Any tips for enhancing rainbows?
in [Digital Cameras]
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From: Ted Nolan <tednolan> on 30 Jun 2010 11:53 In article <CCIWn.6931$0A5.763(a)newsfe22.iad>, Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> wrote: >On 30/06/2010 08:08, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote: >> I've noticed that whenever I take a picture of a rainbow, it looks much less >> impressive than it did to my naked eye. >> >> For instance this one from yesterday is ok: >> >> http://www.tednolan.net/misc/p1120927.jpg >> >> but looked much better in real life. >> >> Any tips for punching rainbows up in GIMP? > >Bracket the exposure aggressively. The colours will usually look much >more saturated on the underexposed images (and the clouds darker). But >the best compromise image may be just 1/2 stop away from the exposure >that the camera would choose automatically. > >Even saturated pure colours tend to go to pastel shades when over >exposed. The shot isn't that bad though and there is a hint of the >larger and usually much fainter secondary rainbow at the far right. > >Regards, >Martin Brown Thanks! Yeah, there was a secondary rainbow, more visible to the eye than here. Ted -- ------ columbiaclosings.com What's not in Columbia anymore..
From: Ted Nolan <tednolan> on 30 Jun 2010 11:55 In article <2d149$4c2b5c67$546ac3cf$23139(a)cache90.multikabel.net>, Robert Spanjaard <spamtrap(a)arumes.com> wrote: >On Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:08:42 +0000, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote: > >> I've noticed that whenever I take a picture of a rainbow, it looks much >> less impressive than it did to my naked eye. >> >> For instance this one from yesterday is ok: >> >> http://www.tednolan.net/misc/p1120927.jpg >> >> but looked much better in real life. >> >> Any tips for punching rainbows up in GIMP? > >You should have adjusted the exposure by about 1.5 stop. Setting the >correct exposure is easy on the LX3 with its live histogram. > >After that, adjust the curve to give the rainbow more 'space': > >http://www.arumes.com/temp/p1120927_edit1.jpg >http://www.arumes.com/temp/curves_adjustment.png > >Note that the exposure only uses five out of eight columns in this view. >The righthand three columns aren't used because of the underexposure. >You can see that I use about 60% of the dynamic range for the 40% of the >original exposure containing the rainbow. The other 60% of the original, >which contains the dark areas like the chimney and trees, only gets 40% >after the adjustment because these areas are less important. Look how >much this makes the rainbow stand out. > >Finally, you may want to adjust the white balance and increase saturation >a bit, to limit the color in the sky, and to make the colorful rainbow >stand out even more against a gray background. > >http://www.arumes.com/temp/p1120927_edit2.jpg > Very informative, thanks! Ted -- ------ columbiaclosings.com What's not in Columbia anymore..
From: Mike Russell on 30 Jun 2010 12:02 On 30 Jun 2010 07:08:42 GMT, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote: > I've noticed that whenever I take a picture of a rainbow, it looks much less > impressive than it did to my naked eye. > > For instance this one from yesterday is ok: > > http://www.tednolan.net/misc/p1120927.jpg > > but looked much better in real life. > > Any tips for punching rainbows up in GIMP? Here's one I did with curves in Photoshop, using Lab mode and layer blending: http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/rainbow/p1120927-lab1.jpg The basic problem is an orange cast, and lack of contrast and saturation. This is an interesting example that, only with your permission, I'd like to make available to my forum for experimentation. -- Mike Russell - http://www.curvemeister.com
From: nospam on 30 Jun 2010 12:09 In article <8910rsF8dsU36(a)mid.individual.net>, ray <ray(a)zianet.com> wrote: > Have you tried a polarizing filter? it's a little late for that.
From: John Navas on 30 Jun 2010 12:11
On 30 Jun 2010 07:08:42 GMT, in <8908rqFol3U1(a)mid.individual.net>, ted(a)loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote: >I've noticed that whenever I take a picture of a rainbow, it looks much less >impressive than it did to my naked eye. > >For instance this one from yesterday is ok: > > http://www.tednolan.net/misc/p1120927.jpg > >but looked much better in real life. > >Any tips for punching rainbows up in GIMP? So which one is truest to your memory and/or taste? -- Best regards, John Buying a dSLR doesn't make you a photographer, it makes you a dSLR owner. "The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it." -Ansel Adams |