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Posts Tagged ‘PostProcessing’

Seven Steps for Post-Processing a Pure White Background

21 Mar

The post Seven Steps for Post-Processing a Pure White Background appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Photographs with clean, white backgrounds are extremely popular with

  • Stock agencies
  • Amazon
  • Graphic Designers
  • Magazines and websites
Seven Steps for Post Processing a Pure White Background Three Mangoes in a Bowl

The original background with a white border around it to clearly illustrate the contrast between pure white and off white

Producing pure white backgrounds is imperative. A background that’s not quite white looks terrible on a white page.

In this article, I will walk you through one method of post-processing I use to isolate subjects and give them a white background.

Choosing your photos carefully

Some photos are far more difficult to work with than others when you want a white background.

Any subject that’s fuzzy or hairy will be problematic. As will any blurred subject. Whether it’s focus or motion blur, you will have difficulty in obtaining a good clean transition with the background.

Smooth, clean edges are the easiest to work with. So if you want to sell wigs on Amazon, you are in for a tough time. It’s better to make sure you have a pure white background that requires no post processing with such subjects.

Seven Steps for Post Processing a Pure White Background Chicken Nerd

 

Step # 1

Choose your subject and photograph it against a clean, contrasting background. If the background is too busy, it will make isolating on white more difficult.

Keep your subject a good distance from the background. Use an aperture setting that keeps all your subject in focus, but the background is out of focus.

If your subject happens to be moving, make sure to choose a fast enough shutter speed to stop the motion. Making sure your subject is sharp will make post-processing much more straightforward.

Step # 2

Open your file in Photoshop. Make sure it’s the highest resolution jpeg file it can be. Working with low-resolution images is more challenging, but larger ones will slow your computer down.

You need to find a balance here. If you start working through these post-processing steps and find your computer is not handling it, downsize your photo and start again.

Choose the Select and Mask tool. You’ll find this in the Select Menu at the top of your window. Change the View Mode to an option that allows you to see your changes easily. I prefer the Overlay Mode.

Seven Steps for Post Processing a Pure White Background Select and Mask Menu

Choose the Select and Mask option from the drop-down menu.

Step # 3

With the Quick Selection tool, draw around the inside of your subject. Do this slowly, so Photoshop has time to render your action.

Pay careful attention to the areas you are selecting. You do not want to have any part of the background selected. If parts of the background are selected, paint over them with the Refine Edge brush.

Zoom in so you can see what you’re working on more clearly.

Seven Steps for Post Processing a Pure White Background Overlay Mode

Step # 4

When you’re all done and are satisfied your subject is masked, it’s time to output again to the main window in Photoshop.

Select New Layer with Layer Mask from the Output options and click OK.

Step # 5

Add a white background by clicking on the New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel. Choose Solid Color and set it to pure white.

Step # 6

Check around the edges of your subject. Can you see any of the old background?

If you can, select the mask on your main layer in the Layers Panel. Choose the Brush tool and make the color Black.

Seven Steps for Post Processing a Pure White Background Mask Icon

Make sure the mask is selected.

Paint carefully over the areas where you can still see the old background. You may need to lower the opacity of the brush and adjust the feathering to achieve the best results.

If you have not done this before it can be challenging. However, don’t worry, if you erase parts of your subject, switch the brush color to white and paint back over them. They will re-appear.

There are various other methods and tools for erasing unwanted backgrounds. This is the best way I have found for images which are not too complicated.

Seven Steps for Post Processing a Pure White Background Clean Edges

Step # 7

Crop out any extra white space and save your new photo with your subject isolated on white.

Seven Steps for Post Processing a Pure White Background Clean White Background

 

Conclusion

This is one way to achieve a white background. As with most post-processing procedures, there is more than one sequence of steps which will provide an acceptable result.

Practice and experiment to find the workflow which works best for you.

Are you experienced in creating clean white backgrounds using other methods? Do you have any tips to share? Please share them in the comments section below.

The post Seven Steps for Post-Processing a Pure White Background appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.


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The dPS Top Post-Processing Photography Tips of 2018

27 Dec

The post The dPS Top Post-Processing Photography Tips of 2018 appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

This week on dPS we’re featuring some of the top articles in different categories that were published on the site over 2018.

We’ve already shown you the dPS Top All-Round Photography Tips of 2018, and The dPS Top Camera Gear Tips of 2018.

This one is all about the best post-processing tips of the year.

Here are the top post-processing photography tips articles of 2018:

1. 4 Tips to Organize Your Photos in Lightroom

4 Tips to Organize Your Photos in Lightroom

2. How to Create Silky Split Toned Black and White Photos Using Luminosity Masks

How to Create Silky Split Toned Black and White Photos Using Luminosity Masks

3. 6 Essential Steps in any Post-Processing Workflow

6 Essential Steps in any Post-Processing Workflow

4. How to Turn Your Photos into Painterly Style Watercolor Art

How to Turn Your Photos into Painterly Style Watercolor Art

5. Rescue an Image with Split Toning in Adobe Lightroom

How to Rescue an Image in Lightroom With Split Toning

6. How to Create Realistic Bokeh and Blur Effects using Photoshop

How to Create Realistic Bokeh and Blur Effects using Photoshop

7. Five Common Portrait Retouching Mistakes to Avoid

Five Common Portrait Retouching Mistakes to Avoid

8. How to Choose Your Lightroom Export Settings for Printing

How to Choose Your Lightroom Export Settings for Printing

9. How to Edit Food Photography Images Using Lightroom

How to Edit Food Photography Images Using Lightroom

10. How to Take Control of Color in Lightroom

How to Take Control of Color in Lightroom

11. An In-Depth Look at the Range Mask in Lightroom Classic CC

An In-Depth Look at the Range Mask in Lightroom Classic CC

12. Unlocking the Power of the Basic Panel in Lightroom

Unlocking the Power of the Basic Panel in Lightroom

13. 4 Tips For Better Black and White Photos In Lightroom

4 Tips For Better Black and White Photos In Lightroom

14. How to Reduce Digital Noise in Astrophotography Using Exposure Stacking

How to Reduce Digital Noise in Astrophotography Using Exposure Stacking

15. 5 Lightroom Tips and Tricks for Beginners

5 Lightroom Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Next up, we’ll show you the dPS Top Landscape Photography Tips of 2018.

The post The dPS Top Post-Processing Photography Tips of 2018 appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.


