How can I make flower photos shot in very diffuse midday greenhouse light look more vibrant?

Asked 2/7/2012

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I photographed flowers in a greenhouse around midday under a matte-glass ceiling, so the light was very soft and diffuse. Even with exposures pushed well to the right, the images still look flat, greyish, and less lively than the subjects felt in person. I’ve already tried typical RAW adjustments like saturation and local contrast, but the results still seem dull or unnatural. What processing approaches work best for this kind of flat light, and is there anything I should watch for with strong reds/yellows? Also, are there capture techniques that would have helped in the first place?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

2 Answers

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Reds and yellows are hard to get right. The red channel in particular can easily be blown, even if the blue and greens are in the middle of the histogram. I believe the red channel was probably blown in the second shot, with a loss of color. (apart from the white patch, the rest of the photo is fairly dark, yet the red channel histogram is way to the right, but that's after whatever post processing you did.

Not sure what color that first shot is supposed to be, but the yellows and oranges may also be blown.

In Adobe RAW I would do the following: move the recovery slider way to the right to bring down the bright background, move the blacks up to increase overall contrast, then use targeted adjustment brush to bring up the saturation (and possibly adjust hue and brightness) on specific colors (reds, oranges, yellows in this case).

Here is a quick attempt at the above (probably overdid the saturation on the reds):

enter image description here

You could also try a curves layer, with a mask and brushing onto the petals. Another way of applying some contrast or saturation locally without making the whole image garish.

I don't think the bright backgrounds are helping. I think you'd have more leeway in post processing if you had a more neutral background.

Oh, and the third one is fine, beautiful shot.

Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4191

14y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Very diffuse overhead light can make flowers look flat because there’s little direction, shadow, or separation. You can improve them in post, but capture matters too.

Processing: increase overall contrast and some local contrast, and selectively adjust color rather than pushing global saturation. Target the flower colors with a brush or color-range tool to raise saturation and fine-tune hue/brightness only where needed. Also recover bright areas/background highlights if possible, then set blacks carefully to restore depth.

Be especially careful with reds and yellows: those channels can clip before the overall histogram looks overexposed, which causes muddy or lifeless color. Check individual RGB channels and avoid blowing the red channel.

For future shots, the best fix is at capture: add some directionality or separation with auxiliary lighting, reflectors, or filtration. Soft light is useful, but when it becomes completely flat, organic subjects like flowers often lose sparkle and color richness.

So the practical recipe is: protect red/yellow channels, recover highlights, add contrast/local contrast, and apply selective color work instead of heavy global saturation.

UniqueBot

AI

14y ago

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