In recent discussions image editing examples have been an item of interest. Much like cooking, how you get to the final image and what it looks like is a personal taste. The following is an example of how I cooked up a recent image of mine.
Photo details: X-E1, XF35. RAF file. Tripod mounted, timed release. A stack of ND filters and a polarizer. ISO400, f8, 30 seconds. Dark and damp area, a bit miserable to be precise. LR 4.4 on a Mac.
I import all images as-is making no changes to the batch. I've yet to find a magic bullet of edits that works with all images from a particular camera. I quickly go through the images and hit X to mark the ones that are junk, then cmd-delete to delete the X marked ones. Then I make a second pass through all the remaining images for a second X marking pass, then a second delete. Once that is done I'm off to the Develop tab...
Initial Image
View attachment 10329
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.41.57 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
WB
This image needs help. I start from the top of the edits bar (on the right) and work my way down (apart from one exception). To begin with, the white balance is off. It was dark and I had a stack of filters in front of the lens so that is no surprise. First I hit WB "Auto" and see where that gets me. It is either good, it is ok and needs a tiny bit of slider tweaking or it is so far off I need to use the eye dropper and find a gray target on my image. In this case "Auto" worked good but the water is a bit too blue. No worries, I will fix that later.
View attachment 10330
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.43.32 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Auto Tone
Next I try "Auto" under the Tone section. Hey if it works, less work for me. Most times it is just a good starting point. In this case, Auto did an ok job but it made the entire image much brighter than I wanted
View attachment 10331
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.43.40 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
So I left all the other changes "Auto" made as in and brought only Exposure back to zero.
View attachment 10332
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.43.45 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Tone Curve
Next I drop down into Tone Curve and add 20 points to the "Lights" area. My image is better now, but still not bright enough overall.
View attachment 10333
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.44.45 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
So I got back into Tone and bring the Exposure up until I like the final result. The photo is still dark, but it was dark when I shot it and I want to keep it that way.
View attachment 10334
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.45.02 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
I got back down into Tone and lower the Darks down a bit to taste.
View attachment 10335
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.45.40 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Saturation
In this photo I like the WB for everything but the water, so I want to fix that. I also want to boost the color of the moss on the rocks. Here is what I did
View attachment 10336
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.46.12 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Sharpening and Noise Reduction
For sharpening I zoom in 100% to an area of detail. I think hold down the option button while moving the 4 sharpening sliders from top to bottom (this makes your image go B&W while you move the sliders). I'm looking to get the most detail without making a mess.
View attachment 10337
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.47.22 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Then I add a little bit of noise reduction and assess if I need to increase "Sharpening Amount" any after the NR. Most times I do not.
View attachment 10338
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.47.44 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Lens Correction
I provide the tool the details it wants (camera/lens) and then add back a bit of the vignette it took away.
View attachment 10339
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.48.28 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Camera Calibration
Last item, I try the custom camera calibration I have for my X-E1 to see if that makes me happy or not. Sometimes it does...sometimes it doesn't. In this case, I like the Adobe color better. If you have a custom camera profile you can start your edits by applying it first then going from there, it is up to you. Adobe should have put this at the very top of the edit stack, but that is ok
View attachment 10340
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.48.49 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Final Image: Before and After
View attachment 10341
DSCF5471-2 by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
View attachment 10342
DSCF5471 by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
So that is it. While each image requires different edits, I can take a group of similar photos - edit one then highlight the remainder and hit the Sync button and it applies it to all.
Here is a Flickr set with all the images: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjEb4xLW
- tdp
Photo details: X-E1, XF35. RAF file. Tripod mounted, timed release. A stack of ND filters and a polarizer. ISO400, f8, 30 seconds. Dark and damp area, a bit miserable to be precise. LR 4.4 on a Mac.
I import all images as-is making no changes to the batch. I've yet to find a magic bullet of edits that works with all images from a particular camera. I quickly go through the images and hit X to mark the ones that are junk, then cmd-delete to delete the X marked ones. Then I make a second pass through all the remaining images for a second X marking pass, then a second delete. Once that is done I'm off to the Develop tab...
Initial Image
View attachment 10329
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.41.57 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
WB
This image needs help. I start from the top of the edits bar (on the right) and work my way down (apart from one exception). To begin with, the white balance is off. It was dark and I had a stack of filters in front of the lens so that is no surprise. First I hit WB "Auto" and see where that gets me. It is either good, it is ok and needs a tiny bit of slider tweaking or it is so far off I need to use the eye dropper and find a gray target on my image. In this case "Auto" worked good but the water is a bit too blue. No worries, I will fix that later.
View attachment 10330
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.43.32 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Auto Tone
Next I try "Auto" under the Tone section. Hey if it works, less work for me. Most times it is just a good starting point. In this case, Auto did an ok job but it made the entire image much brighter than I wanted
View attachment 10331
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.43.40 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
So I left all the other changes "Auto" made as in and brought only Exposure back to zero.
View attachment 10332
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.43.45 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Tone Curve
Next I drop down into Tone Curve and add 20 points to the "Lights" area. My image is better now, but still not bright enough overall.
View attachment 10333
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.44.45 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
So I got back into Tone and bring the Exposure up until I like the final result. The photo is still dark, but it was dark when I shot it and I want to keep it that way.
View attachment 10334
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.45.02 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
I got back down into Tone and lower the Darks down a bit to taste.
View attachment 10335
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.45.40 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Saturation
In this photo I like the WB for everything but the water, so I want to fix that. I also want to boost the color of the moss on the rocks. Here is what I did
View attachment 10336
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.46.12 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Sharpening and Noise Reduction
For sharpening I zoom in 100% to an area of detail. I think hold down the option button while moving the 4 sharpening sliders from top to bottom (this makes your image go B&W while you move the sliders). I'm looking to get the most detail without making a mess.
View attachment 10337
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.47.22 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Then I add a little bit of noise reduction and assess if I need to increase "Sharpening Amount" any after the NR. Most times I do not.
View attachment 10338
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.47.44 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Lens Correction
I provide the tool the details it wants (camera/lens) and then add back a bit of the vignette it took away.
View attachment 10339
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.48.28 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Camera Calibration
Last item, I try the custom camera calibration I have for my X-E1 to see if that makes me happy or not. Sometimes it does...sometimes it doesn't. In this case, I like the Adobe color better. If you have a custom camera profile you can start your edits by applying it first then going from there, it is up to you. Adobe should have put this at the very top of the edit stack, but that is ok
View attachment 10340
Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.48.49 PM by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
Final Image: Before and After
View attachment 10341
DSCF5471-2 by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
View attachment 10342
DSCF5471 by Photos By 夏天, on Flickr
So that is it. While each image requires different edits, I can take a group of similar photos - edit one then highlight the remainder and hit the Sync button and it applies it to all.
Here is a Flickr set with all the images: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjEb4xLW
- tdp