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Using Photoshop Filters During Post-Processing to Correct and Enhance Images

24 Nov

When you think of filters in photography, your first thought might be those specialized glass pieces you affix to the end of your lens. Most of these filters serve a specific purpose (e.g. a polarizing filter to reduce glare), although some are for artistic effects (e.g. colored filters).

But if you want to apply artistic/special effects in post-processing, Photoshop has a number of filters you can apply during this stage of your workflow. They can also be used to clean up or retouch images.

Recommendation

When working with an image, it’s good practice to work non-destructively (i.e. you don’t change the pixels). Using Photoshop filters directly on a pixel layer will change the pixels, so wherever possible you should use Smart Filters.

A Smart Filter is a filter that’s applied to a Smart Object – a layer that saves the image’s source information with its original characteristics and allows you to edit non-destructively. So before you start applying filters, convert the layer you’re working on to a Smart Object.

Note: Depending on your version of Photoshop, you may not be able to apply some filters as Smart Filters.

Filter Gallery

The filter gallery in Photoshop gives you quick access to a number of filters. From the menu choose Filter, and then Filter Gallery to view them on the screen. It’s an easy way to see the effect a filter would have without changing the original image. Here you can apply one or a combination of filters to your image.

The easiest way to understand what they all do is to select each one and look at the preview. It’s a simple artistic edit that can come in handy when used selectively.

The Filter Gallery showing the options that can be applied.

Adaptive Wide Angle Filter

This is also available in the Filter menu and can be useful for correcting distortion issues resulting from wide-angle or fisheye lenses. These lenses sometimes introduce curves that weren’t actually there. You can also use the adaptive wide angle filter to straighten lines that appear curved in panoramic shots.

To straighten a curved horizon, click and drag from the left side of the horizon to the right. This adds a blue line (called a constraint) around the area of distortion. The constraint marks the area and straightens it.

An image taken with a fish-eye lens

This filter has a number of correction types:

  • Fisheye corrects those extreme curves made with a fisheye lens
  • Perspective corrects converging lines resulting from your angle of view or camera tilt
  • Full Spherical corrects 360-degree panoramas with a 1:2 aspect ratio
  • Auto applies what Photoshop deems an appropriate correction

Image adjusted using Adaptive Wide Angle filter

Note: The Panorama correction type is also available if you apply this filter to a photomerged panorama.

Lens Correction

The Lens Correction filter fixes different kinds of distortions. Similar to the Adaptive Wide Angle filter, it remedies distortion created by wide-angle and fisheye lenses. It can also straighten images taken at an angle and make them appear as if shot straight on. One of the great things with this filter is you can choose to either manually correct the image or have Photoshop correct it automatically.

Angled image.

  • Geometric Distortion is another easy way to remove a fish-eye effect.
  • Chromatic Aberration can remove any colored fringes around your subjects on high contrast edges.
  • Vignette does a good job of adding a vignette.
  • Transform gives you sliders to help you correct perspectives, with options for vertical and horizontal perspectives, as well as rotating to compensate for camera tilt.

Edited with the Lens Correction filter.

Liquify

The Liquify filter can be used to push and pull pixels around and is one of the most powerful filters under the Filter menu. You may associate liquify with body transformations, but it can do much more than that.

Within the liquify filter menu, the forward warp tool (at the top left) is the most popular. The key to using this tool successfully is to use a brush size slightly larger than you think you need. You should also use a lower pressure brush (for more subtlety) and increase your density (to affect a bigger area within your brush circle).

The Liquify Tool used to reshape a piece of fruit.

Vanishing Point

The Vanishing Point filter brings an image in line with the perspective of another. For example, if you want to composite a picture frame into a room, this filter will help you match the perspective of the frame to any wall in the right perspective.

Third-Party Filters

Photoshop lets you easily add hundreds of third-party filters (available via plugins) to your arsenal.

These can help you make the most of your images or get super creative. Many simplify the steps Photoshop is capable of achieving so you can perform them in a shorter time. Some of these include the Nik Collection, Topaz and ON1.

Above Image with two Nik filters applied: Paper Toner and Vignette

Conclusion

Using Photoshop Filters is an easy option if you want to get creative. Photoshop has a few standard ones you can experiment with, and stacking them can create a unique image.

Which filters do you use? Share some of your results with us.

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7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

23 Oct

Effective post-processing can be challenging to learn.

If you take photos in RAW format, you need to post process your photos to get them looking good.

Here are seven steps I take in Lightroom and Photoshop with most of the photos I take.

Typically, the photos I take are documentary-style, and I don’t change them with much post-processing. I have developed a workflow to enhance and tweak my photos with the aim of rendering a result similar to how I saw the picture in reality.

Technicalities and alternative variations are kept to a minimum in this article to avoid causing confusion and discouragement. This article is written for beginners starting on their post-processing journey.

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

The original unaltered RAW file.

Intention When Post-Processing RAW files

Post-processing software has become very complex and powerful. It is possible to manipulate photos, so they become entirely different from the original. There are dozens of tools and multitudes of ways of achieving the same or similar results.

My intention most for most photographs I post process is to make them look as natural as possible. I believe this is an excellent place to start, even when you want to go on and create more surreal looking images.

Tone range in a photo is one of my primary concerns. Your eyes can usually see a broader range of tone than your camera can record. How to post-process a RAW file to appear as close as possible to what you saw, in reality, is what I want to share with you.

Seven Post Processing Steps

  • Step 1: Process The RAW File
  • Step 2: Open in Photoshop (PS) and Create Two Layer Copies
  • Step 3: Balance the tone range
  • Step 4: Remove Distractions
  • Step 5: Dodge and Burn to Refine
  • Step 6: Crop (if you need to)
  • Step 7: Save a TIFF and a JPG

Step 1: Process The RAW File

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

The RAW file with no adjustments.

Choose the photo you want to work with and open it in the ‘Develop Module’ in Lightroom. Take a look at the shadow areas, mid tones, and highlights. Choose what you consider to be an essential part of your photo and pay attention to that when making your adjustments.

For this article, I am using a landscape photo of the view I see from my home. Within it, there are no real extremes or any outstanding main subject. The photo has a pleasing range of tone and color, and I want to see detail in each area – the sky, mountains, and the rice. As an unprocessed RAW file, it looks flat and dull.

Make use of the sliders in the ‘Basic’ panel on the right to begin making adjustments. For my image, I move the ‘Blacks’ slider to the left, darkening the black areas and take the ‘Contrast’ slider to the right up increase the contrast a little. Then move the ‘Shadows’ slider to the right a fraction to bring back detail in the dark areas that I may have lost while moving the previous two sliders. Lastly, I push the ‘Clarity’ slider to the right a bit.

