PP Consistency

Livin The Dream

Livin The Dream

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I have been thinking about my own progress recently and when reviewing my images I can see a notable difference in output these last two years. Consistency does seem to take a while, some people grasp it quicker than others. But is it just another element that, given time and experience, you develop a better eye for, in time? Or do many little elements just happen to come together?

I am still never totally happy, as I'm sure people can relate to, and so am always reviewing how I can improve my output. It's easy to disappear up your own rear with PP but I think I have a handle on where the parameters lie for my own output.

Incidentally, my output seems to have improve around the time when I moved over to Nikon, that is just coincidental. However, I do find the files just easier to work with. I have changed my shooting too, I tend to shoot manually for everything and expose for the elements that are the key parts, but certainly locking down the exposure has helped too, I pull files around much less than I used to.

Interested to hear about others logical progression and how long that has taken you.
 
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Hmmm, I did wonder whether this section would get much traffic, should have put in the main section. Hey ho...
 
Whilst I am pleased with my photography progress in general I do find output consistency to be a big problem and the area which needs more attention from me ... how do others get consistency?
 
gramps said:
how do others get consistency?
Click to expand...

I reckon its down to curation of images and ruthless culling of anything that isn't 5*.

And, I suppose the trite answer is to get it right in the camera and not do too much PP as that is where the differences are brought in.
 
gramps said:
Whilst I am pleased with my photography progress in general I do find output consistency to be a big problem and the area which needs more attention from me ... how do others get consistency?
Click to expand...

I usually find that after a lot of editing I start to lose mental focus and find it gets quite difficult to tell whether a photo is reasonable.

When that happens I just pack up and do something else and come back to them a few days later.

That seems to help quite a bit - but find myself thinking "why on earth did I bother with that?" quite a bit!
.
 
When I first started with digital photography I used Photoshop Elements 4 and used every adjustment I could. The results were not good. I now use UFRaw and will only adjust exposure, colour temp, linearity and gamma - and then only slightly. If that does not produce a good picture I delete the file.
 
Livin The Dream said:
Incidentally, my output seems to have improve around the time when I moved over to Nikon, that is just coincidental. However, I do find the files just easier to work with. I have changed my shooting too, I tend to shoot manually for everything and expose for the elements that are the key parts, but certainly locking down the exposure has helped too, I pull files around much less than I used to.
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Often a change, any change, can give progress a kick up the backside.

Are you looking for greater consistency of "look" within shoots or between shoots?

Samples?
 
Thanks for the input all. I do think that there's a correlation with time and therefore experience of developing an eye for processing. WB is probably the most notable starting point that I found along time to get what I think to be 'thereabouts' quite quickly, especially in challenging lighting that skews the cameras best interpretation.

Alastair said:
Often a change, any change, can give progress a kick up the backside.

Are you looking for greater consistency of "look" within shoots or between shoots?

Samples
Click to expand...

I have done the odd wedding, and as a result of different light sources throughout the day, it has been tricky to find a good level of consistency at times. I do believe that if I did it every week, it would come together quicker. I don't see many pro wedding snappers using expo discs these days, that seemed popular in the early years of the digital age.

I am more thinking between shoots Alastair, how anal are people in starting with a solid base that's as controlled as possible. Or do you just develop an eye for it with practice? I note many studio shooters using colorcheckers etc but difficult on a fast paced day at say a wedding or lifestyle shoot.

My general shooting is starting to look more consistent over the last couple of years and I have been shooting properly about 6/7 years. It's also worth noting that I don't shoot allot, probably a couple of times a week and process once a week really, so that will have a bearing on progression, I do need to do more.

petersmart said:
I usually find that after a lot of editing I start to lose mental focus and find it gets quite difficult to tell whether a photo is reasonable
.
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I've found that regular breaks are a must when batch editing, but I still occasionally fall foul of that too. You should definitely have one last look over with fresh eyes. I posted a pic of my two daughters recently, shot at home with the studio gear, as soon as I took ten minutes to make a brew, I noticed the grey background had too much blue in it. Maybe I should be making notes of typical RGB values for consistency here.

john.margetts said:
When I first started with digital photography I used Photoshop Elements 4 and used every adjustment I could. The results were not good. I now use UFRaw and will only adjust exposure, colour temp, linearity and gamma - and then only slightly. If that does not produce a good picture I delete the file.
Click to expand...

That's what all beginners do I guess, unless you're mentored early on. You do need to learn how to see certain elements for yourself IMO.

When I break it down, there are two elements that create a consistency from shoot to shoot. That's consistent colour and tonal values (contrast).

I don't think posting a handful of examples would give a true reflection, maybe tracking back on my Flickr is a good starting point. Having said that, most of my family stuff (tends to be the bulk of my shooting) is private so even that's somewhat limited.
 
