Greetings All,
I am a Nature and Scenic Photographer.
My photos are flat looking.
I want to get a 3D effect.
Adjusting my contrast doesn't help much, and can make it worse.
Any positive input would be appreciated.
Thank you!
When I cover the foreground it doesn't look flat to me. It could be that the foreground and background are so close in color that it flattens the look.
Thank you.
Maybe I am looking for more than is possible.
But, I had hoped that it could be improved dimensionally.
I often find a tad of added Saturation, a touch of added Contrast and a bigger push of Clarity often brings out a "deeper" photo. Experiment with those to get best combo.
Lighting?
What time of day?
As I see it, the blacks and shadows are pushed way too high. I put this into Lightroom and it looks much bettter when the blacks and shadows are lowered. That is why it looks flat. However it will have to be done locally for best effect as the left side of picture is much darker than the rest. Highlights and whites are also too high.
Try horizontally masking foreground, middle ground or background and SLIGHTLY changing saturation or color value or white balance of the particular area.
For this work I would recommend a 35mm prime. Very nice vintage MF primes can be had for pretty cheap and will have at least 2 fewer elements. Adding elements and groups can have a flattening effect on both landscapes and portraits.
For a future shot, I would rotate the image so that he roofline of the barn is horizontal even though I realize that the building perspective is probably correct as-shot. This shot cannot be rotated without clipping the mountain peak which obviously ruins the shot, but here it is for effect.
I agree with @jdmiles that the levels are pushed a bit high. Crushing the blacks and shadows and cranking the whites will bring out the foreground. I was a bit heavy handed to show the effect on my edit.
Nothing is sharp, probably because of the shutter speed of 1/10 sec. For depth your eye needs at least the foreground to be sharp and preferably the mid-distance as well with only the distant background showing signs of softness.
R.G. wrote:
Nothing is sharp, probably because of the shutter speed of 1/10 sec. For depth your eye needs at least the foreground to be sharp and preferably the mid-distance as well with only the distant background showing signs of softness.
Good catch. Hopefully he is on a tripod. The ISO is already pretty low so his f/22 aperture priority is pulling the low shutter speed.
The hyperfocal distance for 35mm at f/22 is about 6 feet. You could actually benefit from dropping down to, say f/11 or even f/8. At a hyperfocal distance of 10 feet, this might soften the immediate foreground a bit but it would add some lens effects and depth to the image. Then you can crank up the shutter speed and leave the ISO low.
Thank you!
I will give it a try!
Thank you.
I will make the adjustments!
Thank you!
I appreciate your advice!
joecichjr
Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA
Alphabravo2020 wrote:
For this work I would recommend a 35mm prime. Very nice vintage MF primes can be had for pretty cheap and will have at least 2 fewer elements. Adding elements and groups can have a flattening effect on both landscapes and portraits.
For a future shot, I would rotate the image so that he roofline of the barn is horizontal even though I realize that the building perspective is probably correct as-shot. This shot cannot be rotated without clipping the mountain peak which obviously ruins the shot, but here it is for effect.
I agree with @jdmiles that the levels are pushed a bit high. Crushing the blacks and shadows and cranking the whites will bring out the foreground. I was a bit heavy handed to show the effect on my edit.
For this work I would recommend a 35mm prime. Very... (
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