dbarc Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 How useless are weather forecasts? The met office promised me sun but when i got on site a few hours later, it was the dullest most dreary day imaginable. I now have four photos that already make you want to kill yourself, to which I'm adding a power station. Does anyone have any tips for turning photos taken in dull weather into sunny ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianKitts Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 i would cut in a new sky, and then bump up your saturation and contrast levels for yellow channels, and drop the levels on your blue channels. This of course is generic for I have no clue what you're working with.... possible you could upload a sample? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 i would cut in a new sky, and then bump up your saturation and contrast levels for yellow channels, and drop the levels on your blue channels. This of course is generic for I have no clue what you're working with.... possible you could upload a sample? Yes, saturation! Actually, start with 'brightness and contrast', as it will pump saturation on its own, then add sat. as needed. You can paint on areas of warm and cool with a brush set to 'soft light' mode, or 'overlay' (that one can be a bit strong). Post something so we can see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilky9 Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 edit: Nevermind, didn't really apply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 I think WDA did a nice video tutorial about something like that once. Now if we could just find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 Ahh, here it is. Look to his post in the middle of the page with an .avi link. http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8347&page=2&highlight=tutorial Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaunDon Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 Don't forget the awesomeness of Photoshop blending modes! Copy the image on top of itself a couple times and set each to a different blend -- screen, overlay, etc. -- then adjust the layer opacities till you get the look you want. And don't forget to try adjusting the levels on the blend layers to fine tune. A lot can be done this way to enhance an otherwise boring photo. Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbarc Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 Post something so we can see... Here's some low res versions of the beauties. As you will also see, they're a bit soft. Given it was going to be sunny, I thought handheld would be ok. Despite living in England all my life I'm still hopelessly overoptimistic about the weather... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 Those are a lot better than the one I had to work with about a year ago. I used most of the tips suggested here, but I don't think I noticed anyone mentioning what I think is pretty obvious, and that is adjusting the levels and curves of the image... (edit)Oops, my bad... Shaun mentioned levels. I posted the before and after of the above mentioned project. Replacing the sky and adding in more background, from a completely different scene helped out most I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbarc Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 Thanks for the feedback so far chaps and for the link to WDA's tutorial. Cheers Tim. I've had a play around and am much more confident these photos can be rescued. Getting into each of the channels gives you alot of a control - I don't know why I've overlooked it for the master RGB control in the past. Has anyone tried using gradients to lift an image? I'm thinking of the filters you put over lenses which seem to work amazingly well for something so crude in photography and filming. Wondering if the idea could work in photoshop.. I'll post some updates when I come back off tomorrow's shoot. It's supposed to be rubbish all day so presumably it will be gorgeous.. That would only be fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 I've had a play around and am much more confident these photos can be rescued. Has anyone tried using gradients to lift an image? I'm thinking of the filters you put over lenses Your pictures have lots of promise. A sunny day will get you great contrast, but shadows that yield no information, just black. With your shots you have a lot to work with. Yes, it will require a bit more time to punch them up, but you are an illustrator, so act like one, damn it! Suck it up! Where's the work ethic gone? Blame it on the weather, will you? OK, sorry. Sure, you can lay a filter (like in photography) on an image. I do it on almost every rendering. Make a new layer, set it's mode to something like multiply, linear burn or color, then put in a gradient. Lower the layer strength and play around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbarc Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 Yes, it will require a bit more time to punch them up, but you are an illustrator, so act like one, damn it! Suck it up! Where's the work ethic gone? Blame it on the weather, will you? I just produced 5 animations in 3 weeks so I'm afraid so - work ethic is totally on hold until after Christmas. I want good weather and easy solutions at least until the 2nd of January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbarc Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 Brian, thanks for posting those. You've done a great job turning the image around but I'd still say the foreground looks like a photo taken on an overcast day. It doesn't matter in the context of your image because the forshortening and amount of ground covered between foreground and background means different layers of weather appear perfectly natural. The majority of photomontages which have been tweaked look positively uncanny however, the blue sky at odds with the obviously manipulated photo. I've always thought good photography was the cornerstone of a good image - hence my annoyance at the weatherman and hence this post - I remain to be convinced it's possible to get as good a result from doctored photos as having obtained well-lit photography in the first place. I'd love to see some before/after examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 I just produced 5 animations in 3 weeks so I'm afraid so - work ethic is totally on hold until after Christmas. I was kidding of course. Hey, good for you! I'm sure they're great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbarc Posted December 19, 2005 Author Share Posted December 19, 2005 Is there a market for retro 70s style visualisation?? I'm hoping things will improve once I add the building and start faking some shadows .. or I could just go with the look and add in a VW combi and some bloke with enormous flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted December 19, 2005 Share Posted December 19, 2005 Little too much green in the 2nd one at the bottom there Dan, but other than that I think they look pretty good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbarc Posted December 19, 2005 Author Share Posted December 19, 2005 Little too much green in the 2nd one at the bottom there Dan, but other than that I think they look pretty good! Cheers Tim. They are certainly alot better than they were - I didn't realise before how much more control yo've got going into the individual channels rather than just using the RGB. I think there is some more tweaking to be done though - especially on the first image. It looks like an old photo for some reason and I haven't quite worked out why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted December 19, 2005 Share Posted December 19, 2005 First image, levels>green channel bring up the black slider a bit. The slider should be at a minimum just to the point where the histogram shows up, typically moving it to just about where the curve starts to rise (give or take) really gives a good color balance. Its hard to explain but you are creating a more 'dynamic' range of color info in the image by pulling the sliders into the histogram display .... gives an image that "POP" WDA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now