Adjusting the levels in photoshop

[gothra]

When I take pictures of my geckos, I do not use an overhead light, I rely on the natural light that comes through the window. Plus I prefer taking pics in late afternoons, so my geckos don't freak out or close their eyes in the very bright light. However, the pictures will turn out rather dim, and so I need to adjust the levels in photoshop to make it brighter.

I don't sell any geckos, I'm just posting these pics to share with everyone; so do you think its acceptable to adjust pics using photoshop, or do you think I'm cheating?

Left: original pic with greyish tone; Right: photoshop adjusted to make whiter and brighter background.

 

[Ian S.]

When lightening photos in photo shop it does tend to saturate the true colors of the gecko. It appears to have done so a bit in those photos. Of course you would be the best judge of that.

 

[LeosForLess]

Maybe if you turned the contrast down a little bit after you did that? Or if theres a way to only change the background and not the gecko?

 

[gothra]

I suppose I can use my eyes to change the hue of the pics (to match the true colors of the gecko), but then I might be doing to much tempering to the original pic.

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

I would be very careful when adjusting photos (with any photo editing software). If you go too overboard, they will be questionable.

I don't think the 1st photo looks bad at all.

I know somewhere on the forums their was this link on how to make a light tent, and it works great from what I've seen of pictures posted. I've never done it myself (I plan to set one up), but it might help your lighting issues.

 

[nicolenadia]

To me, the gecko looks like it has neon glowing spots. I have never seen that color in a gecko, but maybe I am just slow and are not keeping up with these fantastic looking morphs. I use photoshop every day for my job. I only feel its cheating when you boost the saturation a rediculous amount and then the gecko looks unreal. Whitning the background should not be frowned upon. check out my avitar. If you were a journalist and worried about ethics, than you would never do that, but thats not the issue here. I agree, you need a bit more contrast and if you bracket your photos, you will get one that is the perfect amount of contrast. Other than that, direct flash tends to show the brightest, but leaves very black shadows that can make the photo look bad. If you have a white wall right next to the table in which you are photographing, bounce the flash off of that and bracket your shots. Also, the mere fact that you are shooting on white paper, bounces so much light that it affects the look of the gecko. Stone is nice to shot on or anything that isn't really white ir shiney. Something that will absorb more light instead of reflect it. Softbox tents are the best way to go and from your photos that is what it looks like you are using??? The newest photoshop also has Exposure/Shadows adjustments which rocks. I think they bottom one is fine, minus your hand....lol.

 

[Leopardgeckopunk]

I don't adjust levels at all. I find that doing this does not give the true representation of what your gecko looks like... I use a bunch of lights from different angles...

 

[paulnattress]

I've got one of these cheap light tents from Lastolite - http://www.ephotomaker.co.uk/. I haven't used it for any gecko photos (we've had our Shazzrah for less than a week and want her to get used to us first) but it works really well to get good lighting.

I found that using a normal table lamp doesn't provide enough light so I screwed a 150watt outdoor security lamp onto a tripod and I use that. It heats up a bit (so you have to be careful with handling it/storing it) but I suppose the heat may help the gecko in the tent (although I don't think much heat actually gets through to the inside of the tent).

 

[robin]

as far as i am concerned if it not altering the coloring of the gecko. i do not see a problem. now crossing the line is altering the photo so to enhance the colors or eyes (color) of the geckos. basically manipulating the photo