While going through the photos from Taiwan for yesterday’s monthly “throwback” post, I inevitably saw a couple of unedited photos that I liked enough to work on them and in this particular one, it was possible to show a few useful techniques in a very simple photograph, so I recorded a video of the process.
These techniques are:
- using the histogram to evaluate proper exposure (to then directly type in a +2 exposure correction, in the video)
- using the histogram to evaluate color (used in the video to identify the green-yellow color cast in the photo)
- applying lens distortion correction via a profile before straightening
- flipping an image (to change how we see it, which might be useful to identify distractions)
- zooming out all the way, to a “thumbnail” size (to more easily see and adjust areas of uneven brightness)
Here’s the video!
In addition to what I’m showing in the video, in the final-final edit (below) I gave the highlights a little push, via the Tone Curve too, and painstakingly removed the little twigs at the bottom center, using Photoshop. The latter of course took twice as long as making the entire video! 🤪 Last not least, I ran the file through Topaz DeNoise, because the photo was much grainier than I would have liked — a result of photographing hand-held at ISO 1000, of course: had I properly exposed this, noise would have been less of an issue.
On the other hand… with the exposure compensation of +2 that I applied, a proper exposure would have been at ISO 4000 then! Ideally, I should have used a tripod of course… but hey, sometimes this fancy new technology really is used for fixing our mistakes in the field on the computer. 😉
Bamboo forest in fog, Xi Tou, Nantou County, Taiwan; March 2013.
I hope you find the video useful and like the resulting photo.
I thought the concept of zooming out to look for lighting balance issues was a particularly unique and creative approach.
Thank you, Mark. It’s actually a result of printing my photos — viewed from a greater distance, I always noticed some uneven areas more easily in the prints. Luckily, zooming out works almost the same, and without having to make a print first… (reduces the number of test prints by one;-)
Very helpful, Alex. Your directions are always so clear. I see that I need to think about using the linear gradient tool more often than I do.
Glad if I can provide a little nudge, if you feel it’s useful. :) Thank you, Linda!