It’s good practice to avoid moving any slider to its extremity because the image quality deteriorates. It’s better to use a combination of the various sliders to achieve the look you want and keep the quality.

The ‘Color Temp’ slider has also been moved towards the blue as the photo is a little too yellow.

I’ve made a Preset in Lightroom with these adjustments, using it on most of my photos, and then tweaking the sliders if need be.

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

The RAW file with adjustments.

Step 2: Open in Photoshop and Create Two Layer Copies

About 90% of the photos I post-process go through this step. I have an Action set up in Photoshop that is applied first-up on any photo I process. Make two layer copies and set the Blend Mode of the top layer photo to ‘Screen’ and the middle layer blend mode to ‘Soft Light’.

Creating two additional layers of your photos allows you to add extra punch to them. This extra punch happens by manipulating the top ‘Screen’ layer.

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

Opening Photoshop with two new layers created of the photo and Blend Modes changed.

Step 3: Balance the Screen Layer

Adjust the ‘Opacity’ of the layer until the darkest area you want to retain detail in is looking good. In my photo, it is the forest on the mountain that’s in shadow. I adjusted my screen layer to 40%.

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

Manipulate the opacity of the top Screen layer.

You can turn off the top to layers to see the changes you have made. The bottom layer is still as you imported it.

Now select the ‘Eraser’ tool and give it an Opacity setting of around 30%. Begin to gently erase the areas of your photo you want to darken. The sky is the area I worked on the most because I wanted to bring out more detail in the clouds.

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

Use the Eraser tool to darken some areas that are too bright.

Having the Opacity set at 30% allows you to be more precise in the way you manipulate your photo. I use a pen and tablet which is pressure sensitive and gives me more control than a mouse.

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

Turn off the lower two layers and temporarily make the Screen layer 100% opacity to see what you are doing more easily.

Turn off the other layers and temporarily bring the ‘Screen’ layer opacity back to 100%. Doing so makes it easier to see the changes you are making. Turn the layers back on and set the ‘Screen’ layer to the opacity level you chose.

Once you are happy, flatten the image.

Step 4: Remove Distractions

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

Use the Patch tool and clone tool to remove distractions.

Use the clone tool or the ‘Patch’ tool to remove distractions from your photo. There’s not too much distracting in my photo, but even taking out the few bright elements enhances the photo. I have used the ‘Patch’ tool to fill in the small section of road that was visible, the electricity poles, a person and a water tower in the distance.

7 Effective Post-Processing Steps For Beginners

Cleaned image with distractions removed using the ‘Patch’ tool.

Step 5: Dodge and Burn to Refine

Zoom your photo to fill your monitor and take a good look at it. Are there still areas which are too dark or too bright? If so, use the ‘Dodge’ and ‘Burn’ tools to fix them. You also may need to use the ‘Burn’ tool on areas you used the ‘Patch’ tool to help them blend in better.

In my photo, I have set the ‘Burn’ tool to an Exposure value of 11% and chosen to work on the ‘Mid-tone’ Range. I have darkened the clouds more and also some of the rice. The clouds now look more natural. The rice in the foreground is a little darker and helps draw your eye into the photo. I have used the ‘Dodge’ tool also on 11% Exposure, to lighten the palm tree.

7 effective post-processing Steps For Beginners

‘Dodge’ and ‘Burn’ to refine the tone range.

Step 6: Crop If You Need To

Take a look at your photo and consider whether cropping it somehow would make it a stronger image. Try it and see if you are not sure. Make a copy to crop and compare with your original. Alternatively, crop it and then use Ctrl+z (cmd+z on Mac) to see the comparison.

Step 7: Save a TIFF File and a JPG File

Saving two files gives you one of full quality and one you can use on the internet. I have a lot of different Photoshop ‘Actions’ set up to resize and save my photos depending on their usage.

7 effective post-processing Steps For Beginners

The photo with post-processing complete.

Not Every Image is Created Equal

Apply these steps with a good dose of flexibility and creativity. Experiment with them to discover alternative ways you can make your photos look.

Based on these, I have alternative steps I apply to some photos to achieve a certain look. As you work your way through these steps, remember the scene you photographed to keep your photos looking as natural as possible.

If you have any other helpful tips, please put them in the comments below.

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How to Boost Your Post-Processing Skills With a Graphics Tablet

22 Sep

During the course of your love affair with photography, you’ll use many different pieces of equipment. Some you’ll purchase, some you’ll beg, borrow, or steal. They will all serve one purpose or another. Some you may love so much that you keep forever. Most you won’t.

You don’t hear me talk about gear often. Over time I’ve worked hard to simplify my gear, and as a travel photographer, I’ve had to be ruthless in shedding excess size and weight. Every now and then, however, you come across a tool that is so valuable to your workflow that you can’t imagine working without it. One of those tools for me is a graphics tablet.

step up your post-processing with a graphics tablet

Photo by Kate Trysh on Unsplash

I’ve been using a tablet for quite a few years now, and it’s totally worth the extra weight in my bag. When I sold everything I owned and bought a one-way ticket to travel the world with my camera, I found space for my tablet. It has revolutionized my post-processing, and it can revolutionize yours too.

What is a Graphics Tablet?

A graphics tablet is a device that allows you to use a stylus instead of a mouse to control the cursor on your computer screen. They come in many sizes and offer a variety of features. They work by pointing at or drawing on the surface of the tablet with the stylus, which transfers your movements onto your screen. Most come with buttons on the stylus and on the tablet, which you can configure to act as mouse buttons or keystrokes.

They range from small tablets with no buttons all the way up to huge displays where you can draw directly onto the screen, much like an iPad. They often include features like pressure-sensitivity, allowing extremely precise controls that come in very handy when drawing.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Why Use a Tablet?

You might be asking yourself what’s so special about a tablet. What’s wrong with a good old mouse? I used to feel the same way until I tried using one. The humble mouse works fine for everyday computer usage, but it’s severely limited when it comes to photo editing.

Have you ever found yourself getting frustrated while trying to edit some fine details in a photo and having to go back over and over again? When you use a mouse, you’re relying on the movements of the large muscles and bones in your arm and hand to move it around your screen. It’s incredibly cumbersome. Your arm works great with big movements, but not so much with small, precise ones.

Now think about the precision and fine motor skills required to draw with a pen. Every tiny muscle in your hand is used to control the movements. I like to think of it this way: a toddler can use a mouse, but there’s no way they could use a tablet. They can’t even write their own name. A tablet will allow you to use those fine motor skills that you developed all those years ago.

step up your post-processing with a graphics tablet

Photo by Josefa nDiaz on Unsplash

How Do You Use a Tablet?

