# pictures don't pop



## hombredelmar (Sep 11, 2014)

Hello all !

I have been shooting for a while and I believe I have some pretty powerful shots however they don’t POP, if you know what I mean


I have been spending lots of hours in PS and LR but cannot get any satisfaction…….yes, I  need your help, please!!!


Thank you in advance,

Homeberedelmar

p.s. I am attaching a file, an original file that i was trying to work on, would really appreciate if you show me some moves,  thanks again


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## 480sparky (Sep 11, 2014)

1. Straighten horizon.
2. Adjust black point. White point was fine.
3. Added slight S to Curve.
4. Increased saturation.
5. High-pass Sharpen.


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## snerd (Sep 11, 2014)

Leveled, upped exposure a tad, lowered highlights, upped shadow a bit and a little more black, clarity, vibrance, a little blue channel and orange channel, sharpened with LR controls.


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## LimePanda (Sep 11, 2014)

This is what I got after a quick 2 minute edit:

(edit) after looking at this some more I think It has too much blue tint, but hey like I said it was a 2 minute edit so if someone took the time I'm sure they could do something amazing with it


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## hombredelmar (Sep 11, 2014)

I liked the color ( blue) and the way it was sharped. 
Can you please tell me the steps?


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## hombredelmar (Sep 12, 2014)

480sparky said:


> 1. Straighten horizon.
> 2. Adjust black point. White point was fine.
> 3. Added slight S to Curve.
> 4. Increased saturation.
> 5. High-pass Sharpen.



thank you, i don't see much of a difference, the only thing i see is that it became darker


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## hombredelmar (Sep 12, 2014)

LimePanda said:


> This is what I got after a quick 2 minute edit:
> 
> (edit) after looking at this some more I think It has too much blue tint, but hey like I said it was a 2 minute edit so if someone took the time I'm sure they could do something amazing with it
> 
> ...



I liked the color ( blue) and the way it was sharped. 
Can you please tell me the steps?


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## 407370 (Sep 12, 2014)

softened the whole pic with a blurry layer and rubbed out round the head. Wanted to give more focus on the head.


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## LimePanda (Sep 12, 2014)

Sure although I will suggest some changes afterwards 

BASIC TAB

Temp -19
Tint no change

Exposure -0.12
Contrast +29

Highlights -100
Shadows +62
Whites +31
Blacks -31

Clarity +33
Vibrance +21
Saturation +5

DETAIL TAB

Sharpening 
Amount 68

Noise Reduction
Luminance 29

LENS CORRECTIONS TAB
Check remove chromatic aberrations. 

EFFECTS TAB
Post crop vignetting
Highlight priority
Amount -10


My suggestions would be:
Take the temp back to -12 
Under HSL Saturation Blue +35
Under HSL Luminance Blue -10


At the end of the day it's all down to personal preference so just experiment and have fun


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## hombredelmar (Sep 12, 2014)

Here is my version that i was not satisfied with, looks somehow like LimePanda's example
It took me at least 1 hr to complete


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## hombredelmar (Sep 12, 2014)

407370 said:


> View attachment 84165
> 
> softened the whole pic with a blurry layer and rubbed out round the head. Wanted to give more focus on the head.




I kind of like the blur but my goal was to bring up the colors to make it vivid yet realistic
Thanks 407370


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## hombredelmar (Sep 12, 2014)

and still, the picture, on all examples, looks like the one tourists take, eventually  i would want to add some more value to it, some corrective layers..
Thank you, all for your support !!!


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## snerd (Sep 12, 2014)

You can't edit a jpeg file as much as having the RAW file handy. The possibilities are much greater for us with the original raw file.


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## hombredelmar (Sep 12, 2014)

snerd said:


> You can't edit a jpeg file as much as having the RAW file handy. The possibilities are much greater for us with the original raw file.



