So bright you gotta wear shades
June 20, 2013 10:00 AM Subscribe
Can someone please point me to a step-by-step on how to fix this type of bad photo? I do not have photoshop, I can download GIMP or whatever freeware is popular and easy for home use these days.
This particular child has a predilection for high places and I generally only have my iphone to get a picture at the park.
This particular child has a predilection for high places and I generally only have my iphone to get a picture at the park.
If you have a mac, get Darktable. The particular feature you want is fill light.
posted by capricorn at 10:09 AM on June 20, 2013
posted by capricorn at 10:09 AM on June 20, 2013
GIMP can do this. You're looking to selectively fix exposure problems. Keep in mind that because the subject of the photo is so dark, when you up the exposure you'll be missing a lot of detail.
posted by dobi at 10:09 AM on June 20, 2013
posted by dobi at 10:09 AM on June 20, 2013
Try Camera+, an iPhone app that's cheap or free, don't remember now. The 'Clarity' setting will up the brightness level for you.
Alternatively, Instagram has a feature that will adjust brightness - it's a sun-shaped icon all the way to the right, next to the teardrop icon.
Next time you should 'click' on the face on the display with your finger just before you take the photo. That will adjust the aperture to the optimal level for your subject, as well as focus it correctly.
posted by Dragonness at 10:09 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Alternatively, Instagram has a feature that will adjust brightness - it's a sun-shaped icon all the way to the right, next to the teardrop icon.
Next time you should 'click' on the face on the display with your finger just before you take the photo. That will adjust the aperture to the optimal level for your subject, as well as focus it correctly.
posted by Dragonness at 10:09 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Google's Picasa has a surprisingly deft range of easy photo fix buttons. Worth a look, imho.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 10:16 AM on June 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 10:16 AM on June 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
If you're using Windows, my favorite image editing program is Paint.NET. The steps would be similar to the tutorial that dobi links above.
posted by zixyer at 10:18 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by zixyer at 10:18 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Since you mention that this is a common issue, I will offer a possible solution for future photographs of this type! Next time you shoot up into light like this, turn on your iPhone flash. Photographers refer to this technique as a "fill flash". It's easier to fix something at the exposure stage rather than trying to manipulate a photograph later.
posted by semaphore at 10:18 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by semaphore at 10:18 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Since you mention that this is a common issue, I will offer a possible solution for future photographs of this type! Next time you shoot up into light like this, turn on your iPhone flash. Photographers refer to this technique as a "fill flash". It's easier to fix something at the exposure stage rather than trying to manipulate a photograph later.
Also, turn on the HDR option.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 10:24 AM on June 20, 2013
Also, turn on the HDR option.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 10:24 AM on June 20, 2013
Response by poster: I should have mentioned that I'm on a windows 8 machine.
Semaphore, how well would the iphone flash work when there is at least five feet between phone/camera and the subject? In this case, he was about 9-10 feet up and I was on the ground. I'm only five feet tall.
posted by Talia Devane at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2013
Semaphore, how well would the iphone flash work when there is at least five feet between phone/camera and the subject? In this case, he was about 9-10 feet up and I was on the ground. I'm only five feet tall.
posted by Talia Devane at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2013
Enable HDR in the camera on your iPhone to fix this issue in future pictures.
posted by erst at 10:35 AM on June 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by erst at 10:35 AM on June 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
It won't work all that well. I doubt the iPhone's flash is strong enough to fill a person 9-10 feet away when you are shooting against the glaring sun. And even if it did, it would still probably look like poop. The trick is to shoot with the sun behind you, if at all possible.
Don't make heavy use of "clarity" tool, it may provide some incidental brightening on the already bright areas, but it's designed to bring out contours.
Any application that allows you to pump some light into the shadows specifically will help you fix this image quite a bit. I use CaptureOne and it does a pretty decent job. Then you might have to make some secondary adjustments, like reducing the saturation a touch.
posted by phaedon at 10:37 AM on June 20, 2013
Don't make heavy use of "clarity" tool, it may provide some incidental brightening on the already bright areas, but it's designed to bring out contours.
Any application that allows you to pump some light into the shadows specifically will help you fix this image quite a bit. I use CaptureOne and it does a pretty decent job. Then you might have to make some secondary adjustments, like reducing the saturation a touch.
posted by phaedon at 10:37 AM on June 20, 2013
Try Camera+, an iPhone app that's cheap or free, don't remember now. The 'Clarity' setting will up the brightness level for you.
You can also try to avoid taking this sort of backlit photo in the first place using Camera+ as well. A few other camera apps have similar functionality, such as Camera Awesome, etc.
While shooting, this is how it works on Camera+: tap to focus but then hold down your finger. Tap with a second finger elsewhere in the frame to light meter. You'll get a square labelled "Focus" and a circle labelled "Exposure." Now you can drag either "Focus" and "Exposure" around until you get the photo you want. Basically this will help you control the exposure so that your child's face isn't too dark and the skies aren't too bright. Your iPhone's camera won't be able to exactly replicate what your eye sees (your eye will always have more dynamic range), but you can find what works better for the photograph you are trying to capture. Try focusing on your child's face and then exposing for the darkest part of the photo (potentially their clothing).
