FIX? Outdoor Pics too bright

Louis1 wrote:

I have a problem in that I take a lot of pictures of houses.
When the sun is behind the house, my pictures are way too dark, but if the sun shines on the house, the pictures are really good.

I"m using a Kodak 240 digital camera, and wold appreciate some tips on how to use Photoshop 7 to correct this. I’ve had some luck with gamma, but not brightness and contrast.

My interior pictures usually turn out really well.

Thanks very much,

Louis in Houston

Try using Curves and/or Levels.

A watch might be much better than Photoshop in correcting this. Take the photos when the sun is behind you. The "magic hours" for outdoor photography are the hours around dawn and sunset. If your digital camera has manual shutter speed or f-stop control, you can "bracket" shots on both sides to correct for exposure. However, I realize that Nature can throw a stick in the spokes of even the best photographers and many houses aren’t positioned for optimum photography. Should all other options fail, you might get better results adjusting levels. On the dark photos, you might try using the magic wand tool with mild feathering to select the brightest areas, and then Select > Inverse and adjust the levels on only the darkest portions.

Peadge 🙂

"Louis1" wrote in message

I have a problem in that I take a lot of pictures of houses.
When the sun is behind the house, my pictures are way too dark, but if the sun shines on the house, the pictures are really good.

I"m using a Kodak 240 digital camera, and wold appreciate some tips on how to use Photoshop 7 to correct this. I’ve had some luck with gamma, but not brightness and contrast.

My interior pictures usually turn out really well.

Thanks very much,

Louis in Houston

Louis1 wrote in
news::

I have a problem in that I take a lot of pictures of houses.
When the sun is behind the house, my pictures are way too dark, but if the sun shines on the house, the pictures are really good.

I"m using a Kodak 240 digital camera, and wold appreciate some tips on how to use Photoshop 7 to correct this. I’ve had some luck with gamma, but not brightness and contrast.

My interior pictures usually turn out really well.

Thanks very much,

Louis in Houston

‘TO FAIL TO PLAN IS TO PLAN TO FAIL’

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west – every day

Simply plan the time of day you visit the houses depending upon their geographical setting. No amount of tweeking a backlit picture in photoshop will compeate with an original picture taken in full sunlight!

—
Youth is wasted on the young!

There was a similar thread on the 26th from Mrs Beeble Brock about a backlit subject – I suggested the following fix! it can be amazingly successful?

Make a copy of the picture on a new layer
Image -Adjustments – Desaturate
Image -Adjustments – Invert
Change the layer properties to overlay – adjust opacity to taste!! Apply Filter > Gaussian blur – adjust to taste

Harry

"Louis1" wrote in message

I have a problem in that I take a lot of pictures of houses.
When the sun is behind the house, my pictures are way too dark, but if the sun shines on the house, the pictures are really good.

I"m using a Kodak 240 digital camera, and wold appreciate some tips on how to use Photoshop 7 to correct this. I’ve had some luck with gamma, but not brightness and contrast.

My interior pictures usually turn out really well.

Thanks very much,

Louis in Houston

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Hi Louis,

Do you know anything about adjustment layers? You could use an adjustment layer for brightness or for levels and use it to brighten the home only, and not the brightness in the background – indeed, another to temper the brightness in the background without adversely adjusting the home itself.

HTH,

Bernie Yaeger

"Louis1" wrote in message

I have a problem in that I take a lot of pictures of houses.
When the sun is behind the house, my pictures are way too dark, but if the sun shines on the house, the pictures are really good.

I"m using a Kodak 240 digital camera, and wold appreciate some tips on how to use Photoshop 7 to correct this. I’ve had some luck with gamma, but not brightness and contrast.

My interior pictures usually turn out really well.

Thanks very much,

Louis in Houston

I’m not familiar with your camera, but my Sony has a feature called "spot meter". Many of the better digicams seem to have it. When this feature is turned on a small cross symbol appears in the center of the view finder and the camera then makes it’s automatic adjustments based on the levels around the center of the area in view (around the cross). By using it, the camera will ignore the other areas of the shot that are too dark or too light and take the picture at the correct settings for the subject. If your camera doesn’t have this feature you can try switching the camera to "manual aperture" and make adjustments to get the shot that you want. Photoshop can fix a lot and the others who have responded have provided you with some good suggestions, but taking the photo correctly is always the preferred method.

Charley

"Louis1" wrote in message

I have a problem in that I take a lot of pictures of houses.
When the sun is behind the house, my pictures are way too dark, but if the sun shines on the house, the pictures are really good.

I"m using a Kodak 240 digital camera, and wold appreciate some tips on how to use Photoshop 7 to correct this. I’ve had some luck with gamma, but not brightness and contrast.

My interior pictures usually turn out really well.

Thanks very much,

Louis in Houston