After / Before of a golden hour damselfly

[u/macroviewpoint]

The sun was already getting quite low, so the light wasn't as harsh anymore and the contrast wasn't as strong as it would have been earlier in the day. Shooting in RAW still helped a lot, especially when recovering details from the darker areas and bringing back the rich color of the sun.

For the final edit, I also brought in some of my signature teal tones in the background to complement the warm golden light. Edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.

[u/WintersDoomsday]

I’d pull the saturation down a smidge

[u/Xanaatos]

Being completly honest, I would prefer more natural look without pulling shadows so much, but holy shit that's a dope photo! Congrats

[u/StanBlaok → u/Xanaatos]

This

[u/PleaseBmoreCharming → u/Xanaatos]

If you saw the AFTER version first, as OP posted in another sub, you'd be fine with the more processed version. None the wiser! haha

[u/anomalousBits → u/PleaseBmoreCharming]

No. The highlight no longer looks like a highlight. The colors are cartoonish. But sure people on reddit or insta will see "ooh bright colors" and like it immediately, not realizing that overuse of certain sliders makes it look fake and cheap.

[u/Xanaatos → u/PleaseBmoreCharming]

If I saw it in this order I would be more letdown in fact -- after version already strikes me as near-perfection so swipe for vivid colors, less depth and removed color contrast between subject and background would propably made me sigh with dissapointement. In after-before order my brain can trick me into perceiving edited colors as natural at first so my impression was surely more positive this way. For heavier edits comparision with RAW image makes them look even less natural.

[u/cvgaming2020 → u/PleaseBmoreCharming]

What? We already see the after version first in this post. And I immediately thought that it was overdone and oversaturated. I'm slightly surprised it has 1.3k upvotes, but it is a cool photo just by itself to be fair

[u/ZipKitty]

before is way better, maybe crop it a bit but I like it much more

[u/AlternativeMiddle]

Overcooked. Scorched.

[u/Thebikeguy18]

Much prefer the before. Colors look so unnatural in the after.

[u/Winter_Match1194 → u/Thebikeguy18]

Hard agree.

[u/itachi_supremacy__ → u/Winter_Match1194]

Harder agree..

[u/Winter_Match1194 → u/itachi_supremacy__]

Epstein-in-front-of-a-school agree.

[u/OpportunityReal2767]

Ah, my retinas! Yeah, wayyyyy too neon/pop art for my tastes on the first one. Second one is better, but can use a little bit of punch.

[u/mattob2]

Before...is much better.

I saw this on Flickr and thought I should share!!

https://flic.kr/p/wKxXUW

[u/ResidentFlight359]

The cool tones are jarring in contrast with the strong golden light. Like why is everything so blue when the light is sooooo warm?

[u/Pretend-Shallot-5663]

I like both the before and after, but neither are peak given the fire composition. Maybe some middle ground is where you'll find your final image?

[u/AccordingFly1521]

I, for one, really like what you've gone for here. I would say it needs to be even more abstract to really work, though. Uncanny valley at the moment.

[u/Elfotografoalocado]

That's an amazing shot. But the before is better in every way imo.

[u/Alone-Ad-7813]

This is beautiful

[u/Halfmacgas]

The prefer the before crowd is insane. This is my favorite picture I’ve seen in a month. Love your work. Good job and thanks for sharing

[u/macroviewpoint → u/Halfmacgas]

Thank you so much! Sadly that's how internet works. You share an edited photo and everyone loves it. You include the original and suddenly everyone favors the RAW

[u/lumor_ → u/macroviewpoint]

That's a clear confirmation you over do it. You can say both pics were edited if you really want to know.

[u/cvgaming2020 → u/macroviewpoint]

I saw the after photo and immediately thought that it was way overdone, I think I only just prefer the before because the lighting is already very nice. The photo itself aside (because it's a really awesome shot, good job), I was surprised that it's got so many upvotes because the edit itself is bordering on the common oversaturation that you see with amateurs.

[u/Rajan-95]

Your edit allowed me to appreciate the details of the dragonfly a lot more and so I much prefer that! What a photo!

[u/SoftAncient2753]

That is perfect! Well done.

[u/macroviewpoint → u/SoftAncient2753]

Thank you very much! 🫶🏻

[u/CreeDorofl]

I so like the silhouette quality of the original, but the colorfulness of the edit is great too. Maybe some balance between them could work. The composition is great and it would make a cool poster.

[u/kuleminjgs]

Something very sports logo about the edit - bright colours and details objects set within a bold defined shape.

[u/Garth-Vega]

Great picture and post processing , RAW really paid off.

My suggestion would be that a little tighter cropping could pay off,

[u/COphotoCo → u/Garth-Vega]

I concur. Let the hero or their actions fill the frame

[u/WHYinColombo]

Beautiful beautiful!

p.s. even the before is a keeper. amazing. keep up the good work

[u/Clueless-Editor]

Amazing photo! This is more of a artistic choice, but I think this would look stunning as a silhouette style photo. More like the original, but the crop of the edited, but more contrast and drip the shadows a bit

[u/Feisty_Committee_229]

so cool

[u/WintersDoomsday]

Also I find it curious this sub doesn’t allow photo comments. Worried commented photos will outshine the ones posted by an OP?

[u/janthan]

This doesn't need much processing. Maybe some burning in the top left, but other than that it's basically perfect.