Which of these photos is better?

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Soopaman
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Which of these photos is better?

Post by Soopaman »

I usually end up having to do color correction in photoshop, and this images were initially way too warm/orange. I toned it down manually using the color balance adjustment, and then posted the photos to Flickr. After a bit, I felt dissatisfied with the still overly warm tone to the photos, so I tried autocolor to see what happens. I was pleased with the results, as it usually makes images way too blue/cool. However, I'm still not sure which is really "better."

The first result:

Image
Lampropeltis getula holbrooki (Speckled Kingsnake) by Kyle L.E., on Flickr

After Auto-Color:

Image
Lampropeltis getula holbrooki (Speckled Kingsnake) by Kyle L.E., on Flickr

Another one after first correction:

Image
Lampropeltis getula holbrooki (Speckled Kingsnake) by Kyle L.E., on Flickr

Then after Auto-Color:

Image
Lampropeltis getula holbrooki (Speckled Kingsnake) by Kyle L.E., on Flickr


Thanks, folks!
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AndyO'Connor
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Re: Which of these photos is better?

Post by AndyO'Connor »

The autocolor ones look like, what I think, it would look like in real life with your eyes, whereas the first versions look like warm "enhanced" versions. I almost always use the auto color correction function in PSE7, and it gives similar results usually. Both are ok, but the "corrected" versions look better to me.
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MHollanders
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Re: Which of these photos is better?

Post by MHollanders »

Neither. Go in between.
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Jon Wedow
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Re: Which of these photos is better?

Post by Jon Wedow »

MHollanders wrote:Neither. Go in between.
I agree, the first looks to warm, the second is too cool.
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Soopaman
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Re: Which of these photos is better?

Post by Soopaman »

Thanks for the comments, folks.

I pulled the cooler one up in photoshop, and then pulled the warm one over it and set the opacity of that layer to 50%. I think this image looks like a good middle ground:

Image
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beanie
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Re: Which of these photos is better?

Post by beanie »

That one does look good. :thumb:
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azatrox
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Re: Which of these photos is better?

Post by azatrox »

Yeah, the last photo you posted (the combo of the two) is the money shot.

-Kris
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Schmike
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Re: Which of these photos is better?

Post by Schmike »

If you want it to be more "accurate", try to shoot something white and set that as your custom white balance before you carry on shooting your subjects under similar condition.
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