Question - How to get beach/ocean photos that "pop"? - pics

[sea_dragon]

Hi guys,

I'm hoping to get some advice regarding taking pics on a tropical beach (or any beach I guess).

I was recently in Cuba and took some shots of the beach with my GH-3. I was shooting JPEG only (I've since started shooting RAW+JPEG).

Anyway, if you look at these 3 samples, you'll see the original OOC shot followed by the version after I processed it a bit in Aperture. Basically, I just increased exposure and saturation a bit. I think it makes them look better. The OOC pics just look completely dull.

However, I'd appreciate any advice regarding how you take these types of pics? The travel brochures sure make the beaches and water look stunning.

Would a polarizing filter be a good thing to use?

Thanks for any comments or advice!


Pic 1 - Original OOC


Pic 1 - Processed


Pic 2 - Original OOC


Pic 2 - Processed


Pic 3 - Original OOC


Pic 3 - Processed

 

[benarden]

sea_dragon wrote:

Hi guys,

I'm hoping to get some advice regarding taking pics on a tropical beach (or any beach I guess).

I was recently in Cuba and took some shots of the beach with my GH-3. I was shooting JPEG only (I've since started shooting RAW+JPEG).

Anyway, if you look at these 3 samples, you'll see the original OOC shot followed by the version after I processed it a bit in Aperture. Basically, I just increased exposure and saturation a bit. I think it makes them look better. The OOC pics just look completely dull.

However, I'd appreciate any advice regarding how you take these types of pics? The travel brochures sure make the beaches and water look stunning.

Would a polarizing filter be a good thing to use?

Thanks for any comments or advice! Pic 3 - Processed

- Polarizing filter always helps !


Good work. . ; & I agree RAW makes a big difference.
-

 

[Ulfric M Douglas]

Sea-dragon : your camera is underexposing and adding 'purple' to everything.

Perhaps there is a wrong whitebalance.

This is what I'd do : go into the whitebalance adjustment menu and add a ton of amber (maybe A+3, Green+1:checked in my G1) and see where that gets you. Bump up exposure too. The camera should not be allowed to make such awful colour choices!

If that fails, buy an e-P1 for beach and sky pictures.

 

[bowportes]

I think you've answered your own question.

Your camera exposure meter assumes an average (gray) brightness. A beach is much brighter than that, so you must over-expose in camera (preferably) or in PP to get good results. You got a grayish out of camera image because you didn't adjust your exposure to reflect the fact that you were photographing a beachscape, which isn't "gray" on average.. Same goes with a snow scene; you must over-expose to keep the snow from turning gray.

You have to make a similar but opposite exposure adjustment in the woods to reflect the fact that there are lots of dark colors (deep greens and browns). If you don't under-expose in that case the OOC image will be lighter than what you remembered. The camera doesn't realize that the thing you are seeing, on average, is darker than gray.

Hope this helps.

 

[bowportes]

Ulfric M Douglas wrote:

Sea-dragon : your camera is underexposing and adding 'purple' to everything.

Perhaps there is a wrong whitebalance.

This is what I'd do : go into the whitebalance adjustment menu and add a ton of amber (maybe A+3, Green+1:checked in my G1) and see where that gets you. Bump up exposure too. The camera should not be allowed to make such awful colour choices!

If that fails, buy an e-P1 for beach and sky pictures.

Disagree completely. The exposure behaved as it should have, and as an E-P1 should as well, for that matter. The problem was the lack of appropriate exposure compensation in camera. Once the exposure was adjusted in PP, the colors looked fine. Adding amber and green would hurt these images if you want a natural looking beach.

 

[PhotOptimist]

In such cases I'd dial +2/3 or +1 EV exposure (even for raw captures).

I only use raw but I think with GH3 there is a scene mode "beach" for jpg files.

I'd recommend to shoot raw + jpg (jpg for quick available format if necessary).

............

I was in February in Cuba and my GH3 was delivering more than expected.

 

[Vlad S]

sea_dragon wrote:

Anyway, if you look at these 3 samples, you'll see the original OOC shot followed by the version after I processed it a bit in Aperture. Basically, I just increased exposure and saturation a bit. I think it makes them look better. The OOC pics just look completely dull.

First, you need to understand that every picture in the travel booklets goes through massive postprocessing.

The last Panasonic camera I had was a G3. Nevertheless, I think that some of the settings will help with the GH3 just as well.

1. Set Photo Style to Vivid. You can also try "Scenery" style, as it should highlight greens and blues. But "Vivid" is a very versatile mode that creates high impact images.

2. For white balance use Sunny (or Fair Weather in Panasonic speak). Auto WB can get thrown off target if you have a dominating color. In your examples the dominance of green and blue could have caused the camera to set a magenta bias in the white balance.

3. You can always try to use the presets. If you set you control dial to "SCN" you will have a selection of scene modes. Typically there is a beach/snow mode that takes into account the brighter scene than average. If you do not use a SCN preset, then you may have dial in a opsitive exposure compensation by hand. Shutter Effect preview will give you a better idea of what the image is going to look like, than the regular live view.