You may have seen tablets being used in Photoshop tutorials and wondered how they’re used. You don’t need to be a professional retoucher or illustrator to benefit from using a tablet. Even if you do all your post-processing in Lightroom, you will likely still find that a tablet will make the process much more precise and enjoyable.

step up your post-processing with a graphics tablet

ExpressKey menu in the Wacom setting panel.

The main benefits of editing with a tablet are speed and precision. As I mentioned earlier, most tablets will have some extra controls on the stylus and on the tablet itself. These controls can be customized to do pretty much anything.

This means that you can replace your most commonly used keystrokes with a single button. The touch ring can be set to adjust things like brush size and hardness, or scroll and zoom. These controls can speed up your post-processing dramatically.

step up your post-processing with a graphics tablet

Touch Ring options in the Wacom settings panel.

Where a graphics tablet really shines is when you want to apply local adjustments to your photos. Whether you’re making selections, drawing, painting, erasing, or dodging and burning, you’ll find that it’s far easier with a stylus than a mouse. It feels more natural and you’ll make a lot fewer mistakes.

If you don’t currently make a lot of local adjustments to your photos, I highly recommend taking some time to learn how. Learning basic dodging and burning is one of the best things you can do to take your post-processing skills to the next level. Do it with a tablet and you’ll be amazed what a difference it makes to your workflow.

There are many great resources available online for free that will teach you the basics of dodging and burning in both Lightroom and Photoshop. Likewise with setting up and using a tablet. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never want to edit with a mouse again.

Choosing a Tablet

As I’ve mentioned, tablets range massively in price, size, and features. What you need will depend on a few factors like your budget, how much space you have on your desk, and how you like to work.

You can spend anywhere from $ 25 to $ 2000, so there is something that will suit your needs. You should be able to find a decent tablet under $ 100 that does the job.

step up your post-processing with a graphics tablet

Wacom’s high-end Cintiq tablet.Photo by Norbert Levajsics on Unsplash

Choosing the right size can be tricky. On one hand, the larger your tablet, the easier it is to use. You won’t find yourself having to move around the screen as much with a larger tablet. On the other hand, it will take up more space on your desk or in your bag. I personally like using a tablet that’s smaller than my laptop, that way they both fit nicely in my bag when I’m on the road.

In terms of features, you don’t need a lot of the more advanced features. My older Wacom Intuos doesn’t feature pressure sensitivity, and I don’t miss it. I would recommend using a tablet with at least a few control buttons, as they can speed up your workflow quite a bit.

Don’t stress about getting an expensive, high-end tablet, though. You’ll likely find that a basic model or a cheaper brand will suit your needs just fine. If you have an iPad lying around, there are apps available that allow you to connect it to your computer and use it as a tablet.

step up your post-processing with a graphics tablet

Huion Graphics Drawing Pen Tablet – Photo by Drew Thomas on Unsplash

Beg, Borrow or Steal

Well, maybe not steal, but ask around and see if someone you know has a tablet you could borrow or rent to try for a week. If you can find one to test out, give it a chance. As I’ve said, it takes a while to get used to it, so don’t give up too soon.

I’m sure that once you get your head around it you’ll be wanting one of your very own, and you’ll never look back.

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Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images

25 Jul

Post-processing is a particularly sensitive topic and there’s always a certain amount of processing versus non-processing discussions that take place after articles on the topic. It’s not hard to understand since how you choose to process your images is your artistic choice.

There’s not necessarily a right or wrong way to go about it but, that being said, there are certain “mistakes” that I notice quite regularly, especially amongst beginning photographers who aren’t quite able to achieve the looks they want.

Some of these mistakes are obvious while others, not so much. What they have in common, though, is that they are mistakes that most of us are guilty of making or have made at some point. Let’s dive in.

1. Not Considering Color

Let’s start with a mistake that the majority of us are or have been making, and one which isn’t necessarily that obvious to all of us: failing to understand color harmonies.

Color harmonies might be easier to control as portrait or studio photographers but as landscape photographers, we have to work with the conditions nature gives us. Sometimes, our job is to find order in the chaos and highlight the most interesting aspects of the landscape. Indeed, it’s not an easy task.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images - person in red jacket on a hill

In this image, I desaturated the blues to keep the focus on the person walking down the hill.

The discussions can quickly become controversial as we start talking about working with colors in nature. I’m not here to say what you should or shouldn’t do but I’ll give you a couple of ideas on how you can work with color in post-processing:

  1. Use the HSL sliders in Lightroom/Camera RAW to adjust the hues of certain colors to create a better color harmony in the image.
  2. Rhe HSL sliders can also be used to desaturate colors that are too dominant and take unnecessary attention away from the main subject.
  3. Use techniques such as Luminosity Masks or Saturation Masks in Photoshop to selectively work on the brightness, saturation and contrast of specific areas within an image.

The goal when working with colors should be to only highlight those that are in harmony with each other. I often bring out a color wheel to check that the colors in an image are in harmony and if I need to desaturate (or saturate) any of them.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images - photo with alpenglow mountain scene

Notice how all the colder tones are slightly desaturated and darkened to enhance the focus on the glowing mountain.

2. Only Making Global Adjustments

This brings us to mistake number two: you only make global adjustments. In other words, each adjustment you make is applied to the entire image.

Let’s say that you want to increase the green grass in one of your summer images. The traditional way of boosting the color is by using the Saturation slider. However, that will increase the saturation of the entire image and will in most cases lead to an oversaturated image; which results in visual chaos rather than a pleasant experience when viewing it.

In mistake number one, I briefly mentioned using the HSL sliders for making adjustments. By using this panel you’re able to affect only one specific color rather than the entire image. By using the Green Saturation slider you can target only the green colors and make an adjustment to only those hues.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images - lighthouse and green field or hill

It’s not only when adjusting the saturation that you should work selectively though. Personally, I make selective adjustments (often through Luminosity Masks in Photoshop) when working with color, contrast, brightness and pretty much any other adjustment you can think of.

3. Clarity at 100%

You might not want to hear this but increasing Lightroom’s Clarity slider to 100% is rarely a good idea, especially when it’s added globally. While I agree that adding clarity can often give an extra pop to the image as it brings out a lot of nice textures and details, it does more harm than good when it’s applied to the whole image. It also adds a significant amount of noise and lowers the overall quality of the file.