Snerd, thats true, i would upload one RAW if the site would allow me to unless there are ways i don't know about


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## frommrstomommy (Sep 12, 2014)

I tanned his very white areas because they were distracting for some reason..


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## hombredelmar (Sep 12, 2014)

frommrstomommy said:


> I tanned his very white areas because they were distracting for some reason..



you did a really good job, how did you do it?
thanks


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## frommrstomommy (Sep 12, 2014)

highlights -100
shadows +40
clarity +31
vibrance +21

i brought the shadows up in tone curve and a few other little adjustments there

and i used a brush to paint in his tan lol

all in LR5


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## bianni (Sep 12, 2014)




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## 480sparky (Sep 12, 2014)

hombredelmar said:


> thank you, i don't see much of a difference, the only thing i see is that it became darker



A web-sized image doesn't have much data to work with in the first place.  A full-size JPEG would be much better.  A raw file would be nirvana.


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## timor (Sep 12, 2014)

Hm, let see, computers were supposed to make life easier ? O yeah... right... in the future !


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## hombredelmar (Sep 13, 2014)

bianni said:


> View attachment 84198



looks good, but LimePanda


480sparky said:


> A web-sized image doesn't have much data to work with in the first place.  A full-size JPEG would be much better.  A raw file would be nirvana.




agree


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## Alexr25 (Sep 14, 2014)

hombredelmar said:


> Hello all !
> 
> I have been spending lots of hours in PS and LR but cannot get any satisfaction……



Before spending hours in PS / LR spend some time looking at the photo. List its good points and bad points, then think about how you can bring out the good and nullify or hide the bad points.

Here are my thought processes as I looked at the photo, others may see it differently and see different strengths and weaknesses. 
1. The composition straight out of the camera leave something to be desired. There is a strong diagonal element in the picture but the framing does not bring it out. 

2. I like the big ripples of water around the subjects legs but they are being lost in the general murkiness of the water.

3. The reeds at the right of the photo add the diagonal composition but the effect lost because their colour is similar to the water. 

4. The bare background hills merge with the muddy water and do nothing to add interest. 

5. The featureless sky adds nothing to the interest of the photo.

My fixes are:
1. Crop the photo to bring out the diagonal composition.

2. 3. 4. Colour adds nothing to this photo so get rid of the colour and convert it to B&W. This will allow you to create contrast in the ripples and reeds while hiding the fact that the background hill are bare and boring.

5. Some people would photoshop in a new sky but I prefer to work with what the camera gave me so I just added a gradient filter to burn in the right hand corner of the sky.

This the final result.


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## Vince.1551 (Sep 14, 2014)

Sorry to say a snapshot is still a snapshot. Post can do little to 'pop' a snapshot unless you want to render it totally away from original shot. I would have selected a different lens with more shallow DOF and probably crop it the way Alexr25 did. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## 480sparky (Sep 14, 2014)

Alexr25 said:


> Before spending hours in PS / LR spend some time looking at the photo. List its good points and bad points, then think about how you can bring out the good and nullify or hide the bad points......
> This the final result.



After all that, the horizon is still crooked.


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## Alexr25 (Sep 14, 2014)

480sparky said:


> After all that, the horizon is still crooked.



Not unnecessarily. Only sky/water horizons are guaranteed to be level.  That is a land/water horizon and as such the angle presented to the viewer will depend on the configuration of the land. 
Actually I try it with a levelled horizon it put the fisherman at an un-natural angle.


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## 480sparky (Sep 14, 2014)

Alexr25 said:


> .............Actually I try it with a levelled horizon it put the fisherman at an un-natural angle.



The human body is rarely perfectly plumb, especially when it's in motion.


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## KmH (Sep 14, 2014)

'Pop' is all about the lighting, and only using direct sunlight (at any time of day) pretty much kills any chance of a photo having any 'pop'.


