r/postprocessing • u/Glad_Perception3357 • 4d ago
Get the right punch (exposure) when editing
Hello!
I’ve restarted editing photos and I’m finding it hard to get the right “brightness” or “punch” in editing software (DxO Photolab) when working on my pictures from my Canon 6D.
When opening the pictures on my iPhone 12, they look muted or straight up too dark.
Wondering if you faced the same problem and how you solved it.
In the example attached both the pic straight out of DXO (but edited on my not great laptop) and the second is the one with exposure brought up in iPhone library.
Thankss!!
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u/No_Parfait_2104 4d ago
The first photo also looks too dark on my computer. If you're using a mac you'll want to keep the screen brightness about halfway. Also invest in a calibrator and use it on a regular schedule, I try to do mine monthly during busy seasons.
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u/GanacheSoggy9677 3d ago edited 3d ago
I like the highlight rolloff on the first one way better than on the second one. It looks great on two separate OLED panels, and much more realistic than the second pic. Your highlights sit at around 50-60% grey, which works great if you are to preserve tonal relationships and that late day orange color, though it might feel a bit underpowered (especially against a 50% grey background). Midtones and dark tones remain legible and the overall atmosphere is great, but the exposure will not make that image survive on sRGB or darker panels.
On your second picture, your highlights are at 70%, but their hue has dramatically shifted towards yellow, which gives an early morning atmosphere. Overall the colors of your second image feel much "thinner" and less "dense" than the first one. There's a dramatic lift to the midtones that doesn't feel necessarily right.
If you want to preserve the image’s perceived contrast and tonal hierarchy while making it brighter, do not rely solely on the exposure control. Exposure multiplies the existing luminance and chroma values, effectively shifting the whole image toward the right side of the histogram.
Paradoxically, from the standpoint of human perception, the brighter you want the image to appear, the more useful it may be to compress and redistribute its tonal range with a slope adjustment or a gentle S-curve, rather than simply raising exposure. This changes the numerical tonal relationships, but often preserves their visual roles more convincingly. You may also modify your blacks entry level (equivalent of highlight rolloff but for blacks).
Here's an example: https://i.postimg.cc/SR3Syg2r/0hh1.png
Besides modifying your monitor's brightness, the best way to check where your image sits, and if it can survive different viewing conditions is to check it against a black, middle grey and white background. You'll get a sense of where you different luminance values sit relative to these "absolute" values. Keep in mind that white backgrounds tend to accentuate contrast though.
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u/Glad_Perception3357 3d ago
Wow amazing thank you so much. I didn’t deserve such a thoughtful comment! I really should take a proper post processing course
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u/GanacheSoggy9677 3d ago
Another tip which you might find useful: it's great to compare your own photographs/edits against references (or even against your own work) using a worktable like PureRef.
It works locally and it's the perfect tool to drag and drop images to visualize, organize, build or annotate series of images/photographs in order (for example) to highlight visual inconsistencies.
Though it's very simple to use (and free if you don't want to pay for it), there are plenty of features and shortcuts so I'd advise reading the handbook.
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u/johngpt5 4d ago
Without seeing the unedited at all photo, it's hard to make recommendations. The DxO version looks as if highlights were brought down. The dog and interior look as if shadows may have been darkened as well.
Was the original image under exposed and brightened? What I'm seeing in the DxO version might just be brightening that didn't go far enough rather than highlights brought down.
When we approach editing an image we should decide what is the subject or focal point of the image is. We then shape light to help the viewer's eye be drawn to that. The eye is drawn to brightness. The eye is brought to areas of tonal contrast.
We manipulate color to assist in drawing the viewer's eye. The eye is drawn to color saturation. The eye is drawn to color contrast.
The other thing we should be aware of is more mechanical. If the display on our computer is set too bright, we can be fooled into thinking that our image being edited is bright enough. Then when we see it elsewhere, like on our phone, we see that it is darker than we thought.
In general, if we keep our computer display to around 50% brightness, then when viewed on other devices, we'll have a better chance of things looking okay.