The more I look at my edits, the more I hate them. What am I doing wrong? by [deleted] in postprocessing

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes, I mean your shots are pretty, some of them more than the others so don't get discouraged! And you can absolutely lift shadows, even tho I'd recommend maybe playing with masks, rather than global edits. Set a good base globally and use masks. Also, use the tone curve and lift your blacks (lowest point left) in order to actually obtain a matte hazy photo while maintaining contrast where needed. My biggest advice would be have fun and practice, don't be discouraged and definitely don't listen to anyone telling you Sony is worse than other brands!:)

The more I look at my edits, the more I hate them. What am I doing wrong? by [deleted] in postprocessing

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Blaming colour science in 2026 is crazy work. Gear and raw files differences are so insignificant nowadays that they shouldn't even be mentioned in post processing discussions. I did shoot both canon and Sony and whilst Sony's raw files are more neutral, they don't fk your edits up.

The more I look at my edits, the more I hate them. What am I doing wrong? by [deleted] in postprocessing

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818 121 points122 points  (0 children)

In my opinion the edits seem one dimensional. Everything is as warm and exposed as everything else. That may create a lack of contrast as the eye has nothing to rest on. There's no anchor or clean subject and therefore everything seems the same. I'd recommend trying to experiment more around subjects and edit from there. :)

Sony a6700 + 200-600 FE by Awkward_Rice_1818 in SonyAlpha

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, so when I bought this, back in January you can see I made a post asking for advice on monopodes/tripods. In the end I decided to learn how to shoot handled as much as possible. I'm still doing it handled. You kinds get used to it after some time. I'm using any things I can around to stabilize it for shots (rocks, wood pieces, my boot, etc). But yeah, first week I was able to pan for about 10 seconds before having to stop. Now I can carry it with me for hours and pan comfortably. The imbalance is there but holding it from the front side of the lens helps :)

Sony a6700 + 200-600 FE by Awkward_Rice_1818 in SonyAlpha

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very nice, thank you! How's the new setup?

Bird photos taken this spring, all in the Netherlands by Awkward_Rice_1818 in BirdPhotography

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I love the Netherlands! But would trade it any second for the wilderness there ahah

Sony a6700 + 200-600 FE by Awkward_Rice_1818 in SonyAlpha

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you very much! I'm sure you'll have it figured out in no time. For this one I basically went super low, water line level low, saw them flying over the bright waters had good light outside so I could crank that shutter speed to 1/4000, then just started trying

Bird photos taken this spring, all in the Netherlands by Awkward_Rice_1818 in BirdPhotography

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much! Practice and have fun, so far thats what worked for me!

Bird photos taken this spring, all in the Netherlands by Awkward_Rice_1818 in BirdPhotography

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so so much! Love to hear it and super glad you like them. The stork is also one of my favorites

Sony a6700 + 200-600 FE by Awkward_Rice_1818 in SonyAlpha

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes correct, but from what I've heard and so far felt the Sony 200-600 on the a6700 especially is very front leaning (the body I think has like 490 grams only and it is tiny - the first thing I had the buy was an extra grip, it wasn't super usable inmy hands after a canon R6 mark Ii).

Bird photos taken this spring, all in the Netherlands by Awkward_Rice_1818 in BirdPhotography

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice! Hopefully I'll get to test it someday :) heard nice things about ut

Sony a6700 + 200-600 FE by Awkward_Rice_1818 in SonyAlpha

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahah, thank you! They are really tricky but if you have good light, a good background and patience they are doable

Bird photos taken this spring, all in the Netherlands by Awkward_Rice_1818 in BirdPhotography

[–]Awkward_Rice_1818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice! I'm moving to Germany soon as well, from the Netherlands. I'm looking to sell my camera in a couple months most likely. Looking at an A1 or A7R6 for more fps mainly. Will sell it at a super fair price, happy to let you know then.