Mood

Every once and a while, I like to look at old photos that I've taken and wonder if I can make a so-so photo look better with more post processing. And lately, I've been into giving photos a darker look by increasing shadows, upping the amount of black, and providing higher contrast.

In other words, introducing a dark mood.

As part of my random photo of the day that I've been doing in my Mastodon and Threads feeds, I come across photos that I have all but forgotten. For example, I came across a photo that I shot inside the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen, in France. It wasn't a bad shot but I wanted to add a touch more drama.

What do you think? The photo on the left is the original, post-processed image. On the right, I've added more black, increased the detail, and made it a touch grainier.

There's not a whole lot of change to this image but I think the one on the right just pops a bit more.

I also came across a shot I had taken of Candlemaker Row, in Edinburgh, Scotland. To me, the photo didn't hold much interest and so I didn't apply many changes in post processing. Here's the original photo.

For starters, there were two silver cars parked on the side of the road and down the street, and they detracted from the historic feeling of this neighbourhood. There was a red car that was only partially visible, sticking out from around a corner, but it didn't seem to draw any attention.

The sky was also washed out because it was late in the afternoon and there was a bit of haze in the air. And that late-afternoon light gave the photo a dull wash that made it not very interesting.

But I added some drama to the overall image by upping the darkness and contrast, and increasing shadow. Doing so allowed me to increase the colour saturation, and the overall change made me like the photo, so I shared it as a random photo of the day (I picked it randomly before I applied any edits).

The photo on the left is the original: the dramatic one is on the left.

But I still found that the silver cars took away some of the mood, and so I applied a little AI magic to remove them (courtesy of Google's Magic Eraser). Like I said, the red car didn't seem to garner as much attention, so I left it in.

What do you think? Does this use of adding mood and removing objects make for a better photo? Tell me what you think in the Comments section.

Happy Friday!