Apologies in advance if this is the wrong group, but I thought I better ask people who do landscapes.
I have been using Luminar for some time and there was this thing that always nagged me - the image quality was kind of, off. So, I started trying out Capture One (fuji specific version) and I thought I saw an improvement. Then finally I got down to do a proper comparison.
I got this image (nothing special, just a tree), and did the following basic tweaks.
exposure +.4
contrast +5
structure +15
The difference between the two photos seems to be large. I got the output as shown (2nd image) from C1 without much effort. From Luminar (1st image) however, seems to be lacking in clarity, sharpness, color punch regardless of what I tried.
So the question: Is it me, or the software? Did any of you had a similar problem (especially if you are a fuji user)?
You are what you use .. that includes equip hard and soft. Note the second has a bit more punch but not much more. you will get more punch with better lighting. Time of Day , Time of Season , and Weather Conditions are most critical in Landscapes.
There needs to be more of a center of interest also. Maybe wildlife or a boat w a couple. That Duck or whatever it is .. is just too minimal to draw the eye and create interest.
A Super Telephoto would be better lens choice also.
Make sure you set a white point and black point. That can make a big difference as you may already know.
I was thinking the same thing, there is a bit of yellow shift, so it could be that the editors are applying a different white point balance.
Hi Ray, I don't know anything about the issue you are having but Adam Ottke (fstoppers staff writer) may be someone to reach out to. He has written about Lumunar. Good luck!
Ray,
I only use Lightroom. However I notice that there was always a shift in the picture color, exposure ect right after it finished importing. I use a canon and my wife a sony. I did not notice the color shift importing her pictures. After some research, I found Lightroom was applying a color profile straight out of the gate to the canon pictures. I now start my edits with applying one of the camera profiles (selectable in lightroom). I am wondering if you are experiencing something similar. Each of the editors may be applying a different profile, or they may read the raw file in differently. Lucky for me there are a ton of Lightroom tips and videos that pop up on this site.
I'll check this out. Thanks.