I’ve never been a big fan of Photoshop and the whole modify a photo after taking the shot, this because it really doesn’t make you a good photographer if you’re always fixing up your mistakes after taking the shot instead of working at getting better with getting the shot, but I find that there is always…ok sometimes…a way to enhance the colors of the photo so that it pops out and doesn’t have a washed out look.
I recently got the Totally Rad Actions for Adobe Photoshop, as well as the Kubota’s actions which I’ve mentioned before, and using them didn’t really caused much change or enhancement to the photo which made me think that the actions didn’t really apply to my photos but I later found out that I was actually implementing them wrong and once I got the hang of it I was able to actually enhance the photos and make the colors pop. The bad side of this is that it takes time and patience on photos that have a lot of details. The photo below, which I took from the second floor of my house with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3, and the first shot doesn’t have the colors popping out and look a bit washed out:
Once I learned to use the actions correctly I applied the “Technicolor Dream World” and after taking the necessary actions I proceeded to apply the “Big Blue” action and also took the necessary steps to activate the action correctly. Once that was done I ended up with the shot below:
The shot looks a lot better and the colors really pop out. What are your opinions and views on the subject?
-LM
Every photographer that I know uses software to correct and enhance photographs, that is why Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and Aperture are such huge applications. Even in publishing, they buy unedited photographs because they have their own team that does the enhancing.
I do not like the enhanced picture that you have posted. The sky has an unnatural shade of blue that does not match the rest of the picture.
[quote comment=""]I do not like the enhanced picture that you have posted. The sky has an unnatural shade of blue that does not match the rest of the picture.[/quote]
Thanks for the comment there and this is one of the things I have to work on. Like I mentioned I’m just starting to learn the ways of Photoshop
Hopefully I’ll get better with practice…
i don’t see anything wrong with using photoshop to enhance a photograph. i find that when i am photographing my daughter, my main goal is to capture the moment (regardless of whether or not i get the exposure, settings, etc. right). i still have to practice a lot more with my camera. another thing i’d like to point out is that photography is another form of art. some people might like the photoshop look and other’s might not. i personally like your enhanced photo. the colors are so vibrant. and where i live, i have seen skies that look that blue. so keep up the good work!