Color abuse

[joemikel1]

<p>Hi.<br /> I´m a begginer (in photography and digital darkroom). So far I'd been selftaught.<br /> I usually use capture NX to postprocess, but sometimes PS CS3 and Lightroom. I know, sometimes, one of the keys to make a pic interesting is to appropietly use the color. So sometimes I "improve" it, changing color spaces, white balance, tones,... and using any tool avalaible. As a result, I´m always wondering if I´m abusing with this sometime extreme treatments.<br /> I know it´s up to me to decide my personal taste. But as I educate my eye, my pics seem to me less and less interesting and more and more overprocessed. Even so, I´m usually congratulated by people, because my color management (?)<br /> Did you experiment this anytime? .</p>

[joemikel1]

<p>To illustrate this issue, let me show you this sample.<br>

Yesterday I shoted this:</p><div></div>

[ellis_vener_photography]

<p>Always work to please yourself.</p>

<p>if you are shooting raw, Camera NX or any raw processing step isn't post processing, it is processing.</p>

[joemikel1]

<p>So after writing this thread, I made a "typical" postprocess:</p>

<div></div>

[joemikel1]

<p>Overprocessed?</p>

[sattler123]

<p>Yes it is over processed as you can clearly see a halo around the two turtles heads. You should process to your liking, BUT you should also be careful to not make your changes visible to everyone, because in that case it screems over-processed!</p>

[joemikel1]

<p>Yes Juergen I agree about that halo. But I could have avoided it with the same colour results, wich are the issue here. I mean, do colours seem overprocessed ?</p>

[g dan mitchell]

<p>Halo aside, it really is a matter of personal interpretation.</p>

<p>For me, the objective is not to make photographs that are merely a (supposedly) accurate repetition of the objective characteristics of the original scene. More important goals might be to create a sense that is similar to that created by the original, to bring attention to some aspect of the scene that other viewers might not notice, or to riff on some interesting aspect of the subject.</p>

<p>Fact is, photography is <em>not</em> a purely objective medium. Unless your goal is to create evidentiary photographs for legal proceedings, experiment and discover what end results are right for you.</p>

<p>Don't worry too much about folks who think <em>any</em> post-processing is somehow a bad thing. If that point of view had much validity we'd have to toss out <em>most</em> great photography since just about every photographer has worked with chemical or digital post processing techniques in order to create the photographs they had in mind. I don't know how much background you may have in this, but one great example can be found by reading more about Ansel Adams' creation of the famouns "Moonrise..." photograph - just one great example.</p>

<p>One technical note. If I were working with the example photograph you supplied here I might use masks to constrain the changes that lighten the heads of the turtles so that the effect doesn't spill over onto the blue background quite so much. I did so in the following example with your photograph. I did the following:</p>

<ul>

<li>selected all of the image <em>except</em> the turtles, then expanded the non-turtle selection a few pixels and very slightly feathered the edge.</li>

<li>inverted the selection so that the turtles were now selected.</li>

<li>used a <em>curves</em> layer to lighten the tones of the turtles</li>

<li>used the same curves layer to somewhat reduce the midtone blues</li>

<li>did a bit of dodging, especially on the darker of the two turtles.</li>

<li>used the <em>healing brush</em> tool to remove the "blob" at the upper right.</li>

</ul>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/8517014-lg.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>The changes are a bit more subtle than what you did, but I think they help the image without going over the top.</p>

<p>Dan</p>

[joemikel1]

<p>Ok Dan. That's it. That's the process I´m wanting to make. You made a great process, with some mistery and really pleasent tones. I think this answers the question for me. I have to learn to process this way. Thanks Dan and everybody.<br>

Jose</p>

[steven_clark]

<p>The great thing about this game is we make up our own rules.</p>