Let’s look at an example. In the image below I have increased the clarity to 100%. (Besides that, no other adjustments were made). I do like how it brought out a lot of texture in the mountain but the foreground now contains just as much texture and it’s competing with the mountain to grab your attention. In fact, the moss in the foreground is the natural place to look as it’s both bright and crisp.

mountain scene cloudy - Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images

If instead, I only add clarity to the mountain by using a Gradient Filter you’ll see that it makes a big difference compared to the image above. There’s still nice texture in the mountain but the foreground is now less crisp and working as a natural leading line.

Note: I prefer to rather use a mask in Photoshop and add it to only the mountain, as a gradient filter adds it to more places than what I want. But you can now use the brush tools to edit your gradient filter in LR as well.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images - same scene different edit

Clarity only applied to the mountain.

Keep in mind that you want the most important areas of the image to be the sharpest. Naturally, the viewer’s eyes are guided to the sharpest parts of the image. Also, there’s no point in adding clarity to soft surfaces such as a blue sky or silky water. These are often better left alone.

4. Leaving Dust Spots

Unless you’ve got a brand new camera or you’re a superstar when it comes to having clean equipment, it’s likely that you’re going to have at least a few dust spots on your images. This is especially true if you regularly photograph in rough conditions including wind, snow, rain, and sand.

Removing dust spots is super easy and takes no more than a few minutes, so really there is no excuse not to do so. You have to admit, it looks quite unprofessional if a beautiful image has a bunch of dust spots in the sky. Would you hang that on your wall?

Keep in mind that if you enlarge and print your images, even the smallest dust spots become visible. Therefore, it’s a good practice to zoom in 100% on the image to look for any possible dust spots. When you find one, simply use Lightroom’s Spot Removal Tool and move on to the next.

It can be tedious work if you’ve got an extremely dirt lens but it’s something that needs to be done.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images

Turn on “Visualize spots” to help you find dust.

Conclusion

To end this I want to say one final thing: the most important is that you’re happy with the images you capture and process. If you like highly saturated images, go for it. If you like tilted horizons, good for you.

Stay true to your style and vision and create the art you want – don’t let anyone decide what your images should look like.

Using selective adjustments I was able to darken only the brightest part of the image

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6 Essential Steps in any Post-Processing Workflow

26 May

We live in a digital age, a time when a post-processing workflow is an increasingly essential aspect of our photography. Cameras produce images with the expectation that they will be altered later, will be corrected, sharpened, tinted, etc.

What this means is that post-processing isn’t something that can be easily bypassed, especially if you shoot in RAW, which I recommend.

That isn’t to say that every photographer today has to love post-processing. Some photographers, I consider myself to be among them, greatly prefer working in the field to working on the computer. But while it’s possible to shorten one’s post-processing workflow, a minimum amount of editing is necessary to keep up with today’s artistic and technological standards.

macro photography abstract winter ice - Post-Processing Workflow

In this article, I will discuss that minimum and explain the six essential steps in any post-processing workflow. My examples are done in Lightroom, but this applies to all photographers, no matter what software you use.

Once you’ve gone through these steps, you may declare your images complete, and that’s okay. Or you may choose to work on them further, which is okay, too. The point here is only to suggest the six core elements that all post-processing workflows should includeafter that, the choice is yours.


1. Crop (and straighten)

The first thing that I do as soon as I have opened my images in Lightroom is to crop and straighten them.

While it’s best to compose properly in camera, sometimes you see a slightly better composition when your image comes up on the screen. However, it isn’t good to rely on this too heavily. Cropping heavily reduces image resolution while also magnifying image imperfections.

Furthermore, when hand-holding your camera, it’s easy to take a slightly crooked image. This isn’t a problem, as long as you remember to straighten it out later.

daisy abstract macro photography flower - Post-Processing Workflow

Notice the slight change from original (right) to cropped and straightened (left) – look at the stem.

daisy abstract macro photography flower - Post-Processing Workflow

This image required a slight amount of cropping and straightening in order to balance out the frame. This is especially important when images have clear lines, as this one does (i.e., the daisy stem).

A word of warning: especially if you are a wildlife or bird photographer, you will be tempted to use cropping to compensate for a distant subject. Resist this temptation and focus on your stalking skills instead. If you find yourself consistently cropping a significant amount, recognize that you should probably make some changes while you’re in the field (get closer or use a longer lens).

2. Check the White Balance

I shoot in RAW. Thus, when I’m in the field, I leave my camera’s White Balance on Auto. Because the RAW file format allows for you to change the image temperature without any image degradation, this is perfectly acceptable (though it does mean slightly more time behind the computer).

snowy intimate landscape photography - Post-Processing Workflow

The left (final) image is after some adjustment; the right is adjusted in the other (warmer) direction.

snowy intimate landscape photography - Post-Processing Workflow

A cooler (bluer) color temperature was necessary to recreate a snowy, cold feeling for this image.

Use the Temp and Tint sliders to adjust the White Balance.

Sometimes the goal is to reproduce the color temperature that you saw in the field. Other times, you might be trying to achieve an artistic look. Higher temperatures (high degrees K) make for a warmer image and counteract colder light, whereas lower temperatures (low K) make for a cooler image and balance out a warmer color cast.

macro photography flower abstract sunset - Post-Processing Workflow

The left image is what I ultimately decided on; the one on right is an exaggeratedly cool version of the same image.

macro photography flower abstract sunset - Post-Processing Workflow

Taken at sunset, this image required a higher color temperature to match what I saw at the moment of capture.

3. Check the exposure

After adjusting the White Balance, I generally turn to the exposure. This is an aspect of a post-processing workflow that is often forgotten. Yet you should scrutinize your image carefully before moving on. Is it too bright? Too dark? Just right?

This is where the histogram is your friend. It’s to your benefit to learn to read it. Look for blown out highlights or crushed blacks as peaks pressing up against either end of the graph, as well as gaps that indicate a lack of darker or lighter tones in your image.

The histogram can tell you a lot about your image. This one says the image it represents is slightly overexposed. There are no blacks (it’s not touching the left-side of the graph). An Exposure adjustment and the Black slider will solve this issue.

macro photography flower abstract - Post-Processing Workflow

This situation was unique: While the right image isn’t underexposed, I was interested in a slightly brighter one with more contrast. So I altered the exposure in Lightroom and ultimately chose the left image.

macro photography flower abstract - Post-Processing Workflow

A darker image can be corrected in post-processing (this is easier to do with RAW files).

