Hi,
I’m including a screen grab showing the video I would like to improve.
Of course, I could slap on a contrast and/or saturation filter and call it a day. But I would really like to hear from those of you that know what you’re doing. How could you improve this without going too overboard? (If contrast and saturation is the way to go so be it)
The colors are very accurate. So is the contrast. But it looks flat and dull to me. Does it to you?
Thank you in advance.
EDIT: BTW the kitten is not black it is gray. With light gray silver tips.
This looks like it came from a phone that has over-processed the image. Notice the white wall in the background. It is nowhere near bright white as a white wall should be in real life. Since the wall is white, everything else that is not white should appear darker. But that isn’t the case. The phone has radically boosted the midtones and also somewhat the shadows to make the image appear brighter than it is in real life. The color may be accurate, but the brightness levels across the tonal range are definitely not. The image looks flat because shadows have been lightened, such as the shadow under your hand. A weak shadow eliminates the sense of dimensionality.
It may be possible to undo the phone’s processing by adding a Color Grading filter, then raise the Highlights slightly, lower the Midtones quite a bit, and lower the Shadows a little bit. Tweak as you see fit. (Referring to the black-to-white slider bars by the color wheels.) The Contrast filter alone will probably not fix this because the brightness error caused by the phone is not consistent throughout the tonal range. Color Grading offers more control per range.
If you believe the phone is true to life for brightness levels as well, then the fix is to change the lighting in real life such that the shadows are more distinct. Contrasty lighting is the literal opposite of a flat image.
You are correct. I should have opened the blinds for more direct sun to increase contrast. As for the wall its an off white, what you see is below and left of the window. I left the blinds closed because kitty was facing away and I didn’t want her to go too dark in the face.
Android phone using Filmic Pro and I also have the Open Camera app. I lightened the image too much before shooting. I’m now going to reread your comment and see how it goes.
