Bad pictures. Bad, bad pictures. Go to…………….Photoshop?
Slowly but surely I’m having fun going through my bad picture folders to salvage any pictures that might actually be salvageable. Sometimes it requires some critical and creative thinking to visualize if I might ever be able to make something out of the picture. If my final answer is a big, fat ”NO!” then I’ll delete the picture. Sometimes I have duplicates and I simply pick the best duplicate and delete the others. Sometimes I get to really put Photoshop CS6 to task, such as in the pictures below. Remember, these are all salvaged pictures.
The picture is of the woodpecker featured in yesterday’s post (We’re moving in). The second picture is a great picture of the woodpeckers’ nest in the flower stalk of a century plant.
Various birds from my early birding adventures this past January:
Dogs always capture my attention:
Remember, these were all bad pictures, bad bad pictures that I was prepared to throw away if I couldn’t make something out of them. Let’s hear it for Photoshop:
Give me a P.
P!
Give me an H.
H!
Give me an O.
O!
Give me a T.
T!
Give me another O!
O!
Give me an S.
S!
Give me an H.
H!
Give me another O!
O
Give me a P!
P!
What does it spell?
I have no idea. That word was so long that I’ve forgotten the early letters.
For every picture, here are the steps I took:
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Adjust overall exposure, usually lighter.
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Adjust overall shadows, usually lighter.
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Crop to 1000 pixels on long side.
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Clone out offending objects — people parts, tree parts, etc.
-
Adjust overall contrast.
-
Use layers and masks to adjust shadows and contrast in specific areas.
-
Sharpen (I forgot to sharpen a couple of the pictures; you might be able to determine which ones.)
Note: Photography researchers seem to believe (probably based on research……lol) that most people prefer sharp, high contrast pictures. Once you believe that — and I do! — make contrast and sharpen adjustments the last thing you do to a picture. Otherwise you could have some unexpected results that clearly show what you’ve been up to in your photoshopping.
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Posted on September 24, 2012, in Adobe, Birds, Digital photo editing, Fauna, How I Did It, Mother & Father Nature, Photos and tagged adobe photoshop editing, bird pictures, dog pictures. Bookmark the permalink. 25 Comments.
Lovely photos
Digital photography has a great advantage over analog in a way that you can edit your photograph any way you want with help of a computer and an editor such as PS. You just shoot the picture and do the composing etc at home! Viola! Your discarded photos are just jewels in the raw, they just need polishing! Those photos are such jewels, superior to many I’ve seen before. Good work Russ, just don’t over do it.
You’ll let me know if I start to overdo it?
I could just offer a tip to make an improvement, just as a suggestion not as a disapproval. In matters of art, colors and subjects is very hard to judge. We’ll see Ok?
I don’t understand.
You could start at auction for your discarded photos: “The Seconds’ Sale.”
lol
I was hoping for a “before and after” so we could see just how magical you are with photoshop.
I thought about that but then decided no. Every time I do that someone says, “Well, I like the original better.” As Edgar Degas said a hundred years ago, “Art is not what the artist sees but what the artist wants you to see.” I didn’t want you to see the originals……………lol
I have figured out that I have become a hoarder of digital photos – even the bad ones I keep because it represents a moment!!!! I have got to let go…..thanks for the post…
That’s exactly why I keep them, for the moment. It’s even hard to delete the duplicates because they are not really duplicates. In one the wind twisted a branch differently………..lol
Thank you!! I have found a kindred spirit!!!
Culling out pics is the hardest thing I do after a shoot! I’m a pic pack rat.
Pic pac rat. I like that. We’ll call it PPR for short……lol
You have more willpower than I, discarding the duplicates and those not up to par (b/c we might be able to save them in a later version of PS). And I’m sure you need fewer external hard drives.
I currently have three computers with a total of six internal hard drives totaling 12 GB, and eight external hard drive totaling 4 TB. Storage is cheap, and there’s never enough!……..lol
Give me an R
Give me a U
Give me an S
You get the picture?
I thought I got the picture but for some reason it wouldn’t download from my camera and Photoshop can’t find it either……….lol
My hero!
Blue eyed pup.
Thanks for this interesting PHOTOSHOP-lesson!
Can’t believe these were “bad” pictures…they certainly aren’t “bad” now!
The birds nest atop the light pole is my favorite. Looks like Zoey is intent on your work, Russel.
Blessings ~ Maxi
I can’t imagine you ever taking a bad photo. Zoey has the sweetest face! hugs
I didn’t saw a bad picture