Posted up a few days ago about getting my first dive camera, abeit a relatively cheap one. I don't really have any experience with Photoshop, so I looked at some of the tutorials I found in here and played with it a bit.
This is before and after photoshopping shots of a picture I took today. What do you all think?
May I post an edited copy of your photo for comparison?
Harshal
May 25th, 2007, 11:08 AM
Have you tried using underwater setting on your camera, if you have one? That helps with the light and compensates for the color loss.
SteveFass
May 25th, 2007, 11:18 AM
With something like this, after fixing the green tint and decreasing the sharpness and whatnot, I would cheat a little. I would decrease the distance between the two fish (not sure how much, maybe 1/2), and i would offset them more from the background --now you have green fish on a green background. And crop in tight.
Keep at this photo - I like it.
bmemike
May 25th, 2007, 02:30 PM
One thing that I'd try doing is to select just the fish and auto-levels on them to make them "pop". If you're good at adjusting the levels on your own, you may prefer this over the auto-levels (though they're _usually_ good in many situations).
You'd then want to adjust the levels of the background to have them stand out a bit less than the fish. The fish, of course, should be the focus of the piece, not the background so much.
Getting good with level adjustment is an important photoshop skill.
Good luck!
bluthundr
May 25th, 2007, 07:24 PM
May I post an edited copy of your photo for comparison?
Go for it!
I played with it a bit more last nite after looking at some more tutorials and downloading some macros. I think this is gonna be rather difficult for me as I'm pretty significantly color blind... :(
As for the rest of the advice, thank you - I'll try it out.
To answer someone's question: no, my camera doesn't have an underwater mode. I've been playing around with auto and manual modes, flash settings, iso, etc.
my shot (from the low res version in post 1, could be better with orig file).
http://malone-az.com/misc/pic_2243_3529%5b1%5d.jpg
undefined
May 25th, 2007, 08:27 PM
A little CS2 fun - nothing major. Sorry if I went overboard on saturation.
http://therives.net/sb_photos/snapshot_edited.jpg
60feet
May 25th, 2007, 09:27 PM
I'm new to PS2, but here's my attempt, including a bit of cropping and blurring of the background.
zahner
May 25th, 2007, 11:50 PM
i think fastmarc is closest to what the scene probably looked like. the others are too green or too blue IMHO
the background blur is a neat idea
my $.02
:D
Medic0506
May 26th, 2007, 12:15 AM
Kudos to you guys for being good with photoshop. :)
60feet
May 26th, 2007, 01:01 AM
i think fastmarc is closest to what the scene probably looked like. the others are too green or too blue IMHO
the background blur is a neat idea
my $.02
:D
I also think that fastmarc's rendition is nice. Unless it was at shallow depth and the environment exposed to lots of sunlight, however, then there would have been at least some green tint, and what the diver (and camera) actually saw probably was not that white. Anyway, not to take anything away from fastmarc; like I say, I like his version too. I decided to leave in just a tad of green to give it a feeling/hint of an underwater scene. The blurring of the background was because it seemed to me a bit distracting and detracting my attention from the two fish a bit if I didn't blur it. I'd be interested in seeing additional versions. Good thread.
AbyssalPlains
May 26th, 2007, 01:59 PM
With something like this, after fixing the green tint and decreasing the sharpness and whatnot, I would cheat a little. I would decrease the distance between the two fish (not sure how much, maybe 1/2), and i would offset them more from the background --now you have green fish on a green background. And crop in tight.
Keep at this photo - I like it. No offense, but if this attitude gets a way, we might as well stop taking underwater pictures, buy some slick prints of that glorious moment shot somebody else was lucky to get at some point and claim they are our own. I mean, come on, isn't the authenticity of how it really was something to cherish? If those fish were at the distance they were, than they should be pictured that way. Why "cheat a little" and show them as if they were kissing or giving mouth-to-mouth or something similar that has nothing to do with actual behavior. I think that's what distinguishes photography from, say, painting.
Most importantly, let's think about the consequences. Next time you see that awesome, once-in-a-lifetime shot, you'll think "Nice photoshopping." Is that what we want?
bluthundr
May 26th, 2007, 05:08 PM
No offense, but if this attitude gets a way, we might as well stop taking underwater pictures, buy some slick prints of that glorious moment shot somebody else was lucky to get at some point and claim they are our own. I mean, come on, isn't the authenticity of how it really was something to cherish? If those fish were at the distance they were, than they should be pictured that way. Why "cheat a little" and show them as if they were kissing or giving mouth-to-mouth or something similar that has nothing to do with actual behavior. I think that's what distinguishes photography from, say, painting.
Most importantly, let's think about the consequences. Next time you see that awesome, once-in-a-lifetime shot, you'll think "Nice photoshopping." Is that what we want?
I totally agree. Those two fish were sort of dancing around each other in a circle like that for about 5 minutes just a couple of feet away from me. It was really awesome to watch and meant that much more to be able to capture it on uh.... digifilm???
fairybasslet
May 26th, 2007, 08:03 PM
i think fastmarc is closest to what the scene probably looked like.
the background blur is a neat idea
my $.02
:D
I also like fastmarc's color and 60feet's blurring effect. I never thought to do that either.
SteveFass
May 26th, 2007, 08:36 PM
Why "cheat a little" and show them as if they were kissing or giving mouth-to-mouth or something similar that has nothing to do with actual behavior. I think that's what distinguishes photography from, say, painting.
.
This is an old argument so I don't expect to change anyone's mind, but here's my take. Why blur the background? Why are some photos a black and white? What about the decision how to crop or the color tone or even sharpness?
The point I'm trying to make is, you take a photo because there is something you want to communicate. The message could be anything - maybe an emotion or just to show something pretty. The job is to figure out what you want to communicate, snap the shutter, and then do your digital darkroom work.
To me ethically its all the same - composition, choosing the right equipment (e.g, lens to create the best depth of field, film or camera that has the right sharpness and color saturation), camera settings to create the effect you want, and photoshopping.
fairybasslet
May 26th, 2007, 10:06 PM
.
This is an old argument so I don't expect to change anyone's mind, but here's my take. Why blur the background? Why are some photos a black and white? What about the decision how to crop or the color tone or even sharpness?
The point I'm trying to make is, you take a photo because there is something you want to communicate. The message could be anything - maybe an emotion or just to show something pretty. The job is to figure out what you want to communicate, snap the shutter, and then do your digital darkroom work.
To me ethically its all the same - composition, choosing the right equipment (e.g, lens to create the best depth of field, film or camera that has the right sharpness and color saturation), camera settings to create the effect you want, and photoshopping.
I guess if you don't understand the difference between cleaning up an image and essentially altering the one captured on the memory card, then perhaps you never will. To take your idea futher, why not exhange one of the fish in the photo for a shark or octopus? An UW edition of the National Inquirer with faked photos.
alcina
May 26th, 2007, 10:58 PM
Whoa, Guys. Perhaps another debate on "what is too much manipulation" would be better served in it's own thread. Let's keep this one on the topic of ideas for photoshopping THIS particular image as that is what was asked for. Thanks!
