactly? The picture was taken outdoors. They are sitting under shade. Definitely would've been possible to fire the flash upwards and bounce off the ceiling/umbrella.

07-06-2010, 12:41 PM	#12
Nid Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 5 Original Poster	I can assure you that are not freckles. I picked that part of the image imply because she was on the right side of the image. Most of images people have that pink looking spot on their cheek, forehead and face not just these 4 kids. Some images have more than the other. I tried to print a few of them, their faces look like a Chinese Opera. The colour of theirs face, cheek and forehead were out to lunch. As far as the flash goes, I have an AF360FGZ with some kind of white plastic cover on it and tilted about 60* upward the sky when I took that photo. The camera was set to “P” and I believe the flash was set to “P-TTL”. I will try to do RAW next time. I will need to buy some new memory card. My sister only gave me 2 of the 512MB. They are cheap anyway. Actually I did bounced flash off the umbrella. So is it safe to say the original image was overexposed and low in contrast? Another question. Is this *istD still have a lot of life left in it? I guess I will learn more about it before I try to buy a new one. I really like it, small and fix perfectly in my hand. She also gave me an external battery holder for the camera as well I just do not have a chance to attach it to the camera yet. Thank you very much and boy there are a lots to learn. I’m grad that I found this site.

07-06-2010, 04:22 PM	#14
ChooseAName Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Southeast USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 390	Strange about the pink dots. Maybe it's time for the istD to say bye bye. I have no personal experience with the istD, but it is pretty old. That said, it would be fine to practice on it, but if you're ready to take the next step, upgrade the body to a K-x. If your original picture was straight out of the camera JPEG, there are probably settings in the camera itself to adjust saturation and contrast. That might help your colors look a bit more lively. I'm guessing the plastic cover on the flash goes over the actual flashy part? That's a flash diffuser meant to lessen the harshness that can occur when using flash. Makes the light "softer."

07-06-2010, 05:18 PM	#15
Marc Sabatella Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Denver, CO Photos: Gallery Posts: 10,685	I suppose those could be dust spots on the sensor, then, or some or of semi-dead pixels. Would be interesting to see if the pattern is always the same.