While it is ideal to expose perfectly while in the field, post-processing allows for a bit of leeway here. For instance, you can use the general Exposure slider in Lightroom to correct small exposure mistakes. And if you want to take this further, you can also work with the more narrowly focused Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks sliders.

4. Check the Vibrance and Saturation

Saturation allows you to increase the intensity of all colors in the image, and Vibrance allows you to increase the intensity of the less saturated colors only. In most photo-editing programs, these are easy to change.

macro photography flower yellow abstract - Post-Processing Workflow

Notice the slightly more intense yellows in the left (more saturated) image.

macro photography flower yellow abstract - Post-Processing Workflow

A bit of saturation gave this image more punch.

Saturation and Vibrance can provide a slight punch to your images when done subtly. These are also quite easy to overdo, so be careful. You don’t want to slam the viewer with so much saturation that they are forced to look away!

5. Check for noise

Next, be sure to check the noise levels in your image. This is especially important if you’re working with a long exposure or an image that was shot at a high ISO. Increasing the exposure in post-processing may also introduce unintended noise.

macro photography abstract yellow - Post-Processing Workflow

This image required a slight amount of noise reduction.

macro photography abstract yellow - Post-Processing Workflow

While the difference is subtle, a crop of the final image (with noise reduction applied in Lightroom) is on the left.

If you find unpleasant levels of noise, you can generally use noise reduction software to remove it. Removing noise does decrease the overall image sharpness (if removing luminance noise) and saturation (if removing color noise). So, once again, this is a correction that should be used minimally.

6. Check the sharpness

Finally, I like to end my basic post-processing workflow by considering the complement of noise – sharpness. If working with a program such as Lightroom, this often needs little adjustment. With a good lens and good camera technique, your images will be rendered sharp simply by the photo-conversion presets.

For example, I rarely alter Lightroom’s Amount: 25 Sharpening preset. If your image is slightly soft, you may want to work with overall sharpness. You might also consider a second round of carefully applied sharpening in order to enhance specific features like the faces of birds, the center of flowers, etc.

autumn intimate landscape photography - Post-Processing Workflow

It is imperative that an image like this have a pin sharp subject.

autumn intimate landscape photography - Post-Processing Workflow

A crop of the final image (left) with sharpening applied in Lightroom.

However, even once you’ve sharpened for your original image, the sharpening work isn’t over. Before you export for printing or web viewing, you will likely need to sharpen again. Otherwise, you’ll find that your new image is slightly soft.

Lightroom has a neat little way of completing this post-processing step. Upon exporting files, you have the option to choose a level of sharpening. I generally choose Low or Standard.

macro photography abstract flower yellow - Post-Processing Workflow

Conclusion

These tips should give you an idea of what a very minimalist post-processing workflow looks like. If you follow this guide closelyeven if you do nothing else to your imagesyou’ll find that your images reach a higher standard.

What is your post-processing workflow like? Please feel free to share in the comments area below.




dahlia macro photography flower

Flower Abstract Macro Photography

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Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography

27 Mar

Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography

While your in-camera technique is most important, the ability to post-process your landscape images also plays a role in your final product. Each photographer approaches the digital darkroom in their own way. Here are some post-processing workflow tips for your landscape photography.

You don’t need to apply each step. It serves simply as a guide to help you get started.

1. Check your White Balance  or Color Temperature

If you shot your images in RAW, you retain the ability to change the White Balance after the fact. You can adjust the color temperature of your scene to make it either warmer (more yellow) or cooler (more blues).

Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography

Shot with Auto White Balance (AWB temperature 5800K).

Sunsets are often enhanced more to the warmer side, while winter scenes can benefit from both warm and cool tones, depending on what you are trying to depict. The temperature sliders can also be used to remove or correct any color casts captured in your original frame.

Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography

The same image with the temperature adjusted to 6700K to enhance the warmth of the sunset.

2. Expose it!

Check your exposure and fix it if it is too bright or too dark. Most people eyeball this process, but the histogram is a very useful tool for achieving your best exposure. The left side of the histogram represents the blacks or shadow areas of your image. The right side represents the brighter areas or highlights.

If you forget these basics, push your sliders to either extreme and look at how the image and corresponding histogram responds to these changes.

3. Chop Chop

With landscape photography, a good composition is key. Thus getting it right in camera is the best way to maximize your scene. You can apply rule of thirds/golden spiral, leading lines and a foreground interest optimally at this point.

Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography

Original Image

Some photographers shoot with a specific crop in mind, so many times there is a “picture in picture”. If your end result is a square crop, then compose and shoot for your final vision. This is also applicable if you need to print your final image to a different ratio.

Applying your crop early on in the post-processing workflow can alter the next steps you apply. So work out your composition and then continue processing.

4. Clarify This

Clarity is an adjustment available in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom. When you adjust the Clarity, you are working with the contrasts (edge contrast) in the mid-tones of your image.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Image prior to clarity adjustment.

This change makes your image look sharper, so you do not want it overdone.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

The subtle changes of Clarity adjusts the mid-tones and apparent sharpness.

5. Shadow Me

Adjusting the shadows can either deepen the darker areas or lift them to retrieve some details. If you are recovering details, be aware of the appearance of noise in the shadows. You need to stop before reaching this point.

6. The Highlights

When you are shooting, an important concern is to retain details in the brightest parts (highlights) of your image. If you have heard the terms “blown out” or “clipped” highlights, they refer to those bright areas that have no detail.

If you are working with a RAW image, you can recover much of your overexposed highlights using the highlight slider. Of note, while recovering these highlights, pay attention to the overall look of the rest of the image.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Beach image unedited.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Beach image edited to adjust the Clarity, Shadows, and Highlights.

7. Whites/Blacks

In the simplest terms, the Whites slider adjusts image pixels that are white or have a partial highlight. The Blacks slider adjusts image pixels that are black. The Shadow slider, mentioned previously, covers a smaller range of dark pixels than the Blacks. Similarly, when comparing Highlights to Whites, the White adjustment (like the Black) is more global.

A reason to adjust the Whites/Blacks after the Highlights/Shadows sliders is because of the way they (whites/blacks) affect the overall tone of the image.

8. Saturation/Vibrance

Most people get confused with saturation versus vibrance. Saturation affects all your pixels, making them all either more colorful (saturated) or less colorful (desaturated).

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Saturation adjusts all the colors in the image.

Vibrance, on the other hand, makes adjustments to the pixels that are not as saturated. This means it makes dull colors more vibrant and leaves already vibrant colors unaffected.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Vibrance adjusts less saturated colors only.

