What do I do to make the quality of this photo higher after brightening it?

[crvenazvezdaman]

Ok this is basically a continuation from my old thread "Problem-Please Help!"

This is only one of the many images I took while spottin a couple of days ago, I know the image is too dark and what not, but my main question is how is this image's quality? IMO, the image is clear, but I see many pics on JP which are far sharper than this image (or is that just because I haven't brightened the image yet?) Whenever I experiment brightening the image or doing any digital proccesses on it the quality got slightly lower than before. How can I offset this lowering quality through editing itself? Many thanks in adv.

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/6...erya319wb0.jpg

ps i'm using GIMP as my software at the moment

[PMN]

The image in its current state is quite soft, unfortunately probably too much to recover. The thing about 'quality' is it doesn't come from editing. An image either has quality when it leaves your camera or it doesn't; editing enhances certain aspects of the image but nonetheless, the quality has to be there in the original photo. Essentially it's just a case of being very selective in what you edit and upload. If you take 200 photos in a day but only 10 of them are sharp, only edit those 10. You've already noticed that although the image you've shown is quite clear, it isn't as sharp as others on the site, so go through what you've taken on the day and look for the ones that are sharper and clearer than that one.

Here's an example of the kind of brightness and saturation you should ideally be trying to get. This has just had Levels adjustment, saturation added and USM but you can see it's starting to show JPEG artefacts like posterizing around the titles and it's still very soft generally.



In all honesty it isn't actually all that far from being uploadable. The slight darkness is easily fixed but it's the sharpness that really lacks in this one. Do you have any from that day that are a little sharper out of the camera?

Paul

[crvenazvezdaman]

The image in its current state is quite soft, unfortunately probably too much to recover. The thing about 'quality' is it doesn't come from editing. An image either has quality when it leaves your camera or it doesn't; editing enhances certain aspects of the image but nonetheless, the quality has to be there in the original photo. Essentially it's just a case of being very selective in what you edit and upload. If you take 200 photos in a day but only 10 of them are sharp, only edit those 10. You've already noticed that although the image you've shown is quite clear, it isn't as sharp as others on the site, so go through what you've taken on the day and look for the ones that are sharper and clearer than that one.

In all honesty it isn't actually all that far from being uploadable. The slight darkness is easily fixed but it's the sharpness that really lacks in this one. Do you have any from that day that are a little sharper out of the camera?

Paul

Yeah, I kind of worry that it could just be maybe my cam is just not powerful enough to get that oomph your talking about in the sharpness of the image. Like I explained in my earlier thread, Im only a high school student, so investing into a really good camera is not really an option for me in the near future, although my dad does have this big bulky black digital fujifilm cam (I'm no camera expert so I don't keep track of the names) that looks quite a bit more powerful than the little digital one I've been using. Plus I've only begun to spot just 2 weeks ago for the first time ever at an actual airport location.

Meanwhile, I took a risk and used one of my better images (one that I like better, I don't know if it's better though) and I brightened it only slightely, although probably not as brightly as you had suggested me to on your last post. The softness is still there I think, I really don't know. My main question was how to sharpen this after the brightening. Any ideas on what do do with this one?

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/7213/n533aucoz0.jpg

I think this one just might be a tad sharper, I'm not saying its sharp enough but I'm saying it could be better than that Airbus picture. The only major question is whether the centering is appropriate, there's more empty space from the tail than there is from the nose. Or will they be nice and let that one go?

[PMN]

You can get great results from even a modern compact camera as long as you're careful and don't try push it too much. I notice you're using a Canon powershot A560. I have a few images on JP taken with my A540 although again, they weren't taken in the most demanding of situations.

If your main question is regarding centering, then no, unfortunately the crop in your second image will be rejected. It needs to be much more even and balanced. Remember, the subject of your photo is the aircraft (and showing that aircraft is your 'motive' for taking the shot), and as such it should fill the frame.

I don't know if it will be of any use to you (and I hope the good folks of JP don't mind me linking to another site), but here's a link to a little tutorial on cropping and composition I wrote for another site. The general guidelines I've outlined apply to most of the major aviation photography sites (including this one).

http://www.photos.aero/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=398

Have a quick read and see what you think. Hopefully it may help.

Paul

[crvenazvezdaman]

You can get great results from even a modern compact camera as long as you're careful and don't try push it too much. I notice you're using a Canon powershot A560. I have a few images on JP taken with my A540 although again, they weren't taken in the most demanding of situations.

http://www.photos.aero/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=398

Have a quick read and see what you think. Hopefully it may help.

Paul

Would you mind telling me what modes you would recommend when shooting the kinds of pics I try doing?

I tried cropping, but the image quality is just not good enough I don't thnik. I guess my only hope is to spot another day and see if anything better turns out. I'm still gonna experiment with this GIMP thing and see if it actually does something cool to my pics.

