Need some advice from the pros

[Hinkelbein]

Hi guys,

Once again I am crying out for your help.
I have a whole bunch of pictures taken from the famous Myrtle Avenue location near London Heathrow.
Some of them were taken late in the afternoon or maybe early in the evening and hence are rather dark.

Can pictures like this one be saved and made suitable for this site?
I tried, I struggled, but all but one (lol) were rejected for being too dark.
Can you tell me if they can be adjusted or that they are only good enough for my private collection?
I posted both the unaltered jpg (I have them all in RAW) and my attempt to make it brighter.

Thanks!

Hinkelbein

[MatthewLima]

Originally Posted by Hinkelbein

Can pictures like this one be saved and made suitable for this site?

Hi Hinkelbein,

Did you try the following? If you work with any Photoshop version, try this:

- Make the complete picture brighter by using the curves tool. Look what it does to the darkest parts of your picture as well as the brightest parts. Prevent an overexposed situation.
- Then, if necessary, try to brighten the shadows by using the shadows & highlights tool. Do this very gentle and carefull and don't forget to set all values concerning the hightlights at '0'.
- If you still think your picture is too dark, try the exposure tool. Please note that his tool can be used in 'emergency' cases only, as it is very rough tool. Try what it does to your picture when set al maximum value +0,10.
- If you are happy with the result, don't forget to check and correct your contrast using the histogram and contrast tool, as due to the above steps your picture has lost contrast.

Good luck!

[Hinkelbein]

No, did not yet try that, because results in the past were not that good when using shadow/highlight. It causes helos if applied in a bad way, which ruin the picture.

[brianw999]

The original is quite underexposed but I processed as follows...

-Crop to 1200x800
-Adjust histogram at highlight and dark tone ends. Adjust midtones to a value of 1.26.
-Adjust brightness by +45
-Adjust contrast by +15
-Overall USM sharpen of 4 passes at 50_0.2_0
-Selective USM sharpen of fin, registration and rear door of 4 passes at 50_0.2_0

As you quite rightly say, don't go ANYWHERE NEAR the shadow/highlight tool on an image like this.

This is about the best I can get.....

[Simpleboy]

Heres a quick attempt, starting with your dark Jpeg.


Basically, cropped first, then levels to set white point and black point, and also to bring exposure up, think i went +1.3.

Then curves to correct colour cast, add in some contrast.

Then some smart sharpening, then resize. Then, using shadow-highlight with a radius of 0 (therefore no halo's), bring up the shadows a touch and dial the highlights down. Select the sky and reduce the exposure there a bit, then sharpen.

I would personally vote to reject my edit, theres grain and such visable from the but it should be illustrative of what you could get by processing your raw file better. Boost your exposure in your raw processor until its roughtly the same brightness as Brians or Mine, then export to photoshop and go from there.

[Bjorn1979]

Hopefully not setting up anyone but the backpart of the aircraft looks blurry. Title "Airbus A319", registration and tail look blurry to me.

[brianw999]

Originally Posted by Bjorn1979

Hopefully not setting up anyone but the backpart of the aircraft looks blurry. Title "Airbus A319", registration and tail look blurry to me.

That is my worry with the shot and why I added the selective sharpening. My version I can see now is too cold with its bluish cast, Simpleboys is a better version. I do rather think though that this is a personal collection shot to be honest.

[Hinkelbein]

Guys, thank you all so much for your helpful answers, it's much appreciated.

I now realize that the pic I used as an example is indeed somewhat blurry.
But the point was to show how dark they are and to see if they can be saved and if yes, how?

Well, you have shown me a lot, so now I can try for myself.

Thank you all, and may the force be with you

Hinkelbein

[pdeboer]

Originally Posted by Hinkelbein

.. and may the force be with you

Originally Posted by Hinkelbein

Well, you have shown me a lot, so now I can try for myself.

No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

[Hinkelbein]

No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try. - Yoda


Whuhaha

[kukkudrill]

I prefer Samuel Beckett. "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better."

[Hinkelbein]

Originally Posted by kukkudrill

I prefer Samuel Beckett. "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better."

You guys know your literature, that's for sure!