Bonus Tip: The Vibrance slider is used a lot to adjust images with people because it does not affect flesh tone colors!

9. Sharpen Up!

Sharpening increases the contrast between your bright and dark areas. In most post-processing workflows, it is done at or close to the end. This is because many other processes in your workflow, alter the “sharpness” of your image. Thus sharpening may be optional (or selective) when following those steps.

Read this for more on sharpening images: How to Make Your Photos Shine Using Clarity, Sharpening, and Dehaze in Lightroom

10. Vignette

A vignette is when there is light fall-off towards the edge of your image. This is often seen in images shot with wide open apertures or with wide angle lenses. They can also be caused or strengthened by the use of camera additions such as filter holders, lens hoods, or filters. These cause less light to reach the edges of the image than the center.

If you do not get vignettes when shooting, you can add them during your post-processing stage. It is not a necessity, but works well when you want to draw the viewer’s eyes away from distractions in the corners and more towards the middle of the frame.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Vignette added to draw attention to the sunset and keep your eyes away from highlights at the top of the frame.

In landscape photography, you can either remove natural vignettes, so the viewer’s eyes move around the image or you can add a vignette to draw them in. It all depends on your final objective.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Conclusion

Developing a post-processing workflow for your images is a great step towards your final output. Keep in mind that less is more and that subtle changes can go a long way to enhance your already beautiful capture.

You do not need to edit every image the same way; take a minute and review each one and determine what it needs to take it to the next level.

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Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

13 Jan

As the market for digital cameras has intensified in recent years, the options available for post-processing software has exploded as well. There are dozens of great options for casual, enthusiast, and professional image-makers who are looking to get the most out of their images.

Programs like Lightroom, Luminar, CaptureOne, Affinity Photo, GIMP, DarkTable, and AfterShotPro, are all highly capable photo editors. It can be a daunting proposition to try and pick one that’s right for you.

Fortunately for Mac users, there is a fantastic option already available to you for free sitting right on your own computer. Apple Photos is a program you might have overlooked in the past, but with steady improvements over the years, it is now a serious contender when it comes to post-processing your pictures.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

A Brief History

The story of Apple Photos starts in 2002 with Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs introducing an all-in-one program to let users catalog, edit, and share their digital pictures. This new software called iPhoto was revolutionary at the time, giving casual users a way to manage all their digital imaging assets in a way that was fast, simple, and easy to understand.

I used iPhoto from the first version that was released and even now it’s kind of amazing how well that initial offering worked, though it was clearly lacking many features we take for granted today. A few years later Apple waded into the professional photo editing market with Aperture, a program that was like iPhoto on steroids and was seen as a direct competitor to Adobe Lightroom.

Merger of Aperture and iPhoto

As the decade wore on and Apple saw how much people were using their mobile phones for taking and editing pictures it decided to kill off Aperture and iPhoto and replace them with a single program called Photos. This new application offered users a way to manage, edit, and share their photos much in the same way iPhoto and Aperture functioned, but also gave people the ability to sync their photo collections and even individual photo edits across all their devices.

With Photos, it was possible to crop a picture on your iPhone and then have that same cropped version of the picture show up on your Apple desktop a few seconds later – a syncing nightmare that was virtually impossible using the panoply of programs previously available from Apple.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

Evolution of Photos

One significant tradeoff when consolidating apps and enabling cross-device editing with Apple Photos was a lean feature set that, compared to Aperture, was downright anemic and even came up short when compared to iPhoto. Photographers hopeful for a fresh new program with all of their favorite features were dismayed and abandoned Apple Photos in droves only to rush headlong into the welcoming arms of Adobe, Macphun (now called Skylum), Corel, and other developers.

However over time, Apple has delivered on its promise to improve Photos and with each iteration, the program becomes more capable, not to mention speedier, than ever before. It can now hold its own against many of the other post-processing software options available on the market. It’s safe to say that if you haven’t used Apple Photos in a while you might be surprised at how good the current version is, and if you have never even tried the program you are in for a real treat.

Sunflower photo processed in Apple Photos app.

Photo management simplified

The core principle of Apple Photos has always been simplicity. Even back to the original days of iPhoto, Apple’s philosophy has been to make their image-editing programs as easy to use as possible. I can personally attest to this with my dad as an example.

He is a retired railroad mechanic who prefers working on small engines in his garage instead of tinkering on the computer. But he is perfectly capable of connecting his Canon Rebel T4i to his Mac, offloading his images into Photos, and post-processing them using the tools provided. Underlying that simplicity is a powerful set of editing tools that started out all too basic but have grown to be quite competent over time.

One library

The Photos app is built around the concept of a unified photo library, such that any photos you take on your phone automatically sync with your computer and vice versa. Because of that, the interface looks much the same whether you’re on a desktop, laptop, iPad, or iPhone.

Your pictures aren’t stored in the cloud per se, but Apple does use its cloud-based infrastructure to sync all your pictures while keeping the actual image files stored on your individual devices. To enable this all you have to do is click a checkbox in Apple Photos on your desktop and flip a slider on your iPhone and the program will take care of the rest.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

Organization

Photos organizes your images based on time data and does its best to group pictures into what it calls Events based on time and location data. Scroll through your library and you will see images grouped by categories such as People, Places, Favorites, and Memories as well as Albums which are collections of photos that you create manually or automatically using metadata (i.e. all photos with the keyword “Vacation” and “Kansas”.)

Unlike Google Photos and some other cloud-based services, none of your images are analyzed by Apple for the purpose of gathering data that can be used in advertising. A boon to privacy advocates and others who just want to keep other companies away from their pictures.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

Sorting and viewing images

However, some degree of machine learning is present in Photos, as the software attempts to group your images automatically with Memories based on time and location data. It also automatically looks for faces which it uses to populate the People category.

If you have ever scrolled through your near-endless Lightroom Library you might be surprised at how well Photos handles the presentation element of photo management. You can use the options buttons at the top of the screen to organize your images by Photos, Moments, Collections, or Years. All your images are available in each view, but the Photos app groups them dynamically so as you scroll up and down you will see them grouped together in specific ways. If you click Moments your images are grouped almost like day-to-day activities, whereas Collections shows photos in larger groups and Years literally displays an entire year’s worth of images at once.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

Grouping options for how to display your thumbnails – Moments, Collections or Years (shown here).

All this is fairly simple and intuitive, and if you have a trackpad on your Mac you can mimic the pinch-to-zoom feature found on iPhone and iPad devices to zoom in and out of your entire photo library. Longtime Lightroom users will note several deficiencies in this design methodology, though, and a host of missing features like Compare, Survey, and fine-grained sorting criteria not to mention Lightroom’s far superior Library Filter.

