dull digital pictures

[hrosell]

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LouisB,

You will want to try the advices given in this thread, they are good and they work. But you might also try some more sofisticated tools in conjunction with PS CS2 (or CS), which by the way are also a bit more difficult to aprehend – I mean, there IS a learning curve and experimentation for best results, but there are suggestions that if followed will give you very nice results almost immediately.

Try taking the plunge into Reindeer Graphics Optipx 3.1 ; if you search for Reindeer Graphics web page there is a demo version of Optipix 3.0 which will last for one week.

Good luck, regards,

Horacio

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[bradreiman]

i find that "levels", in either photoshop or aperture, works great. try to get your white point to 255 and black point to 0......b

[stunsworth]

Ade's recommended method (which, by the way, was invented by Thomas Knoll, the inventor of Photoshop!) is the trick for sure...those of us who have been doing digital for a while now have pretty much all found this and swear by it!

 

I'd say to use Amount 10% to 20%, not just a flat 20% as the article recommends.

.

I use 15%, 55, 1 to get a similar effect. It can really make a difference especially on a image that's going to be displayed in a web browser.

[biglouis]

Thanks to all posters for their advice, which is most helpful. I had stumbled on the unsharp mask myself a little while back but the precise information on settings has been very useful as have the links to recommended software.

 

Many thanks again

 

LouisB

[wda]

LouisB, I use a D2 shooting raw and processing in CS2. I use an action to convert to Adobe RGB 1998 which is my workspace. I only convert to 'save for web' when I post a picture. That tends to flatten it a little bit. (See 'Blackberries' in Nature and Wildlife as a recent example).

 

Also make sure your monitor is calibrated. That makes a subtle difference and gives you a more accurate idea of your true results.

 

I used levels in the beginning but now find curves gives so much more control. But it does call for practice; the more you experiment the better you become.

 

David