Forum Index > Photography Talk > overly saturated photos.
 Reply to topic
Previous :: Next Topic
Author Message
pula58
Member
Member


Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Posts: 587 | TRs | Pics
pula58
Member
PostTue Jun 16, 2020 12:32 pm 
grumpy photographer outburst: Please people, stop. Reality is beautiful enough as it is, don't you think? These ultra-saturated images, I find them aesthetically appalling, they look fake. Is it that people are using cell phones that overly color everything automatically? Or, is it the use of Photoshop (or similar software)? I can spot these types of photos instantly, gross. Has anyone else noticed this?

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Riverside Laker
Member
Member


Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 2818 | TRs | Pics
Riverside Laker
Member
PostTue Jun 16, 2020 1:07 pm 
It's similar to overly green lawns, surgical enhancements, tattoos, giant pickups, hiking the top 10 trails...

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
neek
Member
Member


Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Posts: 2329 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA
neek
Member
PostTue Jun 16, 2020 3:59 pm 
pula58 wrote:
Has anyone else noticed this?
Yes, many photos are over-processed. I may be guilty of too much contrast sometimes; others over-sharpen, etc. You used the F word ("fake"), which cell phone HDR mode is notorious for, and various auto-enhance options. To me it all comes down to whether it passes as reality. Computer screens don't have the color or brightness ranges of the real world, so you do often have to stretch things a bit just to get something that looks good. The question is how far is too far. If you're blowing highlights (of any color) it's probably too far. I'd be curious to see something you think is on the edge, if it can be presented in a way that won't offend someone. I'm always open to critiques fwiw. Also sometimes the lighting is simply not good but the scene is interesting enough to share and your only choice is between horrible and fake.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Bowregard
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Feb 2019
Posts: 562 | TRs | Pics
Location: Sammamish
Bowregard
Member
PostTue Jun 16, 2020 4:15 pm 
I find that I lose my perspective on reality after working on an image for too long and sometimes when I come back to the photos later I am appalled by the results. But you are right about some of the photos posted these days. They are way too saturated for my taste.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Kim Brown
Member
Member


Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 6900 | TRs | Pics
Kim Brown
Member
PostWed Jun 17, 2020 9:25 am 
It happens. Photographers that I had enjoyed and followed on social media in the past have gotten a rush out of their success, and for whatever reason, it wasn't sufficient to have a following of people who enjoy their work as it was; they suddenly started to juice their photos for more "likes" they get on the various social media sites. The newspapers know the masses like this sh##, and post those cranked photos for the like-factor on their social media sites. Others see the success, and pretty soon everyone wants that cranked photo stroke, and it's easy to get. You don't have to work hard at saturating a photo, and that's pretty much all it takes to get that ego stroke. Some of the enhancements make a photo look too real; too sharp, too perfect. To me, that kills it; the scene is no longer fluid; it's as if it's dead; frozen. It's annoying.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
awilsondc
Member
Member


Joined: 03 Apr 2016
Posts: 1323 | TRs | Pics
awilsondc
Member
PostWed Jun 17, 2020 9:13 pm 
I agree, there are a LOT of over processed over saturated photos out there and most of them look really bad and completely fake. I think most of the time it's just amateur photo editing, people just trying to give their photo some pop but not really knowing how best to accomplish that. Some people really like that style though, and do it because they like it. Another factor could be the device you are viewing on. I've ran into that difficulty with my own editing lately in that I'll spend quite a lot of time on a photo on my computer and think it looks great, but then send it over to my phone and it looks way darker, over saturated, and too much contrast and quite frankly I hate it. It's really pissing my off, but I think I found a setting on my Pixel 3 under settings - display - advanced - color (natural, boosted, adaptive) that might help with that issue. Anyway I'm going off on a tangent... Editing photos is tough. It's hard to walk that fine line of drawing out the details you want to show the viewer while keeping a natural look. Some do it better than others, and others still don't care to keep it natural and deliberately go overboard. To each their own I guess...

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Bowregard
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Feb 2019
Posts: 562 | TRs | Pics
Location: Sammamish
Bowregard
Member
PostThu Jun 18, 2020 12:54 pm 
I think part of it is coming from in-camera processing too. In general, the DSLRs and other upper end cameras leave the boosting to the photographer. But I've seen some of these lower end and cell phone cameras that with certain settings put out images that are over processed from the start.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
fairweather friend
Member
Member