This illustrates the point that Apple Photos is not intended to be a full-on replacement for Lightroom. Nevertheless, it can be a good starting point for amateurs or even enthusiasts looking to get a little more control over their image organization.

Powerful post-processing editing features

Image management is one thing, but post-processing or editing is a whole other matter entirely. Unfortunately, this is where Apple Photos has traditionally fallen flat. The first version of Photos had an editing feature set that was positively anemic and downright infuriating to longtime users of Aperture. They felt they had been hung out to dry by Apple, and it was not even worth comparing to programs like Lightroom, Photoshop, and others.

But like the fabled tortoise racing against the hare, Apple has steadily injected an ever-growing list of editing tools into Photos. It’s now not only competent but worth considering for anyone who wants to dive deeper into more professional-style editing.

Basic and advanced tools

Select a photo and click the Edit button to open up a cornucopia of editing tools. They cover all the basic options you would expect to find in any prominent image editor and even a few surprises. Of course, you can perform basic edits like Crop, Red Eye Removal, and White Balance and if that’s all you want then you’re good to go.

There are also highly advanced tools like RGB Levels and RGB Curves in which individual color channels can be edited, Selective Color that lets you adjust Hue, Saturation, and Lightness for Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, and Magenta colors. Also present is a Noise Reduction option that allows for Luminance and Color noise, and even a Lightness tool with the freedom to adjust seven different parameters including Exposure, Brilliance, Highlights, Shadows, and Contrast.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

Filters

Apple Photos also has a nice array of filters. They work just like those in Instagram or other programs like Luminar, with one-click presets such as Vivid, Dramatic, Mono, Noir, and more. Add to this a pretty good auto-enhance option and the ability to undo edits one at a time or revert to the original with one click, and you can see how this program might be worth a second look. I remember using it when it first launched and was immediately put off by its overly-simplistic workflow and lack of features. But now I would honestly recommend it to anyone who is considering buying a subscription to Lightroom or investing in any other image editing post-processing software options on the market.

Apple Photos is not perfect, but it could suit your needs better than you might realize. The best part is it’s absolutely free if you own a Mac computer, iPhone, or iPad. There’s something special about editing a picture on your desktop, picking up your phone and seeing all your changes automatically synced, and then realizing it’s all happening without any monthly fee or another type of additional payment.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

Caveats and Limitations

All of this editing and organizational finesse comes with a rather large asterisk or two, as there are some significant drawbacks to Apple Photos that savvy photographers need to be aware of.

The most important is that this is an Apple-only program, so if you use Windows or Linux you’re out of luck. The mobile version is firmly ensconced in Apple’s infamous walled garden which means it never has been, and never will be, available for Android phones.

Also despite the lack of a subscription model, if you want to take full advantage of the iCloud-based storage options you will need to shell out some cash for iCloud Drive. Apple only gives users a paltry 5GB for free. Fortunately, iCloud plans are quite reasonable, and I am perfectly happy with my 50GB plan that only costs 99 cents per month.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

If you want to take full advantage of Photos’ cloud-based options, you might want to purchase additional storage. Fortunately, this is optional and it’s entirely up to you whether you want to do this, and how much storage to buy.

What’s missing

Finally, there are some notable features missing from Apple Photos that users of Lightroom, Luminar, and other apps will likely bemoan – and rightly so. There’s no history panel, no brush adjustments, no radial or graduated filters, no way to share presets, no plugin architecture for third-party expandability, no way to sync edits across multiple photos, and the list goes on.

Even simply exporting a photo can be frustrating. You only have a few options available by default like sharing to online social media sites or setting an image as a desktop background. These can be customized albeit not nearly to the same level as many other programs. It’s safe to say that if you want to give Apple Photos a chance it’s best to keep your expectations in check.

Apple Photos: An Under-Appreciated Post-Processing Software Powerhouse

Unless you want to post images directly to Facebook or Flickr, you might get a little frustrated with the default sharing options.

Conclusion

I hesitate to make a solid recommendation regarding Apple Photos because it really is dependent on the needs of each individual user. Other than to say a once low-end unimpressive program without much going for it has now been transformed to the point that I think it could really be useful for a lot of people.

While it’s still not up to par with its Aperture ancestor and continues to lag behind a lot of other options on the market in terms of features and capability, it’s a free, powerful, highly effective photo manager and editor that just might surprise and delight you if you give it a chance.

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Most Popular Post-Processing Articles of 2017

28 Dec

If you’ve been reading over the last couple of days you may have seen these already:

  • The Best Landscape Articles on dPS in 2017
  • Top Portrait Photography Tips of the Year on dPS in 2017

Next up in this summary is post-processing.

Most Popular Post-Processing Articles of 2017

    1. 5 Common Post-Processing Mistakes to Avoid
    2. A Step by Step Guide to Processing Portraits in Lightroom
    3. Basic Portrait Post-Processing Workflow Tips to Help You Save Time and Stay Organized
    4. Don’t Fear Photo Post-Processing – Shooting is Only the First Part of the Image Creation Process
    5. How to Match Your Image Processing Using Reference View in Lightroom
    6. 4 Tips for Post-Processing Images on the Road
    7. Overview of the Intuos Pro Wacom Tablet and the MobileStudio Pro for Post-Processing
    8. How to Choose the Right Monitor for Photo Editing
    9. Overview of Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 for Windows by ACDSee
    10. Image Editing Software Review: PortraitPro 15
    11. How to Speed Up Your Photo Editing with the Right Lightroom Workflow
    12. How to do Non-Destructive Editing in Photoshop
    13. How to Merge and Combine Images in Photoshop
    14. How to Remove People from Your Photos Using Photoshop
    15. How to Create a Rim Light Effect Using Photoshop
    16. The dPS Ultimate Guide to Getting Started in Lightroom for Beginners
    17. Tips for How to Think and Use Lightroom More Artistically
    18. How to Understand the Lightroom Tone Curve
    19. 3 Handy Lightroom Features I Discovered by Accident
    20. Review of Macphun’s Aurora HDR 2018
    21. How to use Macphun’s Luminar for Beginners
    22. Luminar The Ultimate Lightroom Plugin

Whew, that is a lot, but it’s a big category with lots of options now available to you for processing your images.

Can you help us with a quick poll? Since there are so many new photo editing software options – please fill in any that you are using below. It will give us a better idea of what to cover in the upcoming year! Thanks for your assistance and for reading.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

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