The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Guerilla Bay, where the rugged cliffs embrace the gentle sea, provided a peaceful retreat. The landscape, with its unspoken grace, painted a picture of calm and continuity. Amidst this natural setting, the quiet rhythm of the waves against the shore felt like a deep breath, a momentary escape into nature’s embrace.
A wonderful scene with dramatic shapes and good details. The sky is very nice, with the cloud shapes so nicely placed and a wonderful gradient.
But I think there are tonal issues again, and a fix would bring it to its full strength. There are no lights above about Zone VII. I wonder if there is a little more tonal detail to be found in the sand. The blacks drop off again – not as dramatically this time but still there. The spikes at the left end of the histogram are significant posterization. It takes a good profiled and calibrated monitor to see it.
I neglected to add – when the histogram opens there will be a small triangle in the UR corner. Click it to update the first approximation.
Hi Diane thanks for that, yes I can see that spike. I saw the triangle with the exclamation mark, something to do with cache? I am beginning to wonder if its not me perhaps sacrificing detail for drama by pushing my black value too far. I am just playing around with this pushing and pulling zones in Lightroom to try and understand what I am doing. Thanks for the histogram … I will get there … slowly.
Yes, the triangle says the cache needs to be updated, but I’ll admit I’m not quite sure how there got to be a cached value for an image you just opened. Nonetheless, yes, it should be clicked to give the correct histogram.
That’s a useful thing in the video, basically using curves, but balance it with a careful look at the dark values. Certainly you rarely if ever want to go all the way with the Shadows and Highlights sliders, but they are a great place for tweaks. Clarity will add midtone contrast if things start getting flat.
Another factor is the initial camera profile – right above the WB eyedropper. Different ones will bias contrast differently. You can get a linear profile for your camera to really have the most unbiased starting point. Tony Kuyper offers them on his web site and will make one for any camera that isn’t already shown.
Keep the initial raw file on the low contrast side. You can increase contrast in PS but can only decrease it at the cost of tonal values.
Thanks Diane, I very seldom push the shadows too far, in fact normally the opposite I lighten the shadows and increase the blacks to get to where I want to be. I did find adjusting the midtones and clarity may be a way getting the same result with a small amount of contrast. I do use my camera profile, is the linear profile different? Diane do you solely use PS as your workspace? If you use a combo of LR and PS which do you start in?
I start in LR, but possibly by PS you mean AdobeCamera Raw, which is a helper program for PS – a raw converter. That is what comes up when you open a raw file – or should be. It is a different interface but has the same engine as LR.
It sounds like you are doing things right at the start but I’m not sure where the strange histograms are coming from, except by visual adjustment on an incorrectly set monitor. That will never give a good result.
I do appreciate the need to get good prints but you should be able to get them from a good file – good on a calibrated and profiled monitor.
Here’s the thing on the linear files, but they won’t solve the basic problem you are faced with, which is how the darks in the histogram are getting pushed around as they are.
Thanks Diane got the Z profile will install it and take a look. The problem could well be my preference for deep blacks, which is OK but I really don’t want them posterizing which sounds like what I am doing. Thanks again for all the help … onward and upward!
Your images are wonderful and deep blacks fit them well. I appreciate you bearing with me because I haven’t wanted to sound critical. Nobody was born knowing this stuff and everything I know I learned the hard way.
I’m looking forward to your journey with all this stuff. You’re way ahead of so many people!
I think I should be thanking you for bearing with me. I really don’t mind critical as long as I am learning, and I really haven’t heard anything critical from you its all been constructive. Thanks again Diane!
