Fastest way to better Photography, LEVELS tutorial

[PaulaD]

Scott. This thread is incredible. Thanks.

Paula

[Kevan]

Originally Posted by danelady

Great post Scott I REALLY appreciate all the time you are taking to help EVERYONE here.... I snipped out the tut because I wanted to comment on the end comments... I MISS MY 8 x 10 SLIDES (said for Kevan! Love ya hon, I used to call them that too!) LOL THey Are SO wonderful to look at, and the detail is TDF. If we weren't all in such a darn hurry I'd go back to my 4 x 5 in a HEARTBEAT. Oh and did I mention, TRY to find large format film any more.. sheesh!

Lynnie, I have thousands of "slides". Mostly the little ones. The picture on my avatar is from a slide. My dad had thousands. We were one of those slide show families. lol

My brother has some naked ones of my mother that we found after my parents died. Which is kind of weird.

[danelady]

I have a lot too, boxed up SOMEWHERE, haven't unpaked them since we moved here to FL... maybe i should dig them out!


Oh! And pics of Mom Naked??? NOT good for the slide shows LOL

Originally Posted by Kevan

Lynnie, I have thousands of "slides". Mostly the little ones. The picture on my avatar is from a slide. My dad had thousands. We were one of those slide show families. lol

My brother has some naked ones of my mother that we found after my parents died. Which is kind of weird.

[cghipp]

Originally Posted by CorvetteJuliet

I just found a histogram... in my NikonCapture Editor software. Really cool stuff! Thanks for explaing the hows and whys! Here's before and after photos! Thanks, ~Juliet

Hey - You can use the same "Levels" tool to selectively reduce the blue highlights, and use the Hue/Saturation tool (Image/Adjustments/Hue/Saturation) to lower the saturation. I have found that my digital camera oversaturates a lot of colors, especially reds. Of course I don't have your beads in front of me, but I thought this looked a little more natural:

[Tanner Studios]

Cghipp, well done. you cleaned those up nicely. Also you bring up another GREAT tool people should get to know. It's one of my top ten favorites. I don't use it on my beads, But I use it all the time on my portraits. This tool can be used in both categories. Editing and retouching.

I'll work up something to show everyone how to use it. But it's very easy, just play around. and you can figure it out.
Scott

[cghipp]

Thanks; I used to use Photoshop a lot. Now, just here and there. This is an excellent tutorial you've put together. I wanted to point out that YMMV from screen to screen and platform to platform. I worked on that photo at work on my PC and it looked perfect. Here at home, on my Mac, the "blue" photo looks less blue, and the final image actually looks a tad washed out to me!

In general, I have found that PC monitors are a little darker and more intense. When working on images for my web site on my Mac, I had to blow them out just a little so that they wouldn't look too dark on PC monitors.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

Wow, I FINALLY got around to reading this thread. Talk about an eye-opener! Can't wait to try it... I have a much of new beads to shoot. Thank you for sharing your years of experience, Scott! (I am going to have to try to make a duct-tape version of your camera-holder because that's the exact angle I need, and my tripod just won't do it for me.)

[dlsarmywife]

Scott, this was an amazing thread to read. I just deleted my photoshop, because it didn't make sense to me. But I may have to reinstall it now that some things make more sense! BTW I'mnot a lampwork artist but I do use them in my jewelry. Any tips on photographing pearls?

[SuzyQ]

Scott, you really should have this on your site. I refer so many people to this tutorial and you might as well be getting the hits

[ziggys]

Dear Scott, For a long time I have felt that taking good pictures was an art in itself (and it is) but that I could never learn it.
Well I am now up to Macros in this thread. And I am so amazed that I am able to understand what you are teaching and actually want to try it! It is rare when someone has so much expertice and can communicate it to others.
Woohoo!!! I'm pretty excited about it and now instead of the auto buttons I actually want to try and use things like levels and more!
What a great tutorial you have here.
Just wanted to let you know from someone who dreaded this for a long time.
Angela

[Melanie]

Okay... i don't have photoshop, i use iPhoto, i guess i need to get photoshop, but, Scott, i'd LOVE a critique and some suggestions on this photo... i did go into the sliders on iPhoto and mess around with the levels, just colors though, i didn't see any for black and white, hmmmm? anyway, what should i do to improve this? thanks so much, this is wonderful.