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## Holejee (Sep 14, 2014)

Try a hotter model...lol


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## Pejacre (Sep 14, 2014)

Another attempt at an artificial pop injection


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## hombredelmar (Sep 15, 2014)

Alexr25 said:


> Before spending hours in PS / LR spend some time looking at the photo. List its good points and bad points, then think about how you can bring out the good and nullify or hide the bad points.
> 
> Here are my thought processes as I looked at the photo, others may see it differently and see different strengths and weaknesses.
> 1. The composition straight out of the camera leave something to be desired. There is a strong diagonal element in the picture but the framing does not bring it out.
> ...


 
Alexr25, first of all thank you for your time and detailed aswer, I do agree with all your points, about the color , crop and the diagonal composition which i never thought about so thank you for your deep thought, i will try to learn from you comment
Thank you again


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## hombredelmar (Sep 15, 2014)

Vince.1551 said:


> Sorry to say a snapshot is still a snapshot. Post can do little to 'pop' a snapshot unless you want to render it totally away from original shot. I would have selected a different lens with more shallow DOF and probably crop it the way Alexr25 did.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 
Vince. 1551, i dont agree with you about the power of post but i heard you.
Thanks!!!


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## hombredelmar (Sep 15, 2014)

Holejee said:


> Try a hotter model...lol


 
I hear you, woring with what i have
Thanks for your comment


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## hombredelmar (Sep 19, 2014)




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## mcap1972 (Sep 21, 2014)

The quality is not so great. What camera/lens do you use?


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## Village Idiot (Sep 22, 2014)

You'll have to excuse my lack of photo shop since I'm at work, but I have another suitable program to edit your photo with simply called: Paint.

First of all, I didn't appreciate you posting a half naked photo without labeling the thread not safe for work. Nudity is not tolerated at work, so photos like this can get me in trouble and if I want to look at naked pictures at work, I have to do it on my phone. So to rectify that outstanding issue, I gave the fellow some more clothes. Once that was done, I decided that your photo was suffering from lack of clouds and added some. I used the spray paint tool to capture a more realistic look of nice white fluffy clouds. After that, I noticed a lack of birds soaring majestically through the heavans so I used the curved line tool to add a flock. They're ravens. Majestic awesome ravens. From there I thought it was silly for this man to be doing what is apparently some ill fated attempt at fishing in a location that obviously didn't have any fish present. He doesn't even have a pole! So with the help of the curved line and straight line tool I added a blue hued transparent fish leaping from the waters to show that this chap was not putting in an unecessary effort for fishing where there are not fish.

I believe my edit of your photo makes it pop and makes it a much better and much more interesting photo than the plain, dull, lifeless original. If you would like to learn how to successfully edit a photo such as this in my unique art style, just let me know and we can set up an online tutoring session. Your photos will end up looking just as amazing as mine!


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## hombredelmar (Sep 22, 2014)

mcap1972 said:


> The quality is not so great. What camera/lens do you use?


 
I used Canon Mark 3 with 24-105 canon, f4.
The file i posed was a JPEG, probably even more compressed while uploading , but i shoot RAW


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## hombredelmar (Sep 22, 2014)

Village Idiot said:


> You'll have to excuse my lack of photo shop since I'm at work, but I have another suitable program to edit your photo with simply called: Paint.
> 
> First of all, I didn't appreciate you posting a half naked photo without labeling the thread not safe for work. Nudity is not tolerated at work, so photos like this can get me in trouble and if I want to look at naked pictures at work, I have to do it on my phone. So to rectify that outstanding issue, I gave the fellow some more clothes. Once that was done, I decided that your photo was suffering from lack of clouds and added some. I used the spray paint tool to capture a more realistic look of nice white fluffy clouds. After that, I noticed a lack of birds soaring majestically through the heavans so I used the curved line tool to add a flock. They're ravens. Majestic awesome ravens. From there I thought it was silly for this man to be doing what is apparently some ill fated attempt at fishing in a location that obviously didn't have any fish present. He doesn't even have a pole! So with the help of the curved line and straight line tool I added a blue hued transparent fish leaping from the waters to show that this chap was not putting in an unecessary effort for fishing where there are not fish.
> 
> I believe my edit of your photo makes it pop and makes it a much better and much more interesting photo than the plain, dull, lifeless original. If you would like to learn how to successfully edit a photo such as this in my unique art style, just let me know and we can set up an online tutoring session. Your photos will end up looking just as amazing as mine!