Afterwards, you can use some of the built in tools to manipulate the shot, such as applying the Clarity filter, which will keep the blue sky, but also light up the parts of the photo that might be too dark still. A lot of the time I find that Clarity overdoes it, making the final shot feel artificial and overly processed, so I don't use it all that often. But it's way better to try to avoid the problem in the first place.
You have much more control with a third party camera app than the built in camera. The built in camera basically reads the light situation based upon where it's also focusing. But you might not always want this to be the case--such as in a backlit situation.
posted by kathryn at 10:52 AM on June 20, 2013
You can also try to avoid taking this sort of backlit photo in the first place using Camera+ as well. A few other camera apps have similar functionality, such as Camera Awesome, etc.
While shooting, this is how it works on Camera+: tap to focus but then hold down your finger. Tap with a second finger elsewhere in the frame to light meter. You'll get a square labelled "Focus" and a circle labelled "Exposure." Now you can drag either "Focus" and "Exposure" around until you get the photo you want. Basically this will help you control the exposure so that your child's face isn't too dark and the skies aren't too bright. Your iPhone's camera won't be able to exactly replicate what your eye sees (your eye will always have more dynamic range), but you can find what works better for the photograph you are trying to capture. Try focusing on your child's face and then exposing for the darkest part of the photo (potentially their clothing).
Afterwards, you can use some of the built in tools to manipulate the shot, such as applying the Clarity filter, which will keep the blue sky, but also light up the parts of the photo that might be too dark still. A lot of the time I find that Clarity overdoes it, making the final shot feel artificial and overly processed, so I don't use it all that often. But it's way better to try to avoid the problem in the first place.
You have much more control with a third party camera app than the built in camera. The built in camera basically reads the light situation based upon where it's also focusing. But you might not always want this to be the case--such as in a backlit situation.
posted by kathryn at 10:52 AM on June 20, 2013
Actually you may be able to edit it with an Iphone app. I really like "Afterlight" It has brightness/contrast/color/saturation sliders. It's a very cheap app ($2 I think?)
I have done amateur photography/photo editing and I really like this app for photos I take on my phone.)
posted by Crystalinne at 10:52 AM on June 20, 2013
I have done amateur photography/photo editing and I really like this app for photos I take on my phone.)
posted by Crystalinne at 10:52 AM on June 20, 2013
I swear by pixlr.com, and for this sort of image I'd probably fiddle with the "Levels" setting until I got something I liked. (There is a very real possibility that the kid's face is so much in shadow that there is not enough contrast of detail there to make him look okay, or at least beyond looking like someone seen through night vision goggles.
posted by La Cieca at 11:15 AM on June 20, 2013
posted by La Cieca at 11:15 AM on June 20, 2013
Do not download GIMP; it will take you longer to learn what you need to do than it would take to earn enough at a minimum wage job to pay someone to do this simple task. Seconding Too-Ticky: IrfanView, which is free, dead simple, and sufficient for this task.
Here are the FOUR commands you need to know:
Shift-U: Give me your best shot at autocorrect, IrfanView. (This is really a good algorithm for many white-balance/low contrast issues.)
Shift-G: Give me the color adjust palette (and, as Too-Ticky said, play with Gamma on the right side).
Ctrl-Z: Undo (only one command, though).
Ctrl-S: Save changes. Pick a high quality (90-95%), if you're saving as JPG.
posted by IAmBroom at 11:35 AM on June 20, 2013
Here are the FOUR commands you need to know:
Shift-U: Give me your best shot at autocorrect, IrfanView. (This is really a good algorithm for many white-balance/low contrast issues.)
Shift-G: Give me the color adjust palette (and, as Too-Ticky said, play with Gamma on the right side).
Ctrl-Z: Undo (only one command, though).
Ctrl-S: Save changes. Pick a high quality (90-95%), if you're saving as JPG.
posted by IAmBroom at 11:35 AM on June 20, 2013
So the problem, as others in the thread have pointed out, is that you have a high dynamic range image: You have stuff that you want to see in the shadows, and stuff that you want to see in the bright areas (ie: that sky should have texture), but nothing in the mid-tones. You want something in the mid-tones.
HDR programs call this "tone mapping", and they generally follow a process that's something like: Make a B&W fuzzy version of the picture, and make a brightness inverted version of that picture. Use those as masks on the picture to let you brighten the dark areas and darken the bright areas. So in GIMP, you'd have four layers, a mask, the image, the other mask, the image, and you'd comp those back together to give you something that fit more in the mid-range.
However, depending on how you want to use the picture, it may be possible to just open up the "Image->Colors->Curves" dialog box and munge the lines around 'til you get something that looks better.
