Was reorganizing some of my storage last night and came across this sunset shot from a trip to Grand Cayman a while back and decided to revisit it and focus on some of the new retouching methods I’ve learned since then. I still clearly remember the day as one of the best sunsets I’ve seen, because the sky looked like it was on fire. Caribbean sunsets really are the best. Here’s a brief step-by-step on how I did it:
Lightroom Adjustments
- Straighten horizon
- Reduce the ‘Blacks’ slider to eliminate any black clipping in the histogram.
- Increase the ‘Recovery’ slider to recover some lost detail in the highlights, eliminating as much white clipping as possible.
- Adjust white balance
- Export to Photoshop
Photoshop CS3 Adjustments
- Create a ‘Curves’ adjustment layer to increase overall contrast.
- Create another ‘Curves’ adjustment layer only affecting the sky to add a bit more contrast to the clouds.
- Added a ‘Photo Filter’ adjustment layer, with a warming filter, to warm up the scene a bit.
- Dodged and burned a bit in the clouds and the suns rays to bring them out a bit more.
- Flatten image, convert to LAB color.
- Use the ‘Apply Image’ to give the color a bit more punch. Settings: Soft Light blending, ‘B’ channel. (The ‘B’ channel in LAB mode controls the yellow to blue spectrum)
- Convert back to RGB
- Duplicate background layer, use High-Pass Filter for sharpening (4px). For those not familiar with the high pass method, Leggnet has a great write-up.
- From there I set the high-pass layer to soft light, flattened the image, save and brought back to Lightroom and VOILA.
Sorry I didn’t get the chance to do screenshot throughout the process, was kinda late last night when I did it and I was jamming to get through it. As always, if you have any questions, hit me up in the comments. Oh and if you like it, don’t forget to add to your faves on flickr 
After a recent discussion with a fellow photographer who is just beginning to use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, I was inspired to do a quick run-through of my process. I use Lightroom as my organizational tool as well as for most post processing and have since its initial beta. Its hands-down my favorite photography related application. It contains nearly all the tools I need to get my images where they need to be in a very intuitive interface, making the sometimes arduous task of organizing and retouching much simpler.
The following is Part 1 in a 2 parter about my entire Lightroom workflow. I’m using Lightroom 2 Beta, but everything in this post applies to the 1.x version as well, so no worries. Full workflow for organization and tagging after the jump…
Continue reading ‘CameraPorn’s Photoshop Lightroom Workflow Part 1: Importing & Organizing’
For those of you that are familiar with our recent blog project “Revisit and Retouch” you’ll recognize this image. I provided CameraPorn readers with a set of three bracketed exposures to have a go at creating their own unique version by any means necessary. The image above is not only my entry to the project, but also an exercise in retouching that focuses on the common practice of compositing multiple, bracketed exposures to create a final image that better represents the scene as viewed by the human eye… In more ‘technical’ terms, an image with a higher dynamic range.
Before getting into the nitty-gritty of how I came to this final image, it’s important to understand what I mean by “higher dynamic range.” Many of you are probably thinking, oh yeah, he means ‘HDR’ imagery like what you create with a program such as Photomatix and see plastered all over flickr, but you’re wrong. As neato as those images can look, they are rarely executed in a way that brings the final image to appear as the scene actually looked to the human eye, which in my opinion, is where the true value lies in creating higher dynamic range images. Creating a tone-mapped HDR image in an HDR program usually leads to oversaturated, dream-like and haloed images which look pretty cool but can be created by almost anybody with Photomatix and some bracketed images with little to no skill involved in most cases. Now don’t get me wrong there are some incredibly talented HDR ‘artists’ out there whose work amazes me, but the general image you see on flickr looks too fake for my tastes, and besides today we’re talking about using good old Photoshop and Lightroom. To see how I did it and learn a bit more about dynamic range, read on… Continue reading ‘Howto: Create Higher Dynamic Range With Bracketed Exposures’
Seeing that as I’m writing this I am mid-travel on my way to Trinidad, I felt it appropriate to talk a little bit about gear safety while traveling. As seasoned CameraPorn readers may know from previous posts, I from time-to-time travel to Trinidad (read here, here and here). This and a recent, horrible gear theft experience of a friend of mine (more on that later), got me thinking a little bit more about gear safety. Now I’m not talking about professional swimsuit photographers off to Bali, or insane conflict photographers to a war zone. I’m talking about you, and me and most of the readers of this blog… serious hobbyists, traveling for fun and shooting pleasure. For me these trips usually mean a hot, sweaty, foreign country, though the tips I’m going to share can apply to almost anything from a day trip to the desert or an adventure to remote villages in India.
And so we begin, 6 ways to keep your gear happy, safe and sound during your travels.
Continue reading ‘Wanna Get Your Gear Stolen or Damaged While Traveling? Don’t Read This.’
Canon 24-70mmL, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0.125s
I thought I would take a little time and whip up an article about some photography basics. Please, please note the use of the word “basics” in that last sentence. If you’re been shooting for any appreciable length of time then you’re probably not going to get too much out of this. But given that we’re smack in the middle of the present giving time of year, it’s likely that in a few days there’s going to be a glut of new DSLR owners out there. What I’m aiming for is the article I wish I’d found when I first got my camera, to help explain the relationship between three critically important parameters: the ISO speed, aperture (or f-stop number), and shutter speed.
