How to make background clear ?

S

SJD

Senior Member
Hi,

I recently started on taking landscape pictures. And I'm having an issue making sure that background is clear.

Perhaps this is an issue in my country where most backgrounds are shown with a layer (even to the naked eye) of "i don't know what". May be dust or may be mist.

I'd really like to hear from you what i can do about it

1. Pre shoot
2. Post shoot

I have attached a sample of what i mean here.


DSC_0310.jpg

DSC_0316.jpg
 
M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
If you want to remove the haze then from what i hear you need LR and use a slider called clarity,i dont have it but some one with it will ime sure edit one of your images to show you.
 
S

SJD

Senior Member
Thanks. But I don't have LR. Are there free simpler software like Picassa and Windows products that can help me with this ?
 
B

Blacktop

Senior Member
SJD said:
Hi,

I recently started on taking landscape pictures. And I'm having an issue making sure that background is clear.

Perhaps this is an issue in my country where most backgrounds are shown with a layer (even to the naked eye) of "i don't know what". May be dust or may be mist.

I'd really like to hear from you what i can do about it

1. Pre shoot
2. Post shoot

I have attached a sample of what i mean here.


View attachment 175684

View attachment 175685
Click to expand...

Are you sure it's not fog? maybe it's morning mist, or maybe the highlights are blown on the second pic. Can't tell much without EXIF data.
Is this how you see it with your eyes before you take a shot?
 
S

SJD

Senior Member
This was around 10am and with blight sun light. I think its haze... not fog or morning mist. Our part of the world is bit dusty anyway.
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
One thing that you can do is to expose for the bright sky/background and the in post processing bring up the shadow areas. But you would need post processing software.

Lets get back to basics first. Are you shooting in JPEG or RAW? If RAW then you will have to do post processing.If JPEG then make sure you are shooting i JPWG Fine Large. That will get you the best file to work with. ONe thing you can do it to adjust the sharpness of your camera in the menu, I will attach the directions at the end of this post. LEt us know what mode you are shooting in and as many details s you can so we can help you more things like what mode Auto, Program, Aperture, Shutter or Manual

If you are shooting JPG I would suggest that you use the Fine>>Large setting and also set your camera for better sharpness.



Go into your Menus and highlight the "Shooting" menu (the camera icon)

Drop down to "Picture Controls" and click right one time.

From here, highlight "Standard" and then click right one time.

From this settings menu, increase the "Sharpness" setting to "7".

Drop down and increase the "Saturation" setting +1 notch on the slider.

Press "OK" to exit the menus and you're done.


 
S

SJD

Senior Member
Thanks Don... I was shooting RAW. I will try to move to JPEG and the settings you suggested.

On the question of RAW and post production. Do I have any easy options from software like Picassa or anyother. Without having to dig into Photoshop or Lightroom ?
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
SJD said:
Thanks Don... I was shooting RAW. I will try to move to JPEG and the settings you suggested.

On the question of RAW and post production. Do I have any easy options from software like Picassa or anyother. Without having to dig into Photoshop or Lightroom ?
Click to expand...

RAW will never look as good as JPEG without post processing. There are some basic programs that will work. I would start with the Nkon software [h=1]ViewNX-i . This will give you some basic editing and it is compatible with your camera[/h]
 
W

wornish

Senior Member
Just had a quick play in Lightroom and used the dehaze and clarity sliders. plus tweaked shadows and highlights which are well blown.

It would work a lot better if you had shot in RAW but given the jpgs you posted this gives you an idea of whats possible. I have purposely overdone it.

dehazed1.jpg


dehazed2.jpg
 
B

Blacktop

Senior Member
When I see a scene like that, I don't even shoot it.

For you, it may depend. If this is where you live, and have access to this shot any time you want, then I say come back another day , or another time of the day to shoot this scene. If this is like a once in a lifetime shot, then shoot it the best you can.
There is no law that says, you have to shoot everything you see.


 
S

SHAkers718

Senior Member
My suggestion would be to use a Haze filter or graduated Neutral Density filter on the lens. I know you don't have Lightroom but I have also used the graduated filter tool in Lr6 in post processing with noticeable improvement. The Creative Cloud version has added a Dehaze filter (exclusive to cloud subscribers):

New Features for Lightroom CC


  • Dehaze
    • Many outdoor scenes have some amount of haze due to atmospheric conditions. Dehaze is a new feature for removing/adding haze and fog from pictures. The user can control how much haze to remove by adjusting a new slider in the Effects panel in the Dehaze section. This feature can also be used in the other direction to increase the amount of haze.
    • TIP. Adjust the white balance of the image before applying the Dehaze control.
 
S

SHAkers718

Senior Member
SJD said:
This was around 10am and with blight sun light. I think its haze... not fog or morning mist. Our part of the world is bit dusty anyway.
Click to expand...

When possible try to avoid shooting mid-day. If you're traveling you may be limited but it's generally best to shoot during the golden hours when lighting conditions are less harsh.
 
S

SJD

Senior Member
Thank you all for contributions. It seems I surely need something like LR because in my part of the world this is a common occurrence. Let me work on the original image and get back to you.
 
R

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
My first thought, and the adjustment @wornish did validates it in my opinion, is simply that the highlights are blown out due to matrix metering. If you exposed for the background, you would be able to see the clouds and blue sky. The shaded area under the tree would be dark, but then you could pull the details from the shadows in the raw file.

You basically have a scene with too much dynamic range, so need to make sure you don't blow out the highlights so that you can bring out more detail in post. Or, meter for the sky, and add off camera lighting to raise the shadow areas up so that they fit into the dynamic range of the camera.
 
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