Good luck!

Vlad

 

[sea_dragon]

Thanks for your comments so far!

Appreciate the advice on exposure compensation. I must admit that I seldom use it. Obviously, I need to learn how and when to use it properly.

 

[jennajenna]

PhotOptimist wrote:

In such cases I'd dial +2/3 or +1 EV exposure (even for raw captures).

I only use raw but I think with GH3 there is a scene mode "beach" for jpg files.

I'd recommend to shoot raw + jpg (jpg for quick available format if necessary).

............

I was in February in Cuba and my GH3 was delivering more than expected.

wouldnt over exposure blow out highlights irrevocably?

 

[sea_dragon]

Thanks Vlad! I'll give your suggestions a try. I'm almost certain that I had the camera already in Vivid mode as that is my favorite mode to shoot in. However, the EXIF data doesn't show the mode from what I can see. The shooting modes only affect the JPEG capture though right?

One of the reasons I recently started shooting RAW+JPEG is so I can see the difference in how the camera handles things. So far, I've noticed that RAW actually has better color rendition compared to JPEG.

 

[sea_dragon]

jennajenna wrote:

wouldnt over exposure blow out highlights irrevocably?

Good question - I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Elemental Photography]

sea_dragon wrote:

I was shooting JPEG only (I've since started shooting RAW+JPEG).

Would a polarizing filter be a good thing to use?

You're definitely on the right track here. A polarizer is a huge help for landscapes like this. I'm a huge proponent of raw+post production, and I guarantee the brochure photos you've seen are not straight out of camera.

I did a cycle tour around Prince Edward Island and photographed a lot of beaches and coasts- the sand is red rather than white, but the same basic principles apply.

Some of the post-processing is a little rough because I did the blog posts entirely in Snapseed on an iPad. Generally, getting brighter exposures from camera is the main capture piece I would recommend. From there, in post-production, you can add micro-contrast (Clarity in Lightroom, Structure in Snapseed as the posts above show), some saturation/vibrance, and potentially contrast.

--
A photograph is a creative interpretation of reality.

 

[PhotOptimist]

Shoot always raw, otherwise you lose a lot of potential what GH3 can capture!..

Especially with LR5 you don't have to care about blown highlights much.

Pulling up the shadows at high ISO is a different story...

 

[sea_dragon]

Very nice images!

I think I'll pick up a polarizer before my next beach trip. I remember noticing that the whole scene looked so much better when I was wearing my polarized sunglasses so I can imagine it has a similar effect on a camera lens.

Here's what I meant by the color being better in the RAW file. These are 2 images that are unprocessed. Both are JPEGs exported from Aperture, the first one is the camera JPEG and the second was exported from the RAW file (again, no processing).


JPEG out of camera


JPEG export of RAW image

It would be interesting to see how these modes would compare while shooting at the beach.

 

[cfh25]

You don't mention which software you're using for PP purposes - if LR or PS, try (for free) the Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Something like the "Pro contrast preset plus Grad ND filter" settings will lift those shots with a couple of clicks.

 

[Vlad S]

sea_dragon wrote:

jennajenna wrote:

wouldnt over exposure blow out highlights irrevocably?

Good question - I was wondering the same thing.

Autoexposure does not necessarily try to preserve highlights. The modern algorithms are complex, but generally AE will try to have the average brightness of the image be around 16-18%. There are two points that need to be considered:

1. you can have blown highlights even with AE, and you need to make a judgement based on the overall desired look, rather than just the highlights.

2. Sometimes it's ok to blow some highlights. Specular highlights (reflections of the sun on water) are totally ok to blow, because that's how we see them anyway. Often white clothes, door and window openings can be blown without negative impact. Unless it's a bridal dress, of course...

If you absolutely have to preserve both highlights and shadows in full sun then you may have to use HDR.

Vlad

 

[sea_dragon]

There is also a practical problem that I found while on the beach. It's very difficult to judge the quality of the captured images while standing in the bright sun. It wasn't until I got back to my room and reviewed them on the iPad that I saw they were very dull.

I supposed this is why practice makes perfect since eventually one would know how the pics will turn out based on knowing the camera and technique well.

 

[Vlad S]

sea_dragon wrote:

There is also a practical problem that I found while on the beach. It's very difficult to judge the quality of the captured images while standing in the bright sun. It wasn't until I got back to my room and reviewed them on the iPad that I saw they were very dull.

I supposed this is why practice makes perfect since eventually one would know how the pics will turn out based on knowing the camera and technique well.

 

[PhotOptimist]

And you will know if you diid nail the exposure.

GH3 gives you all the tools what you need.

 

[sea_dragon]

Actually, I was using the EVF exclusively and the rear screen was stowed with screen towards the camera. I just found that in the bright sunlight, it was still difficult to judge.