iGary said:
OK.
#1 is the one I received in from the photographer.
#2 is my corrected version.
#3 is how my client thinks I should be correcting these images - with the highlight and shadow tool.
That said, I can't correct to #3. It looks blown out, over saturated and, well, not real. Sure, it's more "bright" and "colorful," but I correct my images to look as natural as possible. And sometimes I have to blow out areas of the image to give the whole image a better appearance.
[...]
Well, that really stings a bit because I spend hours making these photos look as natural and REAL as possible. Now I am at a loss. I basically told them that I didn't think #3 looked natural, but if that is what they want me to do, then so be it.
I just don't like doing something that goes against my every instinct as a photographer. Ugh.
For what it's worth, I find #1 to be the most pleasing to my eye. #2 I can accept, although there's something about it that doesn't look right to me (no idea what, just a feeling). #3 looks far too washed out; there's no way that I'd consider that a good image.
For instance: at the bottom left corner of the image, there's a mast of some sort (maybe a transmission tower?) I can make it out easily in the first image. The second image, it's visible, but a bit harder to make out. The third, it's next to impossible to see -- only its shadow tells you it's there.
Another point: the blue van or shed, about halfway up the image, roughly a third of the way in from the left hand side. First image, it looks completely natural. The second and third, it looks like it's a refugee from a creche ... and has been out in the sun too long.
Ultimately, if the client's paying, they're the ones who make the decisions. But at this point, I'd suggest trying to educate them. Maybe point out similar points to the ones I've made above -- look for solid reasons why the correction is misguided, and hopefully they'll listen. I don't know them, so I'd suggest not saying "this is wrong", but rather "this is misguided, because ..." Don't make them feel like you're putting them down, and you'll have a better chance.
(I had a minor argument with a friend over an image I shot; he said it was too soft, and I agreed, but I have a dislike of sharpening filters in Photoshop and similar -- I'm very sensitive to the banding that they can produce. He pointed out that the 20D has an antialiasing filter built in that tends to oversoften images ... I guess I need to play around with image correction and try to get a feel for what's good and what's excessive.)
Good luck.
