Lightroom, making my GoPro screen grab printable

[ScubaJill]

I'm going through my photos/videos from my dive trip and I have a screen grab from a video of a hawksbill turtle that I'd like to print out. I downloaded Lightroom and I've been playing around with white balance, exposure, and tint. I can't tell if the photo is too yellow/green or if it is Mr. Hawksbill. I'm hoping to get a 4x6 or larger, if possible (and I recognize that it may not be possible). Any thoughts on getting the color scheme right?

 

[Scuba Scott]

Nice capture...

That is a tough one without knowing what the colors should be. I would say just adjust it until it looks right to you. I took a stab at what I like and that is subjective. I at least got it to a 4X6 aspect ratio but I am sure you would have no problem with that on your own.

 

[diversteve]

I don't know LIghtroom but if it has color balance tools - try backing down the green.

IMO there's too much green in that shot - the water most likely should be bluer and his front flippers seem oversaturated.

Also if you're not going to crop it closer like ^ get rid of the small circle to the left and under his right flipper - both look like backscatter.

It should be at least a 1920x1080 grab - larger if you were shooting in 4K so it should scale to 8x10 or so to print - certainly bigger for use as a computer wallpaper.

 

[Chris Hunger]

Donno about lightroom either. In Premiere you have scopes... guess in Lightroom there must be some rgb histogramm too for dialing in the colours.
You also have alot of other options like masking etc. for this image. Try backing down green and add red/blue to your liking.

 

[ScubaJill]

Thanks, all. I'm actually looking at the photo on a different computer now and it is much greener/yellower than on my screen at home. I do have about 5 versions of the photo going now, some are much bluer, some are much darker, too, as I was playing around with the shadows. It seemed once I got the color of the water correct (on my home computer screen), Mr. Hawksbill's colors were off, and vice versa. I'll keep playing around with it and the software.

I'm pretty sure it's 1920x1080, since I borrowed a GoPro Hero 3 Silver. I think 4k was introduced in a later model. Glad to know I can at least get a nice print from it, though. Maybe I'll look around for digital picture frame that plays video and add my scuba videos to it.

 

[kelemvor]

Thanks, all. I'm actually looking at the photo on a different computer now and it is much greener/yellower than on my screen at home.

You need a colorimiter to adjust your screen. If you start editing video or photo with any regularity you'll be shocked to find out how badly adjusted most monitors are. If you edit your source on a calibrated display and store the photo with an embedded color profile, the photo will look good displaying or printing on anything that also supports such profiles. It's more common in printers than monitors because most people don't bother with calibration of monitors.

Anyway, I use this one $85 Amazon.com : Datacolor DC S3P100 Spyder 3 Pro : Photographic Light Meters : Camera & Photo

I think they have a 'mini' version that's in the $40 price range.

They make a big difference.

 

[ScubaJill]

You need a colorimiter to adjust your screen. If you start editing video or photo with any regularity you'll be shocked to find out how badly adjusted most monitors are. If you edit your source on a calibrated display and store the photo with an embedded color profile, the photo will look good displaying or printing on anything that also supports such profiles. It's more common in printers than monitors because most people don't bother with calibration of monitors.

Anyway, I use this one $85 Amazon.com : Datacolor DC S3P100 Spyder 3 Pro : Photographic Light Meters : Camera & Photo

I think they have a 'mini' version that's in the $40 price range.

They make a big difference.

Thanks, kelemvor. I'll read up on these.

 

[ScubaJill]

I got some great advice from tursiops who kindly edited my photo and sent a list of editing steps. Here's my updated version of the hawksbill turtle, as I replicated tursiop's steps and played around with the different functions on LightRoom. I'll check it on my other computer tomorrow to see if that monitor shows the picture to be bluer/greener.

 

[James R]

It looks a lot better on my monitor (calibrated).

 

[SCRedWolf]

If all you're wanting is a simple 4x6 you might want to try one of the photo kiosks that some of the photo developing places (Sam's, Costco, your local photo shop) have. They're supposed to have monitors somewhat calibrated to the photo printers they're using. Just bring in your pic on a thumb drive and it should cost you less than a quarter for each attempt to get the colors nailed down. Just a thought anyways.