Contrast - Help needed!

[phtr88]

Hi guys out there,

recently I got some rejections due to some contrast problems in my pictures.

Would be great if someone could tell me how to fix those problems as I was convinced that those look ok, but obviously the don't.

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewreject_b.php?id=2231693

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewreject_b.php?id=2231706

Btw: How are the chances to get these ones accpeted?




Thanks in advance,
Philipp

[PMN]

Hi Philipp,

The problems I see in the first example I think are a general slight overexposure, lack of shadow detail and a slight lack of saturation. You can see in the first example here the information in the histogram should just gently touch both sides (I hope you don't mind me cropping the copyright bar off to make the histogram appear correctly. I've put 'Example' on it so it can't be used). You can see here it isn't really touching the shadows to the left but there's a large peak at the highlights on the right, indicating overexposure.



First, I used the Burn tool, set to highlights at 3% and did two passes of the entire fuselage to dull the overexposure. Then a little levels adjustment to restore the darks, added +20 saturation to give a little more impact, and then added another pass of USM at 60%, a radius of 0.3 and a threshold of 0.

After those steps, you can see the histogram is looking much happier without the peak to the right.



And the full image:



As you can see it's a little noisy and looks quite processed, but nonetheless, you get the idea. You'll get much better quality results editing this from your original. The darks could do with bringing up even slightly more than I have here, although it's really best done from the original.

The second shot is similar although not quite as over-exposed. The main problem I think with this one is the sky behind is brighter than the aircraft, so it's backlit and as such the contrast has naturally suffered. In all honesty I'd personally consider that one a write off, although by all means take similar steps and see what you end up with.

As for your other three examples, the first LH and the Condor both have the same kind of overexposure and I'd say would almost certainly be rejected for that reason. This sould be very easy to fix either by re-editing and not brightening quite so much (which is the better option) or by gentle use of the Burn tool. The second LH looks OK in terms of exposure but if I'm being picky, the crop really doesn't do anything for me. It's almost cutting the nose and the tip of the vertical stabiliser off and there's no room for the image to 'breathe'. It also strikes me as being a little soft (and maybe needs a hint of CCW rotation?) The screeners may well disagree with me on that, but all I can do is give my opinion.

Hope that helps a little!

Paul

[ErezS]

Hi guys out there,

recently I got some rejections due to some contrast problems in my pictures.

Would be great if someone could tell me how to fix those problems as I was convinced that those look ok, but obviously the don't.

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewreject_b.php?id=2231693

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewreject_b.php?id=2231706

Thanks in advance,
Philipp

Dear Philipp,

I'm not about the contrast, but about your "Remarks" in your photos.
Why you added the text "Short finals rwy 25L." to all of your photos ?
Best regards,
Erez.

[PMN]

I'm not about the contrast, but about your "Remarks" in your photos.
Why you added the text "Short finals rwy 25L." to all of your photos ?

The first four images out of the first 15 isn't exactly 'all', surely?

Paul

[phtr88]

Dear Philipp,

I'm not about the contrast, but about your "Remarks" in your photos.
Why you added the text "Short finals rwy 25L." to all of your photos ?
Best regards,
Erez.

I edit the remarks after the pic has been accepted. So I save some time...

@PMN: thanks alot for your input. this one really helped me to edit my pic correctly.

[PMN]

thanks alot for your input. this one really helped me to edit my pic correctly.

You're welcome.

Paul

[ErezS]

The first four images out of the first 15 isn't exactly 'all', surely?

Paul

Paul,
I didn’t write it for nothing; I was noticed a few weeks ago that the same text as above is associated to his pictures from Frankfurt.
Once the pictures are accepted it seems that he deletes the text…

[PMN]

Paul,
I didn’t write it for nothing; I was noticed a few weeks ago that the same text as above is associated to his pictures from Frankfurt.
Once the pictures are accepted it seems that he deletes the text…

I'm failing to see why this is a problem for you!

Paul

[E-Diddy!]

Dear Philipp,

I'm not about the contrast, but about your "Remarks" in your photos.
Why you added the text "Short finals rwy 25L." to all of your photos ?
Best regards,
Erez.

Says the guy who uploads his entire memory card after daily spotting trips to Tel Aviv?

[ErezS]

I'm failing to see why this is a problem for you!

Paul

Dear Paul,
It's not problem for me, just wondering about this...

Have a nice day !

[PMN]

Dear Paul,
It's not problem for me, just wondering about this...

Have a nice day !

Ahhh, I understand. I have to admit, it came across as being a little odd but I should have realised English possibly isn't your first language!

I won't send you a love heart, but I will give you a friendly wink instead.



You have a nice day too!

Paul

[phtr88]

just got a rejection that really disappointed me.
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewreject_b.php?id=2235636 Surely because of the same reasons mentioned above. To me this one looks way better than the white EW Avro or the A340.
I also edited one pic after PMN's description. Don't knwo exactly if this one looks better?


Philipp