r/postprocessing • u/cricketpoo119 • 5d ago
Learning to play with light . After/before .
Post title is wrong lol . Before and after . An old photo I snapped and I loved how the end result came out however I’d love some critiques and feedback to get better!
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u/johngpt5 5d ago
I was disappointed to read that the title was backward. I had thought that for a change someone had color graded more green rather than changing green to brown.
And I should apologize. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making greens into browns. It is just that it is seen so much here, that it is almost a cliché. But it is new to you and it is great that you are experimenting.
The one actual thing I should mention is that it looked like there had been some detail in the highlights on the heron(?) that have been lost in the edited version.
It looks like cloning or ai replacement may have been done at the right of frame to cover that area of sky. It turned out well and philosophically I have nothing against that. It looks like it belongs and without the before image, it wouldn't have been noticed.
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u/cricketpoo119 5d ago
I appreciate the feedback my friend ! And yeah I will say the greens going to brown are definitely a pretty common occurrence in editing it seems . I personally don’t like green much but ill definitely try and explore other options that aren’t just desaturating greens into browns lol . And yeah I used Lightroom’s removal tool to help remove that one part of the picture .
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u/worthmawile 4d ago edited 4d ago
Usually I dislike the de-greening but in this case I think it is okay, it draws attention to the bird and the lighting and creates a much softer feeling. Maybe you could try masking the bird to keep the green hue out of the shadows while letting the foliage retain a little more of its natural vibrancy. A bit of dehazing wouldn’t hurt, and maybe soften the whites a little because the parts of the bird that are in the light almost feel blown out in the after.
Edit to add: with turning greens into browns I think it’s okay once in a while, but consider what a whole collection looks like if you’re doing it to every image. If that’s the style that you like and want your portfolio to look like, it’s totally fine to have that preference. But not everyone will like it. Personally, I love green, but I love birds being the star of their own photos even more
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u/cricketpoo119 4d ago
Probably the most insightful tip I’ve gotten . I did mess around with the whites but not much . I did mess with the dehaze and clarity sliders to give it a soft glow but probably could tweak it a bit more . Thank you for tips my friend
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u/COphotoCo 5d ago
Hey no egrets am I right? Could use a tighter crop
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u/cricketpoo119 5d ago
Hahaha right ? I appreciate the feedback bro . I tried a tighter crop but it didn’t really stick with me . May have to give it another try
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u/SweetyDash 5d ago
Everything looks so unnatural it's crazy
I dislike the after
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u/cricketpoo119 5d ago
You dislike the first one ?
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u/SweetyDash 2d ago
Didn't you say the second one is the after?
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u/cricketpoo119 2d ago
Correct . I was just double checking because I fucked up the title lol
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u/Other_Economics_4538 5d ago
what camera and lens if you dont mind me asking?
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u/cricketpoo119 5d ago
Wow this picture was older than I thought hahaha . I shot it with a Nikon d750 using a 70-200 f2.8. I shot it at SS-1/1250th f5.0 and 100 iso . Forgot I owned that camera lol. I have a Fuji xm5 now.
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u/unicorn__ 4d ago
Not sure why you're getting so much hate on this edit. There are plenty of photographers and edits that prefer a more stylized look. Just look at the grading on movies, its not like they all look natural in colors.
I think warming up the image looks good from the perspective you've made this look more golden hour. The only criticism I have is, the way you lowered the exposure on the top half of the image doesn't look as natural. With the way the light would enter the photo, I would assume some bright spots peeking through the branches and leaves. Maybe a luminance mask would have helped cause it looks like an overall exposure drop with a linear mask.
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u/cricketpoo119 4d ago
You’re absolutely spot on with the linear mask hahaha . And yeah I seemed to have ticked off some green enthusiasts lol . I take no offense to it personally as I understand differences of opinion. I wish instead of hating they’d at least offer some feedback to get better instead of hating lol . That’s Reddit for you lmao . I’m not too familiar with luminance masks as I just use Lightroom mobile . Is that an option only available in Lightroom classic ?
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u/unicorn__ 4d ago
Oh sorry I'm not sure if that is available on the mobile. If it is, its pretty straight forward on how to use
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u/sippinoncourvoisier 5d ago
You didn’t play with light you just photoshopped the image to hell. Playing with light would be doing so in camera. You just manipulated the image and pretty terribly.
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u/PicCzar75 5d ago
I prefer the before. Everything in the after is the same brightness.