Standard photos always look so dull
- Thread starter PhantomDanStandard
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Well, yeah. If you lip sync at Karaokee.Ask Mariah how that post processing is working for her.
In all seriousness, having been a still photographer for a loooong time, one of the challenges is to get great shots straight out of the camera, so people know that they are seeing what you shot and saw, rather than something you created in Photoshop. It is a different world than our little drones, and helping them a bit is OK if you have the time. I assume you are not going to come back with 300 shots which all need some help.
If I take 300 shots that could benefit from processing, then I have no problem doing that. It's all just part of the process for me.
Ok, having been a still shooter for 40 years I can appreciate what you say about trying to get a great pic straight out of the camera.Well, yeah. If you lip sync at Karaokee.
In all seriousness, having been a still photographer for a loooong time, one of the challenges is to get great shots straight out of the camera, so people know that they are seeing what you shot and saw, rather than something you created in Photoshop. It is a different world than our little drones, and helping them a bit is OK if you have the time. I assume you are not going to come back with 300 shots which all need some help.
But we are limited by the drone, most flights are taken spur of the moment as conditions allow and therefore our stills and video are very much a case of grab what we can. Not helped by the limited flight time.
Oh and as for perfect out of the camera, there is not one single professional photograph that hasn't been post processed, either on the pc or in the darkroom. If you're shooting jpegs the camera will interpret what you took and process it, if you shoot raw and output jpegs that is also a false image. Don't forget your printer won't have the same gamut as the camera, so a print is different from what you saw. Of course straight out of the camera also means you can't add any filters to your lens, be they grads or nds as that is not what you saw when you took the shot.
Here are a couple I took today after I got out of work. Processed with Photomatix and a quick tough in Lightroom. I enjoy doing this so I am happy to spend the time doing it. This look may not be for everyone, but I love it. I have a whole collection of pictures taken with my camera like this, so excited to get to add some arial shots in this style too
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I too highly recommend Lightroom. Learning what the sliders do is a little time consuming but it is well worth the effort. I have been using it for a couple years to process photos taken with a Canon 5d MkII and it is incredible how much information is in a RAW file. That the Phantom can shoot RAW was a prerequisite for purchasing it.
A side benefit of processing RAW files is that you begin to understand digital photography very quickly and you will improve the quality of your shots, even with a spur of the moment "snapshot". You will have experienced firsthand that there is no substitute for a good shot to begin with and no amount of processing can fully overcome carelessness. You process a couple dozen bad shots and you'll pay more attention when you shoot, see your shots improve, and be a better photographer as a result.
Oh, yea, Lightroom can correct the distortion with the click of a button, it has the Phantom Camera lens characteristics in the list of profiles.
A side benefit of processing RAW files is that you begin to understand digital photography very quickly and you will improve the quality of your shots, even with a spur of the moment "snapshot". You will have experienced firsthand that there is no substitute for a good shot to begin with and no amount of processing can fully overcome carelessness. You process a couple dozen bad shots and you'll pay more attention when you shoot, see your shots improve, and be a better photographer as a result.
Oh, yea, Lightroom can correct the distortion with the click of a button, it has the Phantom Camera lens characteristics in the list of profiles.
Yeah, that IS cool. I like that what I call the "Postcard" look. Turns a "yeah, that's nice" into a "Wow, look at this!" shot.
Very nice. I love Photomatix and Lightroom. They really help those photos.
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Playing with the curves in PS gives this result. Took 2 minutes (that includes loading up CS6, editing, and saving!)
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there's a reason they call it 'magic hour' - middle of the day is the absolute WORST time to take pictures. early in the morning or dusk.
you cant just put the drone in the sky and expect the pictures to be awesome - tell us a story. Also, that shot is super grainy. What are you ISO settings?
Mine seems to work ok...
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I suggest using the filter that turns up the intensity of the Colors the camera captures. Works good for making images pop
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Good afternoon.
I took the liberties of opening one of the original photos used as an example into Photoshop Elements 9 as a Camera RAW and played with it for a bout 2 minutes. Whether this is the right color palette or not only the OP knows, but this is only the beginning of what can be done. Starting with an actual RAW file there is significantly more potential. Lightroom is more user friendly.
I took the liberties of opening one of the original photos used as an example into Photoshop Elements 9 as a Camera RAW and played with it for a bout 2 minutes. Whether this is the right color palette or not only the OP knows, but this is only the beginning of what can be done. Starting with an actual RAW file there is significantly more potential. Lightroom is more user friendly.
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a dull picture is the best lol . I know that seems weird but you dont want the camera on the drone to do any color grading for you. Pro photographers tend to set their cameras with the sharpness and saturation a bit low so that they can adjust it themselves in a controlled editing program. If the saturation is too high the picture will loss detail, same with over exposed. It is a rule of thumb (with dslr pictures) is to take dull, slightly under-exposed pictures...of course thats all a matter of opinion
Always under expose when you can. That way, you won't burn out and lose definition. You can always post process. Anyone who says that's not real photography hasn't really grasped modern digital photography. Film photographers would dodge and burn to suit during development, modern photog's are doing the same, but digitally. The only thing that is the same for old film photos and modern digital ones is the framing of the image..is it a good photo? Do we need to enhance it, can we use it as B&W, can we enhance the dynamic range....it's all subjective..
...and is an idiot as digital surpassed analog about ten years ago. Unless your an artist of some kind, there is kind of no reason to shoot film anymore.
Yes you can argue all day about it (and people will) but i used to be a die hard film shooter until a buddy of mine who was a pro sat me down and did an A/B test with two Nikon bodies and actually made enlargements. I was blown away at how good digital was - even then.
Hell, look at cel phone photos now. iPhone 7 pics are absolutely incredible....
There are many ways to tackle this. I can this in LR if I chose to. I processed the image to my liking and stopped there.
Goldenzrule. I don't have a drone yet (its being posted) but I use exactly the same method in creating still camera HDR's that you do for anything that is in motion eg; a moving locomotive with just the one shot taken by the camera. Thus I create 'pseudo-HDRs' by saving each RAW single-shot a number of times at various exposure settings, then HDR-it in Photmatix. But with 'static' subjects I prefer to take the braketted shots with the camera in RAW then import the set into Photomatix. With canon CR2 raws Photomatix witll auto-convert them. So does it also do Phantom DNGs? ie without having to first convert the DNG's to TIFF etc.
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This can be made better, I believe.
I would like to offer assistance here. I am using Photoshop Elements 15 and this picture could be beautiful. If you will send me the pic at [email protected], I'll clean it and send it back.
EASY to DO.
I see all the guys on here talk about Lightroom which looks great but what I saw online was a monthly 9.99. Is there any free software for windows?
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I use smart photo editor about 30.00 I think. sometimes you can find a coupon on line and save a few dollars.
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