 
I would like to thank you for your time and will to share your vision and postproduction skills.
I do agree that the shot is “empty” and would benefit from more actions around the main character without pulling viewers focus away, however had to work with what I had.
Thank you once again!!!


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## CameraClicker (Oct 15, 2014)

Well, I'm way late, but here is another edit.


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## hombredelmar (Oct 15, 2014)

CameraClicker said:


> Well, I'm way late, but here is another edit.
> View attachment 86871


 
Hello CameraClicker!
This is never too late.  I have never worked on that file since I was getting a lot of good reponses so I wanted to think it over once again before I start work on the file. At one point I have desided that I will make it a B&W since there are not a lot of color to show but then when I looked again  I was no longer sure.  You know in most cases people turn the picture into b&w just to hide the lock of skills with color correction. I am sure you know what I am talking about
I don’t have my original file in front of me but I think that you made an underarm darker and you changed depth of field making it a bit blurry.
In any case thank  you for stopping by and letting me see another option of my file


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## CameraClicker (Oct 15, 2014)

The underarm may be darker as a result of adjustments, but was not specifically darkened.  I painted the bright skin with a darker tone, and did a graduated blur.  I also sharpened the areas with a lot of the net to make it stand out more.

B&W works well for strong graphics and good light.  I'm not sure this photo is a candidate.


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## fotomonkey (Oct 15, 2014)

Better late than never I always say.

It sounds like you're trying to take a picture that doesn't say much and make it interesting after the fact. This can be challenging, but if done properly, the viewer will never know it was fabricated.

Steps
1. Straightened horizon.
2. Adjusted color.
3. Asked Godzilla to make a cameo.
4. Ate some Mexican food.


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## Aakajx (Oct 18, 2014)

Sparky I like your edit the most


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## hombredelmar (Oct 19, 2014)

fotomonkey said:


> Better late than never I always say.
> 
> It sounds like you're trying to take a picture that doesn't say much and make it interesting after the fact. This can be challenging, but if done properly, the viewer will never know it was fabricated.
> 
> ...


 

thats amazing


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## fotomonkey (Oct 19, 2014)

Don't you mean, "That's exactly what it looked like when I took it!"?


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## hombredelmar (Oct 19, 2014)

fotomonkey said:


> Don't you mean, "That's exactly what it looked like when I took it!"?



I thought that you are only postproduction genius but you are also a mind reader


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## fotomonkey (Oct 19, 2014)

Don't let anyone else know. It's a secret.


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## AlanKlein (Oct 19, 2014)

hombredelmar said:


> and still, the picture, on all examples, looks like the one tourists take, eventually  i would want to add some more value to it, some corrective layers..
> Thank you, all for your support !!!


Your right about the tourists.  Forget layers.  Nothing's going to help it.   So many people here tried but it doesn't work. Lighting is flat;  shoot during the magic hour.  The perspective is flat.  Change your position.  Shoot from below with a wide angle lens.  Or maybe from front of him.  Wait until he catches fish and they are flopping around in the net.  That would add some interest. There's nothing exciting about an empty net or no action..  Or maybe shoot him while he's throwing the net.  Also the blob of net blocking his left arm looks weird.   Shoot with small f stop to blur the background.  Tell the fisherman to change his work clothes.  He looks like he's a bather from Coney Island, Brooklyn.  

Keep in mind that Photoshop usually cannot save a bad shot.  Consider this a good learning experience.  Good luck .


