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This is a pretty subjective question, but I want to know what other people do. I personally find myself obsessed with turning up the contrast while post-processing. I'm afraid that my digital workflow is a little one-dimensional because of this. What kind of shots/subjects look bad with high contrast? How do I know if there's too much contrast in my photos? What are the other tweaks you use to make your photos "pop out"?
You have many other options to making your photos pop. In addition to contrast you can increase sharpness and saturation and adjust your brightness. These three are easily changed in DPP.
IMO there is too much contrast when you start to lose your midtones, but this is all relative. It depends on what feeling you are trying to portray.
-Brent
when is too much contrast undesirable?
when it becomes like a drug that you can't live without.
I'd say, when it's distractingly unbelievable (which is pretty much only the case when you're applying it to low contrast content ) or you're blowing out valuable detail in your highlights or dark areas.
It's about judgment, and the art of manipulating your curves. I typically find that making the contrast curve sharper in the midtones allows the most perceived contrast, and compress the dark areas and highlights to alleviate loss of detail, though how you do that will depend on the content.
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Originally Posted by Colin
Agreed. The only time I go overboard on contrast is for more abstract art (especially B&W). With most everything else I try to go for believable realism.