• Photos

  • Level

  • Score

BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Photography Question 

Chris Maw 		 

Picture's that are stunning


 
 
I am wanting to know how do you get the pictures to stand out? When I look at some of the pictures of people and the colors stand out like you are looking at a HDTV picture. What percentage is being touched up with software? Like these two:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.php?photoID=634023&catID=39&style=&contestCatID=&rowNumber=74&camID=
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.php?photoID=1494533&catID=37&style=&contestCatID=&rowNumber=48&camID=

I love the picture quality of these two and wished my pictures were like it.


To love this question, log in above
June 03, 2006

 

Bob Chance 		  HI Chris:

Thought I cannot speak for the photographers of the images that you refer to, as I have no way of knowing what all they might or might not have done to alter their originals.
There is no doubt though, that anyone shooting digital would have to do some software editing to at least sharpen the image. It's just the nature of digital.
While film uses silver halide crystals, and a single grain can reveal numerous shades of gray, depending on how it is exposed to light. Digital doesn't work that way. In short, each pixel can only reveal one shade or tone, leaving a lot of information unrecorded between the pixels. Software algorithm's basically read the information from adjacent pixels and fill in the blanks. This is why the softness in digital images.
If you consider only a digital image made up of 2 million tiny pixels in a matrix, how much space there is between the pixels that isn't recording anything when a picture is taken. I think digital does a pretty good job of assimilating itself to produce a full image when so much information was missing to begin with.
Picture editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop use another type of algorithm to either, remove unsharp elements, or to sharpen the ones that are there.
There is no way that either of those two images, assuming both are digital, came straight from the camera. Digital images are just not sharp without applying some type of algorithm to the image, either in the camera or computer.
Also, don't forget too, that using the right exposure will have a certain degree of effect on the sharpness of an image. An underexposed image will result in grain in a film image or noise from digital. But probably the biggest factor in achieving a sharp image is the lens itself. A high quality lens will not only be sharp as a tack, but it will also offer good contrast and corrections of aberations so the image will be sharp from corner to corner, not just in the center. And because light of different wave lengths focus differently, the lens should also be one that corrects for chromatic aberations as well as aberations normally inherent in spherical glass elements.
So the best points I can give here are high quality optics, correct exposure and focus. And if shooting digital, an editing program with a good algorithm for sharpening. Hope this helps.

Bob


To love this comment, log in above
June 03, 2006

 

Rebecca A. Steed 		  I have to agree with Bob on several aspects, but also check what you ISO is at. For the sharpest images, you wannt a low ISO, such as 100 or 200 (the higher you go, the more grainy), and also, how much do you want in focus? if you just want your subject in focus, use a lower aperature, such as f5.6, if you want everything in focus, use f18, etc. and just make sure your aperature is correct. I recommend several classes around here dealing with proper exposure.
Cheers,
Becky


To love this comment, log in above
June 03, 2006

 

Bob Chance 		  I agree with Becky that a lower ISO will produce much less noticable noise in a digital image, making it appear sharper.
However, depending on your lighting conditions, a lower ISO will also mean shooting with a lower shutter speed leaving you suseptable to camera shake which will definitely result in an unsharp image.
Choose your ISO according to your shooting and lighting conditions.


To love this comment, log in above
June 03, 2006

 

Brian Lobdell 		  Hello Chris, another couple of thoughts for you.... Bob and Becky have really given you some great input to consider, and I just wanted to add to that.
First, the choice of format you use to upload can make a big difference in sharpeness. JPEG files are compressed and do not retain their integrity as well as TIFs and some other uncompressed formats. ( You can find several threads/discussions covering these formats in the BP forum.) Also, as I understand it, some of the best image work can be achieved with those shot/saved in "RAW" if your camera supports it, and then processed from that. (I have yet to try and learn RAW as I just now have my first SLR that can record in the RAW mode.)
Finally, back to Bob's mention of software editing. I use Photoshop Elements, and a there are a couple of very simple filters to use that really help enhance the digital image. I use CONTRAST, BRIGHTNESS, SATURATION, SHARPEN, and UNSHARP MASK to adjust most of my shots, along with several other filters, depending on the image.
Of course, as pointed out by Bob & Becky, you need to start with good lense, and exposure techniques to start with, as software can only enhance and not replace a less than optimum image.
Hope this helps...
Regards, Brian