Melanie

[Tanner Studios]

Hi Melanie, First off Iphoto is not a photo-editing program. It a photo management program. You get photoshop elements at least it's inexpensive and with make your live a lot easer.

Now Remember, Your not working in B&W your working in color. But each color channel has a Black point and a white. That you need to set.

First here are a couple terms, you will need to understand.
BLACK POINT- the point where a color and or tone saturates to black.
WHITE POINT- the point where a color and or tone desaturates to white.
GRAY POINT- 50% gray. the point in the middle of black & white.
Histogram- don't freak out it's just a Bar chart.

As Far as your photo it's close. But heres what I would suggest.
Brighten it up, it's a tad dark.
Watch your focus. Your eye will have a hard time accepting the foreground beads being out of focus.
Third and this is just my pet peive. Don't light from bottom to top. It creates unnatural shadows. Notice the shadows in this photo. Much more comfortable on the eyes.





Hope this helps
Scott

[Melanie]

Scott, thanks so much for the advice! i never thought about the direction or angle of lighting... i pretty much take all my pictures outside, i need to get a real photo set up. that bracelet is gone, but i am going to work on another photo with your suggestions and post it for more feedback.... you're very generous to help all us goofballs who can't figure it out

Melanie

[Melanie]

okay, i tried doing some of the things you are talking about in the thread... what do you think? is this a better shot? i did a "full piece" shot and a close up (by cropping). thanks so much.

Melanie

[Melanie]

I tried to lighten it a bit. getting better?

here's both photos:

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Melanie

[Mustang Dawn]

I think you went a bit too bright. I did a quick tweek useing Photoshop Essentials 2.0 (ebay $20).

Dawn

[Tanner Studios]

Melanie, Dawns right. You went way to far, her tweak is right on. Notice when the contrast is right it will sharpen the image.

The photo of your new bracelet is much better. Notice how the shadows ground the product to the back ground.

However the photo is a little flat ( low contrast ). You need to increases the contrast and brighten it a little. Also your perspective is a little strange. I feel like I'm falling over the beads. Try shooting at a slight angle into the beads instead of straight down. Pretty much like you did on the first set you showed. Thats a nice angle.
Scott

[Melanie]

Thanks Dawn! Yours is definitely better! I am going to get photoshop! i will try reshooting the second pic (purple bracelet) with a little angle action and try to increase the contrast on it. I feel like i am getting better already with all this help!

Melanie

[Melanie]

Originally Posted by Melanie

okay, i tried doing some of the things you are talking about in the thread... what do you think? is this a better shot? i did a "full piece" shot and a close up (by cropping). thanks so much.

Melanie

Okay... i think i am getting it! and i promise to quit posting to this thread 24/7 like it is my personal training session! i think i got a little carried away with all the fabulous help! so here's two new shots of the purple bracelet that i feel are a big improvement. what do you think? thanks again!

melanie

[Mustang Dawn]

I think you are well on your way. Oh, BTW... Very nice beads

If you do buy adobe photoshop elements 2.0 Lori Greenburg has a wonderful "how too" use it. Here is the link http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/16432/483/

Plus, Scotts thread rocks with information to take you way beyond the simple tweek

Dawn

[Tanner Studios]

Melanie, Don't be silly. For me this thread is about helping my LE friends with their photography. I'm selfish, I want to look at great beads photographed well. So ask all the questions you have. And I will give all the answers I can.

Now about your new photos. What part of slight don't you understand. LOL
Just kidding. Your new photo show real improvement. But work in small changes. When I suggested that you change your angle. I meant slightly. If you want to shoot your beads straight down. Thats great thats how I shoot mine. All I meant was to shift your angle slightly in front of the beads. Instead of being directly over top or in your case slightly over the top.