Here's that image and the color curves dialog box with 15 seconds of twiddling
posted by straw at 11:37 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
HDR programs call this "tone mapping", and they generally follow a process that's something like: Make a B&W fuzzy version of the picture, and make a brightness inverted version of that picture. Use those as masks on the picture to let you brighten the dark areas and darken the bright areas. So in GIMP, you'd have four layers, a mask, the image, the other mask, the image, and you'd comp those back together to give you something that fit more in the mid-range.
However, depending on how you want to use the picture, it may be possible to just open up the "Image->Colors->Curves" dialog box and munge the lines around 'til you get something that looks better.
Here's that image and the color curves dialog box with 15 seconds of twiddling
posted by straw at 11:37 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
BTW, the way to avoid taking this picture in the future is to use a "fill flash".
Basically, it means to use a flash even though there's plenty of light, to fill in the shadows.
Most photography books will wax on about how an on-camera flash (like your phone has) should never, ever, ever, ever be used for anything, but in fact they're pretty damn useful for this application.
Turn your flash to ALWAYS ON before taking a backlit subject. Worst case: the subject will be overexposed, and you can turn it back off & try again. If the subject is too far, it will have no effect. But for shots like this one: perfect!
posted by IAmBroom at 11:42 AM on June 20, 2013
Basically, it means to use a flash even though there's plenty of light, to fill in the shadows.
Most photography books will wax on about how an on-camera flash (like your phone has) should never, ever, ever, ever be used for anything, but in fact they're pretty damn useful for this application.
Turn your flash to ALWAYS ON before taking a backlit subject. Worst case: the subject will be overexposed, and you can turn it back off & try again. If the subject is too far, it will have no effect. But for shots like this one: perfect!
posted by IAmBroom at 11:42 AM on June 20, 2013
This review of the iPhone 4S includes a section on the flash capabilities of the camera. It notes that at 6 feet, the indoor use of the flash illuminates the surface well, but at 10 feet out, the result is a dim image. The indoor portrait "was a little dim with the flash enabled, but still usable." With all that, you might get better results outside, where you want to flash on the subject that is backlit.
Also, if you're looking to get into slightly more complex photo editing, get GIMP and learn about the Laso tool. You can then adjust the brightness and levels on your kid, while keeping the background from becoming pure white.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:03 PM on June 20, 2013
Also, if you're looking to get into slightly more complex photo editing, get GIMP and learn about the Laso tool. You can then adjust the brightness and levels on your kid, while keeping the background from becoming pure white.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:03 PM on June 20, 2013
IS the iPhone HDR setting on? The whole idea behind HDR is it takes several different exposures and combines them to optimize the final picture. That and fill flash.
posted by Gungho at 12:05 PM on June 20, 2013
posted by Gungho at 12:05 PM on June 20, 2013
n-thing the 'turn on HDR' advice. And at the distance you mentioned, the iPhone's flash would be just right as a fill-in flash without washing out the surroundings, imo, especially if you raise your arms high to take a shot. it's worth exploring in the future, I've done so a few times.
posted by cendawanita at 12:37 PM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by cendawanita at 12:37 PM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Really good photographs won't be taken into the sun like this. The fixes are only going to help so much. Get up with him, get a tree behind him, zoom in to minimize the proportion of the frame that's bright sky.
posted by lathrop at 12:57 PM on June 20, 2013
posted by lathrop at 12:57 PM on June 20, 2013
Seconding not taking photos like this unless there is no other option. If the iPhone camera app has exposure settings, set it manually to backlit. Fill flash can be a good hack for this even if the flash doesn't really do anything, as the camera will adjust the exposure to assume there is a flash. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Also, the camera app should have a manual brightness setting. You can take a test photo and adjust based on what happens with it. It will wash out the background, but there is no avoiding it with that kind of photo.
Use whatever picture format has the most dynamic range. JPG High at least. The more information you capture and save, the better you can edit the image.
And also agreeing with Irfanview. Start with auto correct, if that doesn't work, then play with the gamma and then adjust the other sliders to make it look good.
I'm pretty sure Nikon has a free image manipulation program called viewnx2. Its interface is pretty awful, but it can work wonders on some images.
posted by gjc at 7:32 PM on June 20, 2013
Use whatever picture format has the most dynamic range. JPG High at least. The more information you capture and save, the better you can edit the image.
And also agreeing with Irfanview. Start with auto correct, if that doesn't work, then play with the gamma and then adjust the other sliders to make it look good.
I'm pretty sure Nikon has a free image manipulation program called viewnx2. Its interface is pretty awful, but it can work wonders on some images.
posted by gjc at 7:32 PM on June 20, 2013
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Just be very careful during installation, there is generally something you have to untick so that it doesn't install stuff you don't want. But the program itself is fine.
In Irfanview, open the image, go to Image => Color corrections and play around. Especially try the Gamma Correction slider.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:06 AM on June 20, 2013 [1 favorite]