To love this comment, log in above
June 03, 2006

 

Chris Maw 		  I want to thank all of you for answering my question. When I first got into photography I used a Canon F-1. I am in the Inteligence field and that is what the Navy used for the longest time. I do agree with the silver halide crystals as in the Intel world we used Techpan film I think it was since black and white had more detail in the pictures. I have a Nikon D70 and have used the Canon EOS 10D in the last 2 years in the Navy. I am in the process of getting more Nikon lenses and hopefully I will start seeing a difference in some of the pictures I have taken. I know I still have alot to learn and I have been taking pictures for past 3 years and I still resort back to the old days of configuring the camera manually. Again I agree with all of you and I still have alot to learn. I will post some of my images that I have taken over the past 3 years. Please let me know how they are.

Thanks,
Chris


To love this comment, log in above
June 04, 2006

 

Bob Chance 		  Thanks Chris:

Wow! A Canon F-1! That brings back memories. I used to have the F-1N along with just about every 'A' series camera they made back in the '80's.
Anyhow, Brian is right with his additions. There is really so much that goes into a crisp, sharp image. But there is a difference between what is trully sharp, and what appears to be sharp to the human eye. Contrast, brightness and saturation are some of the things that can make an image appear sharp to the human eye, especially by making the lines of demarcation between subject and background stand out more.
A cousin of mine and I used to argue on that one. He used to shoot Minolta and swore that his lenses were sharper than Canons'. We dug into the spec sheets and learned that technically, his lenses weren't sharper than mine, but they did have more contrast, making his images seem crisper, even though they weren't sharper.
Brian is right too about image format. Most eveyone on this sight will agree that RAW is the best image to shoot in the camera. Then, edit the image in RAW and save it as a TIFF. RAW & TIFF are both lossless formats. Meaning they don't compress, so there is absolutely no loss of image quality. Everytime you edit a jpg you loose a little bit.
The downside is that TIFF's are huge files, so you better have lots of disc space to save them on and also have patience when editing becase of their size it will take your editing program longer to open them and longer to process the various functions then it would a jpg. Also, if your softward allows, TIFF's can be saved in either 8 bit or 16 bit. Naturally, 16 bit contains a lot more information to work with.
So there is a lot that goes into a sharp image, especially like the one of the firefighter. But seeing how that was shot with a 6 megapixel camera, it shows that you don't need a high megapixel count for good images. My first digital camera was a 4 megapixel Kodak, and it takes some absolutely beautiful pictures. The only thing is, you are limited by the megapixels on how much you can crop or enlarge your image.

Bob


To love this comment, log in above
June 04, 2006

 
- Gregory LaGrange

BetterPhoto Member
Contact Gregory LaGrange
Gregory LaGrange's Gallery 		  Email them and ask them what they did.
The firemen looks like they caught one in the right spot. The other is a softbox and black background. Plus a nice looking woman, which does make a difference. Anything else, other than obvious correct exposure, can be just a question away.


To love this comment, log in above
June 04, 2006

 

Slim Brady 		  when I shoot with a prime lens I require no sharpening at all


To love this comment, log in above
June 05, 2006

 

Diane Dupuis 		  Hey Chris,
I would e-mail and ask Patrick and Gina if they did anything in particular to those pics.
I can pretty surely say that every single pic in my gallery (except one) has been touched up somehow in PS. Even if it's just a crop, resizing, up to adding lighting or other effects and playing with hue/sat. I find being able to create an image from beginning (actual pressing the shutter) to end is very fun!
Don't be shy to ask photographers about certain pics. I find most people here at BP to be most helpful.


To love this comment, log in above
June 07, 2006

 

doug Nelson 		  Consider quality of light. Shoot in early morning and late evening. Shoot in "bad" weather; cloudy, diffuse light often makes colors "pop". For some illustrations of what I mean, check out www.cambridgeincolour.com. His Photoshop enhancement seems limited to contrast tweaks. He gets it right by proper exposure and picking the right time to shoot.


To love this comment, log in above
June 08, 2006

 
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here

Report this Thread