ylu01 - Editing Advice

[ylu01]

Hi,

I would like to be eventually experienced at this so I don't have to ask for advice every time, but referring to this photo:

https://www.jetphotos.com/viewqueued_b.php?id=10167113

I have had people say that contract could use more adjustment, and possibly soft, so
1) how do you tell if contrast is good or not? I had people say just by intuition or feel, which..
1.5) Having the spike in the histogram more to the center is preferred, but what is the threshold of being acceptable or not?
2) From my past rejections I have a history of my photos being soft. Is this more of a parameter issue or editing issue? when using LR, i have tried dragging out sharpness to the max, but when exporting with 16:9 1280px long side, it feels like sharpness had no effect. Also, does this still look soft?

Thank You

[AKH]

Not a screener, but I understood that photos already in queue will not be pre-screened.
If you take the photo out of the queue and attach it to a post here, you may get better feedback about it.
Nothwithstanding this, I would be ok with the histogram as it is shown in your post (but I just watch it from the laptop now)

[matteolamberts]

We don't pre-screen queued images.

[ylu01]

Not a screener, but I understood that photos already in queue will not be pre-screened.
If you take the photo out of the queue and attach it to a post here, you may get better feedback about it.
Nothwithstanding this, I would be ok with the histogram as it is shown in your post (but I just watch it from the laptop now)

Thanks. I am not asking for it to be pre-screened. I am just asking fellow JP people to look at it and critique it, if everything checks out. Here is the same image posted here. I would then know for next time.

[dlowwa]

I am not asking for it to be pre-screened. I am just asking fellow JP people to look at it and critique it, if everything checks out.

That's exactly what pre-screening is.

[Charlie Chang]

Hi,

I would like to be eventually experienced at this so I don't have to ask for advice every time, but referring to this photo:

https://www.jetphotos.com/viewqueued_b.php?id=10167113

I have had people say that contract could use more adjustment, and possibly soft, so
1) how do you tell if contrast is good or not? I had people say just by intuition or feel, which..
1.5) Having the spike in the histogram more to the center is preferred, but what is the threshold of being acceptable or not?
2) From my past rejections I have a history of my photos being soft. Is this more of a parameter issue or editing issue? when using LR, i have tried dragging out sharpness to the max, but when exporting with 16:9 1280px long side, it feels like sharpness had no effect. Also, does this still look soft?

Thank You

Please check 'check for dust' tool of your photo before you asking advice from other photographer or screener.
The dust spot is very obvious.
Regards

[jhud922]

That's exactly what pre-screening is.

I don't understand this rigid iron clad adherence to vernacular. If he wants to discuss his photos, whats the harm in that? If you are a screener, then just...don't participate.

OP, I will just say this. There is sort of a "look" that the screeners here are going for. I think largely they do make an effort to prioritize the "best" images instead of merely acceptable images. If you step back and look objectively at your image, could it be better? Could you have had better lighting, could a better angle be better, could you have shot at better settings, etc?

Often I sort of already know if an image will get through or not. Part of this comes with volume and time, part of it is a gut feeling, and part of it comes from rigorous viewing of accepted images.

I would probably say ignore the "rejection reasons". They are extremely limited and confusing in my opinion. They should add a few extra words or just a sentence for each one in my opinion. "Too much/not enough contrast" is lazy. Just say "needs more contrast".

Anyway, in looking at your image, first whatever is coming into the frame on the right is distracting and detracts from the photo. Unfortunately, a gray plane on gray skies is really not ideal and it doesn't seem like the aircraft was in full sun either. So basically what you're going to hear is that the lighting is not great overall.

Could you really work on this image to get it in? Maybe. But probably save your efforts for other photos that are a bit more borderline in terms of their ability to get accepted.

Good luck and don't let the negativity around feedback get you down!

[ylu01]

That's exactly what pre-screening is.

can I keep this thread or can you close it and I make a new thread with a title that adheres to the guidelines?

[dlowwa]

can I keep this thread or can you close it and I make a new thread with a title that adheres to the guidelines?

Changed thread title for you. Please continue to post here.

[ylu01]

Hi,

Can anyone critique this please?
the situation is this is going around and is actually just started lifting back up, plus with the angle i am shooting at i feel this should be level, but i am not sure, if anyone can have some input that would be great.

[dlowwa]

Hi,

Can anyone critique this please?
the situation is this is going around and is actually just started lifting back up, plus with the angle i am shooting at i feel this should be level, but i am not sure, if anyone can have some input that would be great.

Soft, too low in the frame, weak contrast, and fence/wire is somewhat distracting.

[ylu01]

Soft, too low in the frame, weak contrast, and fence/wire is somewhat distracting.

What is it meant by too low in the frame? Should have been shot at a bit higher height?
Never really got any answer on what to do, I tend to have a lot of pics that are soft, as a fair amount of my rejected photos are. I export at 16:9 at 1280pixels wide, and when I increase sharpness and export it, pretty much no change is observed in terms of sharpness, like no sharpness is applied. Is there a way to fix this or am I doing something wrong? I use LightRoom.

Also, how do you tell if it's soft? Using the texts on the aircraft and see if they are clear or not?

[dlowwa]

What is it meant by too low in the frame? Should have been shot at a bit higher height?
Never really got any answer on what to do, I tend to have a lot of pics that are soft, as a fair amount of my rejected photos are. I export at 16:9 at 1280pixels wide, and when I increase sharpness and export it, pretty much no change is observed in terms of sharpness, like no sharpness is applied. Is there a way to fix this or am I doing something wrong? I use LightRoom.

Also, how do you tell if it's soft? Using the texts on the aircraft and see if they are clear or not?

Too low = should be higher, too dark = should be brighter, too soft = should be sharper, etc.

Difficult to tell whether the softness is due to editing or just a poor quality image without seeing the original, tbh. No one area is looked at to determine sharpness, but areas where there are sharp transitions should appear sharp.

[ylu01]

Too low = should be higher, too dark = should be brighter, too soft = should be sharper, etc.

Difficult to tell whether the softness is due to editing or just a poor quality image without seeing the original, tbh. No one area is looked at to determine sharpness, but areas where there are sharp transitions should appear sharp.

I am pretty sure the raw isnt soft, it happens when i export image as 1280px long /resizing. Is there a way that you can check out the raw, or would you like to?

[dlowwa]

I am pretty sure the raw isnt soft, it happens when i export image as 1280px long /resizing. Is there a way that you can check out the raw, or would you like to?

You can post an unedited jpeg here, or post a link to the raw file if you prefer.