Am I over processing these pictures?

[90sShooter]

I JUST learned how to use Adobe LightRoom YESTERDAY and I want to know if I am headed in the right direction... am I over processing these photos creatin unrealistic colors? or am I pretty close?

original

post processing

 

[BlueCorn]

Photography is art.

Unless you're changing an image with intent to deceive or commit fraud there is no such thing as too much. You're the only person that has to be happy with your work.

I think it looks fine.

 

[90sShooter]

Thanks beerguy! Not sure if I like it... maybe too much contrast? I have no idea but the colors are a little too brilliant...

Here is another one thought, a little more suddle..

 

[90sShooter]

Looking at these pics, I think I need more DOF... I thought aperture affected DOF? I don't seem to gain much when going from F2.8 to say 10 or so... why not? BTW lense is 100mm macro, does this lense just NOT give much DOF?

 

[BlueCorn]

As soon as your wallet recovers you should invest in a monitor calibration device. I use a Spyder2 Pro but the Pantone Huey is decent too. That's really the only way to know what the image should look like and print properly. Just like when you look at the wall of TVs in Best Buy, every monitor is different.

Be careful, in general, with global saturation adjustments. I will frequently use the color sliders to get a particular color (or range) to pop but avoid the global "Saturation" slider completely. It's too easy to go overboard with it.

DOF with any macro lens is very shallow, even with a narrow aperture.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

DOF is effected by the FOCAL LENGTH (100mm has less than 50mm), APERTURE (f/4 has less than f/8), DISTANCE from focus point (5 inches has less than 5 feet).

All three of these combine to determine what the DOF will be.
http://dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

 

[90sShooter]

Thanks beerguy, I will look into calibrating my monitor. And thanks for the advice about global saturation, I will keep that in mind

TS - Once again thanks for making making sense of this. That makes total sense... now I know! :thumbsup:

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

Btw I love your bee shot. The vibrant colors really make it stick!

 

[90sShooter]

thanks! I really like the wings! You can barely tell but at full scale you can see they shimmer different colors... It may be a tad overexposed, but I like the effect.

 

[Reef Bass]

Having recently calibrated my monitors, I very much recommend doing so and recommend Spyder3 pro for doing it. Version 3 has a larger sensor on the colorimeter ("image sensor") than 2.

My opinions: Bee #1 too dark. Bee #2 too bright too yellow / orange / red. Both look too saturated. Leaf #1 too bright. Leaf #2 good. Maybe a touch saturated.

 

[Reef Bass]

And +1 for what Doug said about you being the final critic of your work.

After a brief period of being a saturation slider junkie, I've gone back to trying to be realistic or at least not boost global saturation more than +1 or 2. Sometimes knowing that the awesome colors that you see weren't at all boosted in post processing is a wonderful satisfaction (for me at least when shooting my own corals).

 

[Reef Bass]

And your contrast is sufficient, by the way. In case you were wondering. You needn't ride that slider any harder.

 

[Absolute Reef]

first picture may need a lil more dof, second one is fine.
they are both beautiful too me, may be the bee pic is a lillll too warm in color. that's all.

i believe that almost all digital images are intended for post processing.


beerguy, you are absolute right about that.

 

[90sShooter]

Here I toned it down a little...

 

[klepto]

looking great! I like your tone down. The first post ed bee shot looked a bit warm and over-saturated for my taste. - your changes remedied that!

The bee looked spot on though in the first! once you get comfortable on PS you could select the bee and create a layer. This way you can keep the saturation on the bee that the first shot has without affecting the surrounding leaves (the part that looks especially warm to me).

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

He is using Adobe Lightroom, not Adobe Photoshop.

 

[90sShooter]

I really like the final picture... I think it may be a tad "warm" but the colors POP where as the original (more realistic) colors are too blah..

I am happy with the final product...

 

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14178139#post14178139 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
He is using Adobe Lightroom, not Adobe Photoshop.

But he can do a similar thing. Experiment with using the targeted adjustment tool and painting vibrance and clarity on the areas that you want to pop. I'd also add a touch of post-crop vignetting to draw your eye to the subject.

 

[Reef Bass]

Very nice. Way to go!

 

[90sShooter]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14178371#post14178371 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beerguy
But he can do a similar thing. Experiment with using the targeted adjustment tool and painting vibrance and clarity on the areas that you want to pop. I'd also add a touch of post-crop vignetting to draw your eye to the subject.

What is post-crop vignetting?