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One of the biggest issues I think, is that a lot of people lunge into LR or PS throwing presets around or just generally wanking about with the tools until they get something that looks good. Then they have no idea how they got there, and they don't understand how to arrive at the same result with, say, an image that's tonally different or varies in colour.

Make notes. Lots of notes.

Once you have started making notes you need to start understanding *what* you're doing when you muck about with curves or sliders. If you jack the blue curve, are you doing it because it looks nice, or are you doing it because you've made an informed decision that your midtones need more yellow ? If you're relying on feel and intuition rather than conscious decision you're going to struggle, as you won't necessarily understand how to impart the same visual feel to other images.

Some people are a lot better at "feeling" their way towards their "look" - I'm not one of them. If you have an image, or a couple of images that you think you want the others to match in terms of consistency, take some time to understand what it is about those images that you like, and how to get there, then start applying those decisions to your new work.
 
Denyerec said:
One of the biggest issues I think, is that a lot of people lunge into LR or PS throwing presets around or just generally wanking about with the tools until they get something that looks good. Then they have no idea how they got there, and they don't understand how to arrive at the same result with, say, an image that's tonally different or varies in colour.

Make notes. Lots of notes.

Once you have started making notes you need to start understanding *what* you're doing when you muck about with curves or sliders. If you jack the blue curve, are you doing it because it looks nice, or are you doing it because you've made an informed decision that your midtones need more yellow ? If you're relying on feel and intuition rather than conscious decision you're going to struggle, as you won't necessarily understand how to impart the same visual feel to other images.

Some people are a lot better at "feeling" their way towards their "look" - I'm not one of them. If you have an image, or a couple of images that you think you want the others to match in terms of consistency, take some time to understand what it is about those images that you like, and how to get there, then start applying those decisions to your new work.
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That's very well put and pretty much my understanding. Like everything, some people can just 'see' things better than others, but practice will help anyone. But like learning dodge and burn, you need to be able to see what's needed before just having a go.
 
Livin The Dream said:
But is it just another element that, given time and experience, you develop a better eye for, in time? Or do many little elements just happen to come together?
Click to expand...
•

PP is the last and a very consequent set of decisions
that will make or brake a shot ultimately.

But you are right in this that it is a maturing process.
One must learn all the tech and master it, this never
change. One must develop an own artistic intent and
taste and this always change.

Slowly for some but surely for all, it will all fall into place.
 
Grey card, grey card, grey card and calibrate your monitor
 
I think this really depends on what you're shooting and why. If its for a wedding or catalogue of products etc, consistency tends to be important and gray cards etc are very useful. If it's landscapes, portraits or personal work, then the 'feel' and style of the image becomes important.

I spent my first few years worrying i didn't seem to have a 'style' for my personal work and then I decided I didn't want one! Shooting different images and then processing them to look exactly the same is dull and uninspiring for me. When shooting for myself and my projects, I want each image to mean different things so WB, colour hues and tones etc change dramatically from image to image. Do I now have a style? I don't think I do but others have told me they think differently.

I definitely re-visit my shots, at least after 24 hours, before letting anyone else see them. As for technical issues, most of my shots now sit within the exposure range and if they don't, I dump them, if they do, I'm far more bothered about framing and 'feel' than anything else. I sometimes use filters, I sometimes don't, I don't care how I get the result as long as its the one I'm after.

Too many seem to get hung up on developing a 'style' imo, I don't care really, I'm more bothered about what the single image says and feels like. Through this however, you often naturally end up with some kind of general consistency. For example, I love playing with colour curve adjustments and that in itself starts to become something I generally always do...however, to me nothing is sacrosanct in my quest to make an image do what I want it to and thats create a 'feeling'. If I can't see that after a few re-visits, then it hasn't worked for me.
 
Rich_Ellis said:
<snip>

Too many seem to get hung up on developing a 'style' imo, I don't care really, I'm more bothered about what the single image says and feels like. Through this however, you often naturally end up with some kind of general consistency. For example, I love playing with colour curve adjustments and that in itself starts to become something I generally always do...however, to me nothing is sacrosanct in my quest to make an image do what I want it to and thats create a 'feeling'. If I can't see that after a few re-visits, then it hasn't worked for me.
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If you keep producing pictures you like because you like them you cannot avoid developing a style.
 
I don't believe I assumed any such thing. You may like many things, but the manner in which you like them will be fairly consistent.
 
I think it develops over time, annoyingly so, now I'm seeing greens and magenta in my whites and correcting them far more than I really need to haha
 
I do think a style comes with time, due to both mastering camera control - maybe shooting in manual and also in editing.. it is very easy to get the latest LR presets and apply to your photos for a while..
 
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