Bad color with storm lighting

[pderekh]

Not sure which way to go on this, I tried simply reducing the saturation like everything else I do, but there must be some tones becuase of the post-storm lighting that I'm not "seeing" correctly. Which colors do I need to adjust? saturation and/or hue?

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...d=836735&key=0

[nikos1]

Cant help, but thats a sweet shot, hope it gets in.

[cblaz]

It's almost as if I'm looking at the shot through a pair of orange-tinted glasses. You'll have to play around with both saturation and hue to make it look more natural.

- Chris

[troy12n]

I like it maybe lower the saturation, while you are at it, it needs some CCW rotation

[Joe the Photog]

It also needs a train.

[mumrar]

I hope you don't mind, but I had a bit of a play in CS4 to see what could be done. I didn't think the image needed rotating, but there was some lens distortion evident, which I had a go at sorting so lines were straighter. I then applied a green photo filter at about 30%, followed by a cooling filter at around 14% and reduced the vibrance by 8. This left some space for a levels adjustment before saving.

Doesn't mean you'll get on any better, I think it's a great shot as does my three year old who just asked 'Where's that?' I said 'It's a railway in another country' His reply 'we can go there to another country and Daddy take a photo like that' - If only I had as much confidence in my abilities as he does.

Hope I've not done wrong by editing and attatching, but I'd seen it done elsewhere.

[troy12n]

That looks worse

[Mgoldman]

Originally Posted by cblaz

It's almost as if I'm looking at the shot through a pair of orange-tinted glasses. You'll have to play around with both saturation and hue to make it look more natural.

- Chris

Absolutely. RP doesn't accept photos as such...
And a train is needed to make the shot work.

Or not, who knows.

PhotoID: 324959 Photograph © Tamás Rizsavi

/Mitch

[pderekh]

Tamas' photo has a red sky which adds tension,

PhotoID: 324959 Photograph © Tamás Rizsavi

mine is orange which is definetly working against me. He has more light reflecting off the rails than I do and more contrast in the sky.

[troy12n]

That photo is multiple shots obviously, but that's another story

[Mgoldman]

Paul - it doesn't look half bad and if a red sky with black clouds can get in, yours which appears more natural should.

One suggestion, however, is that you loose the opaqueness in the image.

Your blacks are not completely black - try adjusting the levels - use the eye dropper and create a completely black spot in the image - you'll even up with a better silhouette and a photo that appears sharper.

Another method would be to increase the gamma or reduce the offset if you have those filters. On the simple side, a boost of contrast would probably work as well.

Good luck!

/Mitch

[milwman]

Originally Posted by pderekh

Not sure which way to go on this, I tried simply reducing the saturation

Its flat, Needs contrast and more color. Make the darks dark, Was not so dark to get black but don't lighten the shadows in photoshop. I think it can get in if you can get as you seen it not as the camera seen it.

[bigbassloyd]

A quick contrast adjustment, and local contrast enhancement took care of it in my eyes.

Good luck with it. Signals don't need no stinkin train

Loyd L.

[WembYard]

Originally Posted by troy12n

That photo is multiple shots obviously, but that's another story

If you are referring to Tamas' photo, that has exif data attached which surely wouldn't be the case if it consisted of multiple exposures

[troy12n]

Originally Posted by WembYard

If you are referring to Tamas' photo, that has exif data attached which surely wouldn't be the case if it consisted of multiple exposures

I am aware it has exif information. I dont see how it could be accurate however. It says it's a 10 second exposure, dont see how. Maybe I am wrong.

[WembYard]

He was using a very high f stop and, though I am not familiar with that stretch of line, a Railjet train would probably be moving pretty quickly at that point, possibly up to 100mph.

[nikos1]

I dont see anything wrong with HDR if its done in a realistic way, the austrian sunset shot is a very cool photo, I personally dont care if he had to take several exposures, it might be impossible to get the streak and the sky in the same shot.
Since HDR is now apparently kosher, I will say that this is my one HDR shot in the database, my eyes saw bright orange units contrasting against some very dark storm clouds, my camera however saw a dark sky and some very dark units, or some bright units and a white sky. Luckily I managed to balance the camera on a bridge railing and take two exposures to get this, yeah nothing spectacular like alot of HDR shots but still shows how it can be used in a realistic way and the technique is not necessarily bad.

PhotoID: 328339 Photograph © Nikos Kavoori

[pderekh]

thanks for everyone's help!

PhotoID: 332085 Photograph © Paul Hoffmann