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Improving color on my photos

Lionfish

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Age
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Drayton Valley Alberta Canada
Howdy all .,
I have yet an other question for the photographers .
I took some photos of a real nice sunset , the photos them selves were good but the colors were not as colourful, not as realistic to what I had seen .
I have not done any photography for many years and I mean years !
So I’ve almost lost everything I knew and the appropriate brain cells have more than likely passed on !!.
I realize that I probably could improve the hues with photo enhancing software etc but I’m not so interested in that method if I can do a tweak or two tweaks to the camera .

As always I appreciate all your thoughts .
 
Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there really isn't a way to increase color in-camera. That has to happen in post (editing on the computer). Editing photos is really easy especially adjusting color. All you have to do is adjust the saturation or vibrance levels.

If you could post one of your sunset photos I can show you what it would look like edited, so you can determine if its worth it to you or not.
 
3A95B51F-A4F5-427D-B238-43A5AFB4C821.jpeg3A95B51F-A4F5-427D-B238-43A5AFB4C821.jpeg
Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there really isn't a way to increase color in-camera. That has to happen in post (editing on the computer). Editing photos is really easy especially adjusting color. All you have to do is adjust the saturation or vibrance levels.

If you could post one of your sunset photos I can show you what it would look like edited, so you can determine if its worth it to you or not.
Hey thanks , I guess I’m more out of touch than I thought .
I actually had an other look at my photos and they were not too bad on the second look .
But yes I would like to take you up on your offer .
Now all I have to figure out how to get a photo to you .
In the meantime thanks for your info and time .
I appreciate it .
 
Hi,

I don't know which drone you have, but if you have the option to save the photograph in RAW format, do so as it's a lot easier to get the best out of them. Some of the Mavic range have the facility so store in RAW+JPEG, so will take the picture in RAW, save it as a .dng file, then convert it to a jpeg.

As a basic introduction to image editing you could do a lot worse than try the one that comes with your computers operating system. I just downloaded Windows photo editor from Microsoft and it has a lot of the tools you will need to make corrections to brightness, contrast and fiddle with the colours. There are premium options they want money for, but the basics are all there and totally free. If you are on Apple, they also have a free editor that will do what you need.

The argument about correcting images, or Photoshopping as it's commonly known always makes me laugh. An uncle of mine thought it was some sort of crime to paint out some telephone wires in what was otherwise a stunning picture. However, it was NEVER the case that photographers didn't try to get the best out of their pictures in the darkroom. In fact a lot of the terms for the techniques we now use are 100 years old. Cropping, dodging, burning etc.

Having said that, I do baulk at the idea of manipulating the images of models to a ridiculous degree that makes people compare themselves to a false image and feel inadequate. Putting people in wedding photographs (or cutting them out!) not sure on.
 
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If you are using Android there is a free Photoshop Express app that works well.

Most of the programs have a single click 'magic wand' type option that will do its best to create a better picture. Sometimes that works well enough or you can go into individual aspects to adjust each.

Here is a sample, original and then 1 click magic wand 'fix'. i could continue to enhance the pic if i wanted, but these are just screenshots to show you a quick difference between original and 'edited'.



Screenshot_20200602-080300_Photoshop Express.jpg

Screenshot_20200602-080239_Photoshop Express.jpg
 
Last edited:
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I always start with RAW files. Luminar for OS X is awfully useful. Its feature of replacing sky is pretty amazing.
Snapseed for iOS is also quite robust.
 
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For just basic photo editing try the SnapSeed app. It's pretty simple to use. Ive actually taken a few images I took with my drones, edited them in SnapSeed, then printed them into 16x20 photos.
 
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Hi,

I don't know which drone you have, but if you have the option to save the photograph in RAW format, do so as it's a lot easier to get the best out of them. Some of the Mavic range have the facility so store in RAW+JPEG, so will take the picture in RAW, save it as a .dng file, then convert it to a jpeg.

As a basic introduction to image editing you could do a lot worse than try the one that comes with your computers operating system. I just downloaded Windows photo editor from Microsoft and it has a lot of the tools you will need to make corrections to brightness, contrast and fiddle with the colours. There are premium options they want money for, but the basics are all there and totally free. If you are on Apple, they also have a free editor that will do what you need.

The argument about correcting images, or Photoshopping as it's commonly known always makes me laugh. An uncle of mine thought it was some sort of crime to paint out some telephone wires in what was otherwise a stunning picture. However, it was NEVER the case that photographers didn't try to get the best out of their pictures in the darkroom. In fact a lot of the terms for the techniques we now use are 100 years old. Cropping, dodging, burning etc.

Having said that, I do baulk at the idea of manipulating the images of models to a ridiculous degree that makes people compare themselves to a false image and feel inadequate. Putting people in wedding photographs (or cutting them out!) not sure on.
I liked your post, but may I suggest that you always save a RAW file to an uncompressed format, like tiff. JPEG algorithms can vary widely by platform, and once saved as a JPEG, it’s very hard to go back and adjust. Depending on what platform you post to (FaceBook, etc.), there may be shifts in color, gamma, etc., and you may need to adjust these accordingly to make the best presentation. If you go to sell the print, tiff will give you much more information to work with for changes, enlargements, etc.
 
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View attachment 103304View attachment 103304
Hey thanks , I guess I’m more out of touch than I thought .
I actually had an other look at my photos and they were not too bad on the second look .
But yes I would like to take you up on your offer .
Now all I have to figure out how to get a photo to you .
In the meantime thanks for your info and time .
I appreciate it .

Your welcome. All you have to do is click on the Attach files button below. If you have the raw file that would be ideal. The photos you posted look like they are jpgs and have been resized. And you are right, the colors are still pretty good in your image
 
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Hi everyone,
I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to pass along help , tips and their know how to me .

It’s now very obvious to me that taking a twenty year or so vacation from photography hasn’t really helped me much , now I’m starting over .
A photo is still a photo and shutter speed is still valid but that’s about all it seems.

I have a great deal to learn but with everyone’s help here it’s going to be a lot easier .

Thanks +take care
 
I liked your post, but may I suggest that you always save a RAW file to an uncompressed format, like tiff. JPEG algorithms can vary widely by platform, and once saved as a JPEG, it’s very hard to go back and adjust. Depending on what platform you post to (FaceBook, etc.), there may be shifts in color, gamma, etc., and you may need to adjust these accordingly to make the best presentation. If you go to sell the print, tiff will give you much more information to work with for changes, enlargements, etc.

Hi, I do all of my editing in Photoshop, so all edited files as saved in .psd. I do take your point though. My photography is mainly family stuff, but should I be passing anything I'd produced on, I would ask what format was required.

The only picture I've ever had published was one I took on Crete some years back now. When I say published, I mean I posted it somewhere and it was nicked and used by Sainsbury's magazine and the Greek tourist board amongst others. I did write to them and ask for vouchers and a holiday as compo, but never got a reply.

All I did to it was crop it slightly and paint out the phone lines. Unfortunately the boat is no longer there on street view.

Crete 080 raw (2).jpg
 
Hi, I do all of my editing in Photoshop, so all edited files as saved in .psd. I do take your point though. My photography is mainly family stuff, but should I be passing anything I'd produced on, I would ask what format was required.

The only picture I've ever had published was one I took on Crete some years back now. When I say published, I mean I posted it somewhere and it was nicked and used by Sainsbury's magazine and the Greek tourist board amongst others. I did write to them and ask for vouchers and a holiday as compo, but never got a reply.

All I did to it was crop it slightly and paint out the phone lines. Unfortunately the boat is no longer there on street view.

View attachment 103728
Composition on this is very nice. Great photo!
 
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