[AmieBear]

Hi all my camera always needs the flash even if its in quite a light room, this has cause all my photos to lack color, contrast and look quite washed out.
Is there a quick fix to add a bit of oomph back into my pics, hopefully i can put it into a photoshop action to save time.
Any suggestions on the best techniques is hugely appreciated.

[rab3rd]

You cant turn the flash off?

[mistermonday]

The technique will depend on how washed out the images are. Typically to add contrast back or rebuild the density of the image you might use a Curves / Level adj, or perhaps level, Adj Contrast, or some of the Blend modes such as Multiply. If you post a sample image here, you should be able to get some pertinent responses.
Regards, Murray

[AmieBear]

My camera just gives be dark almost black photos without it its a crummy camera and i will get a new one soon but im more concerned about the photos i alredy have can i do anything with those.

Here is what i mean it just looks so washed out to me anyway

[Swampy]

I didn't do much. Just a curves adjustment with the eyedroppers, cropped and added a vignette. It's down and dirty but I think it makes a better picture.

[AmieBear]

lovely thank you swampy what a differance!
my little boy is so pale anyway with the added flash he always looks so washed out.
he seems to have a bit of colour now

[Damo77]

Originally Posted by AmieBear

My camera just gives be dark almost black photos without it its a crummy camera and i will get a new one soon but im more concerned about the photos i alredy have can i do anything with those.

Here is what i mean it just looks so washed out to me anyway

Amie, that doesn't look washed out to me at all. Is your monitor calibrated?

[AmieBear]

no damien maybe i need to will calibrate and see if that looks any better

[dataflow]

doesnt look washed out to me either.

check the image on your camera preview screen

[0lBaldy]

AmieBear,

I have found that the only action that is consistent for all the pictures taken with my inexpensive digital camera is the sharpening.. It seems they all need about the same amount..

All the rest I would rather do individually anyway.. things like bringing out the shadows, taming the highlights, doing levels, curves, cropping, cloning and healing all need individual attention.. Once you get used to Photoshop and get into a routine it takes very little time..

Your picture looks pretty good to me and I think with a little practice with Photoshop and some patience you will have some very nice recorded memories..

[AmieBear]

thanks olbaldy that was very helpful.

[Damo77]

Originally Posted by AmieBear

no damien maybe i need to will calibrate and see if that looks any better

Yes, I can't recommend this enough. Even a simple calibration with something like Adobe Gamma is better than nothing. There's also Quick Gamma (http://www.quickgamma.de/indexen.html) - I've only read about it, never used it, but it might be useful.

[kona]

I'm with the others it doesn't look bad as far as exposure, I'd say cropping vertical is the way to go with an image like this to eliminate the distractions in the background. It might could use a little bump in contrast through curves but not much. Try calibrating as mentioned I think you'll see a big difference.

Another thing to consider is what your ISO on your camera is set at. On automatic mode a camera will determine whether or not it needs a flash output based on light and the shutter speed it's going to need. So try boosting your ISO to 400 if possible for indoor shots if you don't want the flash to fire, but keep in mind the image you posted if it was taken without a flash probably would have rendered darkness and shadows in his eyes unless there is another light source coming from in front of him.

[chillin]

I would correct the picture first, mainly using curves + gradients and then crop it.