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wattersk
Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 5
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 Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:47 pm Post subject: Is there any hope? |
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| I shot a wedding yesterday in a church with terrible back light. Don't know my camera (Nikon D70) well enough to compensate for it. The couple is almost entirely blacked out, the windows behind them are very bright. Is there any hope of correcting these shots in Photoshop or Lightroom?[/img] |
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Sky115
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Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 73
Location: Montana, U.S.
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 6:04 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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| I think you'll have to show them... that a film camera or digital? |
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wattersk
Joined: 22 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 6:15 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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| Digital. Where could I upload them? |
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Johnathan
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Location: Belfast, Northen Ireland
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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| You can upload them to Photobucket |
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wattersk
Joined: 22 Jun 2008
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Johnathan
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Location: Belfast, Northen Ireland
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:51 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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Click on the image to view it at its original size
I messed around with it in Camera Raw and a little in Photoshop, it isn't great but it's seeable... lol. Try messing around with it a bit more in Photoshop and Camera Raw until you get something your are a bit more happy with. |
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stig
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Joined: 20 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:51 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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here is what i came up with,
its only a little bit better.
Click on the image to view it at its original size
i used the levels option, in photoshop.
how mush are you charging for those?  |
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Johnathan
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Location: Belfast, Northen Ireland
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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| :S Mine looks really washed out :S, I'll upload a new one later one, I have some important things to do right now. |
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Raven12388
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Joined: 06 Apr 2008
Posts: 375
Location: Liverpool, England
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 8:54 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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here i had a attempt i cant get it any better than that
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wattersk
Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:31 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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Is levels the best thing to use to try to correct this?
I'm not charging for these photos. I shot the wedding as a gift to the couple. Fortunately most of the 400 shots are good - or at least easily improved. I had difficulty in the church with the bad light and not being allowed to use a flash. Any suggestions for what settings I should have used?
And can anyone tell me why each shot, taken in quick succession without changing any settings, came out slightly different as far as exposure and focus? (Including those not in the church?) |
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Raven12388
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Joined: 06 Apr 2008
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Location: Liverpool, England
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| Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:43 am Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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| the only tip i can give ya for fixing them is layers of the image fixed and changing opacity with the original as the top layer at about 30 opacity for the fine detail |
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Medley
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| Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:11 am Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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| wattersk wrote: |
| Is levels the best thing to use to try to correct this? |
Lightness (or lack thereof) is only half the problem here. You are also going to have to contend with noise. In any digital image (before in-camera processing takes place) a full 50% of the total information (detail) in the image is going to be in the brightest stop. The second brightest will have 25% of the total information, the third 12.5%, and so on down the line. When you get to the darkest areas, it's pretty common to have less than 1.5% of the total information.
Those parts that are not detail are simply pixels of a certain color and brightness designed to maintain image continuity. When you lighten the shadows, these areas show up as noise, and become much more apparent.
This image was shot at ISO 500, which will introduce noise as well. Mind you, I'm not saying that that was the wrong ISO- a shutter speed of 30 at f4.1 tells me you probably needed it in the dark room, especially when you can't use a flash. Just be aware that there will probably be some noise associated with the ISO.
If I were you, I'd google Windows compatible noise plug-ins for CS3. There's bound to be a few trial versions you can download to help you out.
| wattersk wrote: |
Any suggestions for what settings I should have used?
And can anyone tell me why each shot, taken in quick succession without changing any settings, came out slightly different as far as exposure and focus? (Including those not in the church?) |
Your biggest mistake in this shot was using a Pattern metering mode. That lets the camera determine which of the metering dots to use for focus. You also used Auto exposure mode, which means that the camera set the shutter speed and aperture by that same spot. Center Weighted metering tells the camera to look at about 10% of the total image in the center of the frame and give it 75% of the priority in determining exposure. Spot metering takes a look at 1% of the frame (according to which "spot" you have active) and use that area exclusively to determine exposure.
Either of these would have improved the shot overall. Center Weighted would have maintained a better balance between the light background and dark subject, but the subject would probably still be darker than you wanted. Spot would have for good exposure of the subject, but sacrificed the light background, possibly blowing out the highlights.
There is no one right setting to use though. In situations like this, I personally prefer to use the Aperture Priority mode. Using as large an aperture (smallest f/ number) as possible means getting the fastest shutter speed for the conditions- important in low light. Then adjust the ISO to meet the needs of the shot. here are a few guidelines I use:
1/60 shutter speed: minimum for hand-held shots to avoid camera shake. Image stabilization can lower this though.
1/100 : typical shutter speed
1/250 : Minimum speed to stop human action.
Hope this helps you.
- Joe U. |
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Raven12388
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Location: Liverpool, England
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| Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:19 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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| the noise was a real problem for me when fixing it up i combatted it with a base layer that i used smart blur on and 100% opacity then all other layers are a low opacity but i could not remove all the noise with out using the tools and airbrushing the whole image im sure i could get it better that way but then it becomes a bigger job that settings and filters |
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wattersk
Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:12 pm Post subject: Re: Is there any hope? |
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Thank you Joe! And thanks to all for all the fixes. What a great forum!
Kimberly |
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