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## bribrius (Oct 20, 2014)

popping is over rated


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## astroNikon (Oct 20, 2014)

I've seen this thread since it's inception.

I'd have to ask why the OP thinks this is a "powerful shot"


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## hombredelmar (Oct 20, 2014)

fotomonkey said:


> Don't let anyone else know. It's a secret.


 
u got it


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## hombredelmar (Oct 20, 2014)

bribrius said:


> popping is over rated


 
 i hear you, thanks


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## hombredelmar (Oct 20, 2014)

astroNikon said:


> I've seen this thread since it's inception.
> 
> I'd have to ask why the OP thinks this is a "powerful shot"


 
I never thought that it was a powerful shot otherwise I would not post it here for a discussion. I knew that the shot was more than NOT perfect however I wanted to see it with somebody else’s eyes. I know the person captured in this shot and knowing the person I assumed that he would like to have it so I was looking for ways and ideas to improve this NOT perfect shot.


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## bribrius (Oct 20, 2014)

powerful is over rated


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## Vautrin (Oct 21, 2014)

First off, it's easiest to get things right in camera.  However, even if you take the best shot possible, you might need to make some adjustments.

The best thing you can do to learn how to do post is to just mess around.

Open the image in Photoshop (or your favorite program).  Start playing with sliders.  Move contrast.  Move histograms.  Move up the white point.  Just keep messing with things.

Then start googling what you're doing.  There's a ton of youtube photoshop tutorials.

And play with filters (try out some software packages like Nik software).

At that point you'll have your answer.  Because instead of asking vague questions online like "my photo needs umpf" or "help me give my photo some more baddahbing" you'll speak the language.

So you'll say, "Oh, I need some more contrast.  Or I need to make the water bluer (better adjust saturation)".


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## hombredelmar (Oct 21, 2014)

Vautrin your point is well taken and I do apologies if I did not formulate my question right and stuff. However, as I stated in my previous post, ” I never thought that it was a powerful shot otherwise I would not post it here for a discussion. I knew that the shot was more than NOT perfect however I wanted to see it with somebody else’s eyes. I know the person captured in this shot and knowing the person I assumed that he would like to have it so I was looking for ways and ideas to improve this NOT perfect shot. “
Thank you once again !


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## Forkie (Oct 21, 2014)

This is my go.


Straightened horizon
Duplicate layer
Apply camera raw filter - Clarity to max, highlights to minimum, Vibrance to minus 25
reduce opacity of camera raw filter to 40-ish%
new layer, gradient to the corners, blend mode: soft light
reduced vibrance of whole picture, then masked the man back
Added blue gradient to sky to bring back the blue using a blue gradient layer and using blend mode: Overlay, then reduced opacity of gradient to 50%


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## Vautrin (Oct 24, 2014)

hombredelmar said:


> Vautrin your point is well taken and I do apologies if I did not formulate my question right and stuff. However, as I stated in my previous post, ” I never thought that it was a powerful shot otherwise I would not post it here for a discussion. I knew that the shot was more than NOT perfect however I wanted to see it with somebody else’s eyes. I know the person captured in this shot and knowing the person I assumed that he would like to have it so I was looking for ways and ideas to improve this NOT perfect shot. “
> Thank you once again !


Sure.  But let's think of all the ways you could make this more powerful:

Shoot from a different angle...  lots of options here.  Shoot from in front, from water level up?  From up top pulling down?
Use a polarizer on camera
Shoot at a different time of day
Black and white?  With filter (applied in software)?
High Contrast?
Shoot at a shallower depth of field so he's in focus but background isn't?
etc.
So there are a million ways to make a great shot.  Maybe I would have shot water level.  Maybe someone else would shoot into the sun so you just see a shadow pulling a fish out of the water.  etc.

Play around with it.  Shoot from all different angles, see which is best.  Try different settings.

Then at some point, when you look at a scene, you'll know how YOU would shoot it in YOUR style.

Good luck!


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