[crvenazvezdaman]

Oh, just found out what my dad's camerais. It's a fujifilm s5100 (could be s5700 the numbering is all worn out) and it says FinePix on it. Does that mean it's better than the camera I've been using?

[PMN]

Oh, just found out what my dad's camerais. It's a fujifilm s5100 (could be s5700 the numbering is all worn out) and it says FinePix on it. Does that mean it's better than the camera I've been using?

It has more zoom, but you'll probably find it produces a lot more noise than your A560. If I was close-ish to the aircraft I'm shooting and had a choice of the two, I'd choose the A560 for its slightly clearer images.

As for camera settings, I'd just use Aperture priority; set the aperture to around f/5.6 and the lowest ISO you can (80 I think). If your photos are turning out a bit blurry, increase the ISO to 100. The main area compact cameras fall down is they get very noisy with high sensitivities, so if you go up to ISO 200 you might get too much noise for the photo to be acceptable on JP but you shouldn't need to worry about this unless the weather and light are quite bad.

One huge thing I would recommend is learn how the histogram works. I honestly can't say how invaluable this tool is for getting exposure right. Check this link out for an explanation. I know it all sounds a little daunting but believe me, you will be so glad you learned how this tool works as it really is the digital photographer's best friend!

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tut...istograms1.htm

Paul

[crvenazvezdaman]

It has more zoom, but you'll probably find it produces a lot more noise than your A560. If I was close-ish to the aircraft I'm shooting and had a choice of the two, I'd choose the A560 for its slightly clearer images.

As for camera settings, I'd just use Aperture priority; set the aperture to around f/5.6 and the lowest ISO you can (80 I think). If your photos are turning out a bit blurry, increase the ISO to 100. The main area compact cameras fall down is they get very noisy with high sensitivities, so if you go up to ISO 200 you might get too much noise for the photo to be acceptable on JP but you shouldn't need to worry about this unless the weather and light are quite bad.

One huge thing I would recommend is learn how the histogram works. I honestly can't say how invaluable this tool is for getting exposure right. Check this link out for an explanation. I know it all sounds a little daunting but believe me, you will be so glad you learned how this tool works as it really is the digital photographer's best friend!

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tut...istograms1.htm

Paul

What is aperture? Sorry I kinda have no idea what that is.

As for the ISO, on my cam it only has two options from what I've tried, when I press ISO on that ring buttin that surrounds the FUNC. SET button, it only shows ISO AUTO and ISO HI. I think I've been shooting with ISO auto although I had been experimenting when I was spotting so I might have switched things around a bit. Also, is auto the best general mode to use or is there something else I should try.

One important question (i think). When I turn on the camera (the canon), and when I press FUNC. SET, I pressed a button with a symbol that looks like a quarter circle. Then it gave me a menu of three mini options, "Normal" "Fine" and "Superfine." My cam had been set on "Fine" the whole time. Is that good or bad?

As soon as i submit reply I'm off to read about those histograms thingies. Thanks so much for your imput

EDIT: When I try cropping an image, sometimes it won't let me do 1024x768. Sometimes when i type in 1024 it will automatically make it 1024x715 or some really random number like that. Is that a problem? IF so what do I do?

[PMN]

The aperture is essentially the hole through which the light entering your camera passes. The aperture can be made smaller or wider according to how you want your photo to look and the conditions you're in. To be honest, you really need to spend a little time researching as there's much more information available to you than I or others can ever write here in a forum. Two things I'd recommend:

Firstly, read your cameras' instruction manual from cover to cover. Once you've done that, read it cover to cover again.

Secondly, search the Net and look up the meaning of the following words. Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO (sensitivity) and Exposure. Correct exposure is a fine balance of aperture, shutter speed and ISO; each one affects how the photo looks in its own specific way so it's essential you understand what they actually are and what they do.

Once you understand the basics, you can then use that knowledge to start improving your technique. It will take time and it will be frustrating, but stick with it. Unfortunately there's no easy way to this knowledge other than research and hard practice, but when you start to get there and your knowledge begins to grow, you'll see it's all worth it.

Paul

[crvenazvezdaman]

Ok I'll research all of that. Just one last question if you can.

The second image I showed you, I know it was cropped badly, but if it wasn't for the cropping, would the quality have been adequate or was it still soft anyway? I think I should kinda know so next time I know whether to use the same/similar modes when I try spotting again.

[PMN]

Again it was too soft unfortunately, but learning about things like aperture and how it affects your images will help you get the sharpest possible results, even from a camera like the A560.

Paul

[arnie]

Check out the refocus plugin for sharpening in the Gimp. It produces excellent results. My acceptance rates have soared after I started using it .

[Will_Power]

I strongly suggest taking a Photography class at your high school. Even if its just film, the class will cover all of the basics of taking pictures which applies to both film and digital. You will learn how to use shutter speed and aperture to come out with the correct exposure. On top of the learning experience, they are quite fun too!