The photo to the left of image comparison one is the original photo of my dog – Boe. The photo to the right is the first edit I attempted. In this edit, I played around with the exposure, contrast and levels but really struggled to not lose the details in Boe’s face when trying to sharpen her against the really light background. I do think the edit is an improvement, although in highlighting and sharpening Boe, it has created an even starker white background which isn’t what I wanted – it needs more balance overall.
After having a tutorial with Karl whereby we discussed the problems the first edit has in regards to the harsh light in the background, I decided to try editing again, but this time focusing on the adjustment layer ‘curves’ to alter the harshness of the light specifically.
Image comparison two displays the first edit I attempted on the left, and the newer second edit on the right. As demonstrated, the second edit is definitely a softer contrast between Boe and the background which is what I wanted, although I have had to compromise on the sharpness of the overall image. It seems as though there is a bit of a cartoon-ish filter over the second edit now, which is perhaps due to the fact I increased the warmth and vibrance in the image as well as altering the light via the curve adjustment. Overall I do think the second edit is less harsh and visually nicer, which I aimed to achieve, but it still isn’t of a standard I would like – I do think this is also down to the fact that the light in the photo itself isn’t great and wouldn’t be something I would choose to edit for my final project.
Photographic Journalism 