S90 turtle shot, can someone critique the post work

[browncd81]

I took this a few weekends ago with my S90, UWL-04, and strobes in RAW... in Lightroom I adjusted the B/W Shadows and Highlights, increased the contrast a tad, small white balance adjustments, a little clarity, adjusted the blues luminance up a little. I then edited in Photoshop and ran Topaz Denoise and Detail a bit.

To me the picture looks cartoonish. It's a huge improvement over the original though. My main question is - have I gotten about as good a post processing out of this as can? Or with my gear setup and applying different post processing settings/workflow is it possible to make the colors look more real and less cartoonish.

Also, anyone done editing in PS alone vs Lightroom and have a good grasp on the parallels that an UW photographer should know about when going from exclusively PS to using LR as a base now? I found the PS Levels tool to be invaluable, still trying to learn the best way in Lightroom.

Thanks in advance

 

[PatW]

I think the photo looks pretty good. I can see your point about "cartoonish". I think that is a bit harsh. You might try backing off the blue channel saturation in Lightroom. Or you could fool around with the blue channel hue. Now I am thinking by "cartoonish", you are referring to the colors. You could also try reducing the over all color saturation. Now some people don't like overly sharpened images. You could try backing that off. Sometimes a few very small tweaks in several different areas can take a photo from appearing a bit garish to less over the top.

 

[Skeptic14]

Very cool shot, I'd be curious how it compares to the original, but doesn't look overly cartoonish to me.

 

[ColoDale]

I like it the way it is but then maybe we have the same tastes. I don’t find it cartoonish. I only use PS but from those that I talk to about Lightroom, as you said, PS seems to have more options. I can’t give you a parallel with Lightroom only the finished photo

Was this a JPG or RAW photo originally? I only ask as I edit RAW.

I tend to go a bit heavier on the contrast and clarity which can give it more of a surreal effect at times but I like sharp more than flat. There is a balance which I try to find but I think I go more towards sharp. Adjusting blacks can also have dramatic effects.

If I were to work on the colors, then I might start with the yellow/greens on the turtle and start with the beak. The other turtle colors might follow. The blues are ok with me. Temperature and saturation is where I would go.

If that doesn’t do the trick then I would go for the main color editor and just do yellow and greens.

I have lost light rays from the sun when getting it brighter or warming it up too much. For me the sunball and light rays are as much of the photo as the turtle.

I like the photo pretty much the way it is but some don’t. They seem to want it more flat (in my opinion) and seemingly more green. I like blues and sharp.

 

[SCRedWolf]

I took this a few weekends ago with my S90, UWL-04, and strobes in RAW... in Lightroom I adjusted the B/W Shadows and Highlights, increased the contrast a tad, small white balance adjustments, a little clarity, adjusted the blues luminance up a little. I then edited in Photoshop and ran Topaz Denoise and Detail a bit.

To me the picture looks cartoonish. It's a huge improvement over the original though. My main question is - have I gotten about as good a post processing out of this as can? Or with my gear setup and applying different post processing settings/workflow is it possible to make the colors look more real and less cartoonish.

Also, anyone done editing in PS alone vs Lightroom and have a good grasp on the parallels that an UW photographer should know about when going from exclusively PS to using LR as a base now? I found the PS Levels tool to be invaluable, still trying to learn the best way in Lightroom.

Thanks in advance

View attachment 381278

Overall I love the photo. To reduce the cartoonish colors as you put it, I'd look at knocking down the vibrance and saturation just a bit but not much. Your (and mine) computer screen settings will also affect how each of us sees the photo which makes it a bit difficult to say exactly what each of us are seeing. Keep up the good work.

 

[Nemrod]

I like it. I do agree that it is perhaps just a touch in your face, maybe pushy, but in this case I think it works to grab the attention and to bring your eye to the turtle and enhances the sense of space. N

 

[divad]

To me the picture looks cartoonish.

View attachment 381278

I see your point, and agree.....if you hadn't said anything........