Joined: 31 May 2012
Posts: 322 | TRs | Pics
Location: Not so dispersed
fairweather friend
Member
PostSat Jun 20, 2020 8:20 am 
I did a 28-day trip down the Grand Canyon earlier this year, (right before Covid took off), and it was interesting comparing all the photographs taken by smart phone cameras, classic point and shoot cameras, and DSLRs. By far, the most over-saturated and unreal-looking photos were taken by a brand new Olympus TG-6 Tough waterproof point and shoot. This was the camera that rode in my PFD and I had it set on "Landscape" in the Scene Mode. Due to the high dynamic range of the Canyon, the highlights were often completely blown out, while the shadows were grainy, and there was such an overwhelming orange cast to the canyon walls that I had to create a preset in Lightroom just to "de-orangify" those photos! Oh, and the camera wasn't the least bit "tough." A friend dropped it from waist height on Day 4 of the 28-day trip and while there was no external damage to the camera, there was some sort of internal damage that prevented the shutter from opening. It was, and remains, toast, and I am still in a battle with Costco & Olympus over the warranty, but that's another story. The colors in the smart phone pics were MUCH more true to life and they handled the high dynamic range much better, as well. And the kicker is that these were OLD smartphones! One was a Pixel 2 and the other was a iPhone 8. My other camera was a Nikon D5300 which I bought used right before the trip. (The Canyon is such a brutal place for electronics that even if I owned a full frame camera, I think I'd be too scared to take it out of the Pelican case!) Anyhow, I shot in RAW/manual most of the trip and while it was fun to have so much artistic control while shooting and during post-processing, the reality is that I would have preferred to use a smartphone camera for random pics around camp and reserve my DSLR for landscape photography on hikes.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Bedivere
Why Do Witches Burn?



Joined: 25 Jul 2008
Posts: 7464 | TRs | Pics
Location: The Hermitage
Bedivere
Why Do Witches Burn?
PostFri Jun 26, 2020 12:43 am 
This has been a peeve of mine for quite some time. But, the average Joe has no taste and the over-saturated pictures with neon green foliage and electric blue skies get the most "likes." All the comments are "gorgeous!", "beautiful!", "amazing!", etc. Pictures with true-to life colors get far less attention. I've come to accept that that's just how it is and the result is that many of my pictures will be largely ignored. I do occasionally take artistic license with a picture if I feel there's some reason to do so, but the vast majority of my pictures are edited to reflect the reality I saw with my eyes at that time, and that's just boring unless there's something really exceptional about the subject matter or composition.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
silence
Member
Member


Joined: 25 Apr 2005
Posts: 4420 | TRs | Pics
silence
Member
PostFri Jun 26, 2020 2:37 pm 
I shoot in raw and when I process I try to keep it as true as I remember it. But, I recently noticed, after my iMac died (which was calibrated) and am now working on a laptop, that capturing the true color and vibrance is challenging to say the least... so I tend to lean towards undersaturating just to be on the safe side. Even so, when I checked it on Robert's Mac Pro it's over saturated IMO. I give up! Here's my latest stuff on the laptop ... let me know if it's under or over and how you're viewing it. https://www.flickr.com/photos/33792231@N00/albums/72157713521140667 BTW, I don't have a prob with oversaturated or over-manipulated as long as the photog fesses up to it.

PHOTOS FILMS Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
awilsondc
Member
Member


Joined: 03 Apr 2016
Posts: 1323 | TRs | Pics
awilsondc
Member
PostSun Jun 28, 2020 5:38 pm 
silence wrote:
Here's my latest stuff on the laptop ... let me know if it's under or over and how you're viewing it.
Looks spot on to me.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
silence
Member
Member


Joined: 25 Apr 2005
Posts: 4420 | TRs | Pics
silence
Member
PostMon Jun 29, 2020 8:47 am 
Thx guys for taking the time to give me your feedback. I'm glad to be getting it right. I'm thinking Robert has his Mac calibrated differently for video.

PHOTOS FILMS Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Bowregard
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Feb 2019
Posts: 562 | TRs | Pics
Location: Sammamish
Bowregard
Member
PostMon Jun 29, 2020 1:30 pm 
Nice photos, They don't seem oversaturated on my monitor. The only exception is a few that might push the reds just a tad too much. I have found you really have to be careful with reds simply because when they are pushed they jump out at you more than other colors. If anything I would say there are few few darker photos that could use a touch more contrast. I never noticed before but I really hate the dynamic masking Flickr applies to the bottom of photos to enhance the print contrast. I found myself switching back and forth to turn on and off the masking to see if I was misinterpreting the tones. I posted a few in the panoramas thread awhile back asking if they were pushed too much and never got a response so maybe it will help to ask here: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7975131&start=855 Thoughts?

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
silence
Member
Member


Joined: 25 Apr 2005
Posts: 4420 | TRs | Pics
silence
Member
PostTue Jun 30, 2020 7:05 am 
Good eye ... I actually did have probs with the reds. Their vibrancy in person was what I was trying to recreate but it was difficult because of exactly what you said. Thx. Beautiful pans ... they look fine on my laptop. Esp love the B&W.

PHOTOS FILMS Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Bowregard
Member
Member


Joined: 05 Feb 2019
Posts: 562 | TRs | Pics
Location: Sammamish
Bowregard
Member
PostTue Jun 30, 2020 12:28 pm 
Thanks for the feedback. I wanted to print that first pano (without the labels) large format to hang on a wall so I spent hours selecting similar distances, enhancing contrast and saturation, and color correcting for the blue to make it clear as I remembered it. By the time it was done I lost all perspective of whether it still looked "real" or not. To my way of thinking obviously over processed images should be evaluated as such - part reality and part fantasy, but so long as the average person thinks it could be real let your memory be the judge. Even the latest cameras don't capture everything so you have to push things a bit to recover some of what was lost.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
   All times are GMT - 8 Hours
 Reply to topic
Forum Index > Photography Talk > overly saturated photos.
  Happy Birthday speyguy, Bandanabraids!
Jump to:   
Search this topic:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum