I had to apply numerous adjustment levels to bring around the best second shot, levels, curves, more levels and curves with areas masked out. Lots of masking in the shadow areas so I could push any lighter areas.
Archive of posts tagged Levels
Bat Ray Dive Day, Catalina
Another great dive day. I got some great photos of Bat Rays, one of my favorite subjects. I also got some great movies.
Strobeless again, Santa Barbara Island, 5-04
Okay this was such a great day and I love how these photos turned out. We had bright sun and great vis. No strobe on this session, I’d been using it for a while now and always wound up liking my results better after some simple photoshop work and no flash. So [...]
Catalina Island 9-03
…I fired off about 30 shots but only came up with about 4 usable photos. I was shooting only macro with my manual strobe loaded with my super-diffuser cap. The vis was terrible for this dive trip. We started west of Parson’s Landing then moved east to Parson’s itself and then on to two more dives at Emerald Bay…
More Manual Strobe Photos – Catalina Island 8-03
But I was really getting the hang of this manual strobe… I like the way the light was just falling off the subject and allowing lots of blue and green to show in the background. I also got a few shots of an Abalone I fed kelp to.. the way I light these shots still leaves plenty of room for my usual levels and curves adjustment layers.
Masking Adjustment Layers and When (not) to Sharpen — Mantis Shrimp Photo
Many times, if I’m getting my exposures right, and there is adequate lighting, i.e., I’m not too deep and the visibility is not too poor, the resulting photos will clean up nicely with a simple levels adjustment and maybe an added contrast curve. Then there are the other times when maybe the lighting was not [...]
Sheep Crab, Bat Ray, Lobster Photos, Catalina 4-03
These sheep crab photos are particularly cool. I also really like the Bat Ray 1 photo…my notes say the vis was not great but not bad. I think the photos, once photoshopped, turned out really good, so this tells you something about how much help photoshop really is.
Mantis Shrimp Photos, Catalina Island 3-03
I’ve seen some insanely laughable things on the web by so-called photoshop authorities where they actually sharpen the edges of the subject of a photo to make it “pop.” This is so Bass Ackwards it makes me cringe. Sharpening a digital photo is already a no-no, but sharpening the edges of a subject?
Catalina Island, Church Rock 12-02
Dive trip photos improved with photoshop levels and curves. Used “cheater curves” on worst photos to see affected levels adjustments then readjust or delete cheater curve. Used second targeted levels adjustment to further improve effects of poor lighting.
Santa Cruz Island 10-02
For these first several photo galleries it seems I tried every photoshop trick in the book, faux red filters, using the eyedropper tool, multiple small moves in levels. But for all the faux red filters and things I’ve tried, and all the “Madrake-y” stuff I’ve read about, I’m convinced that nothing beats a solid knowledge and careful application of levels and curves.
to the home of my underwater scuba photo galleries. Check out my photos and movies and see how and why I use software like Photoshop, Final Cut and Aftereffects to color correct my images and video clips.