I want you to go back and study a couple of photos. First look at the last photo I posted of my beads. Most people would think that I was shooting straight down. Now go back a page or two and study the photo of my set up. Notice the angle of the camera in relationship to the beads. Also notice the white card opposite the main light source. That is a fill card.

Your last photo ( and beads by the way ) is a very nice conceptual photo. But is it a good product photo. The secret of great product photography is combining the two. I will now let you think about what defines the two differant styles. Before I shed light on the answer.

The fastest way to great photography really is learning to see.

Until next time thing about what you what photography to do for you.
Scott

[Melanie]

Thanks Dawn and Scott... all the help is wonderful! Slight, what is that!?
I have a hard time making SMALL shifts in anything! but i am going to continue to practice AND i am going to get Photoshop for sure! that will make life easier. thanks so much for all the help... i am going to take some time today and take a lot of pictures and really try to think about good "product" photography... hmmm..... thanks for the challenge!

melanie

ps. thanks for the compliment on my beads, Dawn!

[Beckah]

Great tutorial!

[FourTailsLampwork]

Scott, I have a question. If I play with the levels enough to get the tones to where they accurately reflect the color of the whole bead, often all the colours look washed out, hazy, or greyed out. What am I doing wrong?

[gubnavnania]

Scott, I tried this tutorial.

Any advice on what I did so far?

Before


After

[Tanner Studios]

Mincot If your white and black points a set then its the grey point you need to address.
Yunita, Your on the right trak you need to shapen your photos. Push your white point more and bring down your grey point.

[T. Lady]

Hi Scott,
Just found this thread and have studied the first 2 pages for a couple days. I made my first attempts at levels on this photo, and what a difference! The details of the bead are amazing, as well as the true colors of the silk ribbon. Wish I could show the large version, without the byte limits. Thank you so much for this advice, and your comments on my progress so far will be much appreciated!
Raw photo is 1st, adjusted photo is 2nd.

[emoon]

Ok. Can I just say WOW? Great information Scott. I struggle with this every time I shoot. I play with levels all the time, but never really knew what I was doing! Sometimes i got it right and others...well, not so much. but now maybe I can work with understanding, a bit more!! I am preparing to reshoot all my Etsy photos, so this will be great! Thank you so much for sharing. Very generous!!

[ElementalsDesign]

After echoing Melodie's "Wow" all I have to say right now is "noooooooo" ..it can't possibly stop naowwwww!!!

Wait... stop... don't.. Scott! Don't stop.. puhleese don't stop!

What an amazing thread! (don't tell my faddah, an award winning photog for more than 60 years) but I had no success whatsoever when I'd ask him to teach me what I was doing wrong or how to fix it until <wikkidgrin> I finally figured out that if I just sent photos of my latest work.. he honestly couldn't help himself and would automatically list what I should have done!
(you know the old saying: "the cobbler's children run barefoot"? DEFinitely applies here! ;}

Scott.. I was thinking all the way through this thread that I wish I could have gotten him to talk to me about photos and especially digital photography the way you have and cannot help but commend you on how patiently you have conducted yourself as well throughout this entire thread! What an amazingly helpful and even beautifully crafted effort this represents all on it's own

Don't get me wrong, my dear Faddah recently began shooting again for fun.. (after having just recently turned 82yo, might I add) for galleries and also just had one of his photos inducted into the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. I am very proud of him even if he's not exactly the helpful warm and fuzzy type! (shameless plug for my dad) his name is Jack Bleich and he's been an award winning photog throughout several decades (when he wasn't working as what was, at the time he began, known as a "newsreel photographer for WGR news in upstate NY). If only he had the patience you've demonstrated here Scott.. I wouldn't be mourning the fact that this thread just sort of... ummm.. Left me hangin'?

(bet you hear that from all the girls ;} ..seriously though, thank you SO much for all the clearly put easily accessible information. I am sure I'll return here again and again as I finally begin to learn wtf it is I've been doing (right AND wrong) while attempting to learn to photograph my work!

Rachel the firekat

[Tanner Studios]

Just a bump for Those that could still benefit for this info.