The Picassa™ photo editing program has an effect called Graduated Tint. I haven't used it much before, because I want my photos to look as much as possible like the whatever I saw, rather than a filtered or manipulated appearance. Aside from sunbursts, which are somewhat beyond my control, I hope to produce true-to-life images. But sometimes, our eyes can adjust to the clouds AND the darker subjects below as well. The camera can not.
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You can see how the sky's details got bleached out of the original photos at the top of this collage. The Graduated Tint is over-done just a bit to accent its effect, but if we put just a touch of it into these photos, they would look more like the skies that my eyes beheld on those particular days..
What do you think? How do you feel about post-editing your photography? What have you found that works for you?
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I have to try that effect. Til I saw/joined Paintbox Photos (Tom's new photo participation blog) I had never ever ever retouched a photo ... I owned various versions of Photoshop Elements but was intimidated with all the layer stuff .. since I joined PP I have been having a ball with PSE AND I have saved a few really not so not pix ... have a look ..
http://twigley.blogspot.com/
:-Daryl
That looks quite impressive. I have never retouched my photos because I don't know how to. But would like to do it on some of them.
Are you conducting any classes ? Even smaller tips would be appreciated. :)
Hi Craver! Long time no post. You're in my reader, so I always read your posts, but it's been a hectic year and I haven't been commenting.
However, in response to your question, I do like to touch up pictures, especially pictures I know could have been better if the lighting was good, etc. Of course I only have a little point and shoot, so the quality of pictures aren't fantastic to begin with. I'm looking forward to spending some time learning how to work a real camera now that I'm in the states for awhile!
Love those pictures by the way. The sky really shows up after you tinted.
the only thing i've ever really done is crop, get rid of red-eye and maybe try to fix something i overexposed. i'm not opposed to touchups, i just haven't ever played with that
i find very interesting, the fact that a camera can never capture what a human eye can see. the image is never the real thing even if it looks very close to being like the real thing.
with than fact fairly clear in my mind, it does not really matter, to me, what a person does to an image.
even when we are looking at the real thing, we still do not always see it.
God's love to you, brother.
Those turned out beautiful, Daryl. I liked breakfast plate and your other photos.
No classes. I would hate to offend those who really know their stuff, but I'd be happy to answer any comment or email. Cuckoo, how do you upload and store your photos? I imagine that most sources will have some kind of editing software built in. I also use Photobucket, and they have even more options for editing.
This is from the Picasa Web Album site:
Anyone can now try Picasa Web Albums
Now when your friends ask how they can get Picasa Web Albums for themselves, just let them know that all they need is a free Google Account.
Holy cow, Stacy! How are you doing? I've missed you 'round here, but still see a little bit now and then in Facebook. (That IS you, right?) I hope the Duck Nazi lets you snap a photo for your blog.
Hmmm... yeah, I can guess some of the photos that were cropped, especially with some of your risqué themes, Lime. I try not to go crazy with post-editing, but every once in a while, I experiment with a shot, to see how it is affected by going to extremes.
Quite profound, NaNcY. Our pictures are perhaps like the story of the blind men and the elephant. They all described truthful elements, but their descriptions were all incomplete. On top of that, we show one limited perspective in a moment, of a view we may have pondered over for twenty minutes. There is always more to see if we are willing to keep studying and look harder.
Exactly what you said! First, my hands are a little tied because I don't own editing software and would probably be clueless if I did, but I used to not like the idea of using it because I want the pictures to be what I saw. Then I realize we all see things with our brains, not just our eyes, and that can be very different than what the camera gets. So to me there's nothing at all wrong with it, especially enhancements like the ones here. I KNOW the edited ones (gorgeous) are more what it looked like than the originals.
And then there's the crazy stuff I see that just looks fun.
Hello, Craver. I saw your comment over at Paintbox Pictures.
I edit every single picture that I use on my blog, using Photoshop CS2. I am by no means a pro, but I have a decent working knowledge of the program.
I don't use Picassa, and I'd like to suggest a trick I learned from Popular Photography magazine for enhancing your skies:
http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographyfeatures/5168/how-to-fix-the-sky.html
It works really well and it's fun to do. But you've got to have Photoshop.
Interesting site you have here. I'll have to nose around a bit! Take care.
Hey, When I go home next week, I'm hoping to get that same pic in all it's leafy glory! Will post it when i do!
My 2 cents on the photo editing issue. I think as long as it still looks realistic (unless you are editing for artistic effect), I have no problem brightening skies a bit, or using the sunset setting on the camera to accentuate the colors that *are* there.
I think if it's what you saw, and how you want to present it, it's your picture, do what pleases you!
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