Continue reading ‘Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed - The Good Kind of Threesome’
Ryan has already written up some tips for taking concert shots. Over the second half of this year, I’ve had the opportunity to shoot at a bunch of shows so I thought I would also weigh in with some of the things that I’ve managed to figure out so far. I concur with him that it’s an interesting kind of challenge. You’re in very low light, and if you’re shooting rock shows as I have been, the subjects are typically moving pretty fast. So, without further delay, here are some pointers that you may find useful if you’re in a similar situation.
Continue reading ‘More Thoughts on Concert Photography’
Happy Eel. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago Canon EOS 30D + 24-70 f/2.8 L | 1/60 | f/2.8 | 70mm | ISO 800
In an effort to bring you guys more posts, this is the first of our new “Quick Tips” category, where we will briefly go through some tried and true methods for different types of photography and share some good old photo porn. Get the tips and photos after the jump…
Continue reading ‘6 Tips for Bulletproof Aquarium Photography’
If you are like me, and your camera comes with you nearly everywhere, and isn’t always in a soft cushy case, doing what you can to protect it is important. Though today’s DSLRs tend to be relatively rugged when it comes to build quality, with magnesium or aluminum alloy bodies coated with rubber, especially from the pro-sumer level up, The LCDs are the largest chink in the armor. LCDs are notoriously prone to scratches and dings, but can be protected very simply and inexpensively.
There are several options available for LCD protection, some cumbersome, some ridiculous and one that is ideal. Read about it after the jump…
Continue reading ‘How do you protect your camera’s LCD?’
The Before
Lonely Bird - Before^
Brian Auer of Epic Edits recently posted a new project challenging his readers to post-process one of his photos, shown without post-processing above. Though I generally tend to sit back and watch rather than participate in blog projects, I decided to jump headfirst into this one because of the enjoyment I get from post-processing images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and to support Brian and his excellent photographry blog. I used Lightroom exclusively for the processing, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
The After
Lonely Bird - ^After
For me, the big challenge to process this image was the washed-out colors and lack of contrast. To work with washed out colors, I originally tried to work with them, adjusting saturation and luminance, but I was not satisfied with the results I was getting. I decided to take another approach by using Lightroom’s grayscale conversion first. From there, the image was still seriously lacking in contrast. To work with that I used several adjustments including tweaks to Recovery, Fill Light and Blacks. At this point the image still wasn’t where i wanted it. I then used Lightroom’s targeted curves adjustment (ctrl+alt+shift+t on a pc or command+option+shift+t on a mac). I placed the target on the middle of the sky and dragged upwards, which increased the Lights within the Tone Curve Adjustment module to add contrast by brightening the sky.
At this point, I was fairly happy with the image’s overall contrast, but I felt it was still lacking a bit. I then used the Lens Correction tools within Lightroom to add a slight vignette to draw the eye into the picture, specifically where the bird is looking and there we were, basically done. I finished by straightening the horizon, applying mild sharpening and cloning out the buoys floating in the water.
Read Epic Edit’s “PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT: Edit My Photo”
So my first participation in a blog project on the books. I’d love to hear what you all think of the retouching job as well as your opinions on blog projects. Until next time…
As you all can tell from the previous post, I shot the moon last night, well not just the moon but a total lunar eclipse. It was a late night, and a long, tired day at work today, but it was worth the loss of sleep to shoot a rarely available subject, the eclipsed moon. The following explains the methods, settings and gear I used for the shoot and some general tips for moon and night sky photography.
Since there are probably hundreds of sites out there explaining moon photoography, I’ll keep this part as short as possible . The single most important thing to think about when ’shooting the moon’ is camera stability. Without a completely stable camera, your shots will come out blurry and unimpressive, but with a few simple tools that should already be in your kit, and a some basic methods, getting sharp moon images is actually quite simple. The tools you will need aside from Your DSLR:
Essential Gear
- A sturdy tripod
A staple to any DSLR kit, and required for stable night photography at low ISO speeds. Try to get one with a quick-release and adjustable head. (I use a Bogen Manfrotto 30001N Tripod with 804RC2 3-way pan/tilt head.Shop for yours on Amazon
)
- A shutter release cable
Imperative to eliminate camera shake when the shutter button is pressed, but you could use the self-timer in a pinch.(wired or wireless - I use the off-brand Dot Line variety and it works great, but make sure you get one with a bulb exposure option. Shop for yours on Amazon)
- A telephoto lens
A zoom or prime, but for the moon I suggest a minimum zoom of 300mm.
(I use the inexpensive Canon EF 75-300 f/4-5.6. Shop for yours on Amazon)
- A camera with "mirror-lockup" funtionality
This one isn’t absolutely required, but it does eliminate any mirror/shutter movement related camera vibrations and ensure maximum stability.
So you have the gear together, now comes the fun part…
Continue reading ‘Shooting the Moon: How I Shot The Lunar Eclipse and Tips For Better Moon Photography’
