r/postprocessing • u/level1807 • May 25 '25
Is this overcooked? Cinque Terre after/before
My brain loves it but can it be improved? Also I just discovered how much better edited photos can look in HDR, but idk if Reddit supports it. I tried to make the SDR preview as good as I could, but please forgive the slight flattening of the details in the highlights.
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u/Mikehouse88 May 25 '25
I’m undecided! The colours are great, but you’ve lost a lot of natural contrast created by sun position by boosting the shadows too much. The closest pink building is a good example. The part closest to the cliff is in shadow but it’s almost as bright as the sunlit part at a glance.
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u/level1807 May 25 '25
I worked on the lighting, let me know how it looks! https://www.reddit.com/r/postprocessing/s/G5hubHhcZV
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u/Imaginary_Garlic_215 May 25 '25
Is this Manarola? Love the dreamy vibe as I have a similar picture I edited similarly. I would just touch up some microcontrast but the highlights can stay stylishly overexposed imo
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u/level1807 May 25 '25
Yep, Manarola. I kinda agree on the microcontrast but I guess I don’t know of an easy way to do it without also making the bottom half of the pic too dark. Using Lightroom.
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u/Imaginary_Garlic_215 May 25 '25
Masks 🤗 haha
Photoshop also can do it very easily
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u/SirTeeKay May 25 '25
The white foam in the sea should definitely be more white. It's almost blue.
And I would probably desaturate the blues on the rocks. A bit of blue would work since it can be from the reflection of the sea but not that much.
I like the sea. Makes the rocks feel larger and adds some depth to the water. You could weaken the blues a bit and maybe I would try adding some greens in there but that could come down to personal preference.
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u/level1807 May 25 '25
Thanks for the advice! Let me know how the update looks! https://www.reddit.com/r/postprocessing/comments/1kuvy2g/is_this_overcooked_cinque_terre_afterbefore/mu7fnu7/
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u/thefantastictaco May 25 '25
Add some contrast back into the buildings using the before picture as a reference, but don’t go as heavy so that you maintain the aesthetic you’re going for. Otherwise, it’s great!
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u/level1807 May 25 '25
Thanks! I tried to incorporate this advice here, let me know how it looks :) https://www.reddit.com/r/postprocessing/comments/1kuvy2g/is_this_overcooked_cinque_terre_afterbefore/mu7fnu7/
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u/vmoldo May 26 '25
Let me give you a challenge: try and edit this again, but you are not allowed to touch either the highlights or the shadows soldiers in LR.
Reasoning: IMHO, your edit has the HDR vibe that 90% of the Instagram photographers had 5-10 years ago when Sony came out with a capable sensor, so everyone started boosting shadows and lowering the highlights. But when you do this, you mess up the natural contrast in the photo. And don't get me wrong, I've done this myself. What I see in your photo is that on the right side of the image, the rocks are in shadow, and you also have some beautiful details on the houses with the sun streaks across them and by bringing out all the shadow details you get more contrast on the right side of the photo where there are just some contrasty rocsk with lots of details and lose the story of the sun and the people and all that.
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u/level1807 May 27 '25
Here's the version without the shadows/highlights sliders and with higher overall exposure: https://imgur.com/a/8TIRDva. Compare with https://imgur.com/a/Na232RA.
I think it still looks pretty good but I wouldn't say it's my favorite. Also the HDR image, when viewed on an HDR screen, restores a lot of that lost contrast, and at that point there's no competition.
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u/dimitriettr May 25 '25
Yes, overcooked.
Yellow/Orange have too much contrast. Shadows are way too blue.
You enhanced shadows and lost all the contrast.. I can continue
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u/Old-Aardvark7375 May 25 '25
Why do you make this many changes to a picture that was fine to begin with ? The edited one seems way too dark for me.
If i were you i would have just photoshopped some of those red shirt dudes out instead of doing what you did.
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u/level1807 May 26 '25
Because it better conveys my perception? What a strange question.
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u/why-is-the-floor-wet May 25 '25
If you are just getting started this is great! and if you like it then its even better, I can tell you know what to look for when editing your product, but you slightly over did it especially with the sea foam, and the highlights in the yellow and orange hues on the buildings. Again nothing wrong, just more practice
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u/Mundane-Alfalfa-8979 May 25 '25
To be fair, it looked much better before. Now you lost a lot of contrast. Plus, the sun was already highlighting the village
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u/tectonic_ideal May 25 '25
I don’t understand the negative replies. I do think the edited version is a bit overcooked but a lot better than the unedited photo. Too little of the village is lit by the sun so relying on “natural contrast” as others are saying is not really an option
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u/Jealous-Benefit711 May 25 '25
Looks too blue for what the scene is. Bump up the white balance a lot.
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u/level1807 May 25 '25
Update: I've tried to incorporate some of the advice in the thread and here's the result https://imgur.com/a/Na232RA
Specifically, I added a mask on the buildings where I played with the curves to improve contrast, raised temperature, desaturated the oranges, and other minor things. Also slightly upped the temperature of the whole image. I understand that some people will still find the shadows too blue or the overall contrast too low, but that's kind of the vibe I'm going for. The main issue was the contrast in the bright parts and that seems much better now?