The importance of post-processing and editing in photos and videos cannot be overemphasized. For every great photograph, great view, lighting, and aesthetics, there is a precise amount of effort that was put in place to achieve that result that has become a focus of all eyes. A bulk of these efforts come into play in the post-processing aspect, editing in Continue Reading
The post The Top Best Photo and Video Tools for Beginners appeared first on Photodoto.
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After unveiling ON1 Photo RAW 2021 in September, ON1 has officially released the new software. ON1 describes the latest version of its flagship software a ‘hassle-free, professional photo organizer, raw processor, layered editor and effects app.’ ON1 promises its software is ‘perfect for those seeking an ultra-convenient all-in-one photo editing solution.’
ON1 Photo RAW 2021 includes numerous additions and improvements, including improved automatic AI adjustments, a new portrait editing workflow, improved color selection technology and much more.
The primary new feature is ON1 Portrait AI. This technology finds each face in a selected image and analyzes the photo to locate the eyes, mouth and skin to allow the user to make many quick adjustments, including frequency separation-based skin retouching and adjustments to lighting. ON1 states that ‘in a few simple clicks, you can quickly brighten up the eyes, whiten the teeth and make your subject glow with very little effort.’
Additional retouching tools added to ON1 Photo RAW 2021 include a new Spot Healing Brush tool. The non-destructive brush allows quick removal of dust spots, power lines and other unwanted objects from your image. With a new filter, you can also quickly change a specific color in your image. ON1 says you can use the new filter to change the color of objects such as eyes, flowers, buildings, clothes and more. A similar framework has been added to Photo RAW 2021 allowing you to quickly select a specific color to create a mask, allowing for very specific, localized edits to different parts of your image.
If you’d like to liven up your landscape images, AI Auto and new brush shapes allow the user to easily add clouds to a dull sky. Further, with the color selection technology in ON1 Photo RAW 2021, you can easily make selective edits to your sunrise and sunset images to bring out or add new colors to a scene.
The new version of the software includes workflow and usability improvements as well. With a new Full Screen Preview mode, you can view your image without any distracting user interface elements. You can also present selected images in a full-screen slideshow with user-adjustable settings. For users with large photo libraries, it is all too easy to accidentally import duplicate files or have a cluttered archive. With ON1 Photo RAW 2021’s new Smart Organize mode, the software can automatically locate duplicate images and clean up your files. You can also use this mode to track down all photos captured at a specific location. ON1 Photo RAW 2021 also includes the ability to batch process HDR and panoramic images provided the source image files are organized within subfolders.
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| ON1 Photo RAW 2021 can be used as a plugin across a wide range of supported software, including Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, Affinity Photo, Capture One (coming soon), Apple Photos and Corel Paintshop Pro. Click to enlarge. |
If Photoshop is an integral part of your editing workflow, you can also take advantage of ON1 Photo RAW 2021’s powerful portrait editing features inside of Photoshop by using ON1 Portrait AI as a plugin. ON1 Photo RAW 2021 can also be used as a plugin inside Lightroom, Affinity Photo, Corel Paint Shop Pro and Capture One (although this support is coming later).
ON1 Photo RAW 2021 includes support for new cameras and lenses as well. New camera support includes: Canon EOS Rebel T8i (850D), Canon EOS R5 (uncompressed image files only), Canon EOS R6 (uncompressed files only), Fujifilm X-S10, Leica M10-R, Nikon Z5, Olympus E-M10 Mark IV, Olympus E-30, Panasonic DC-S5, Panasonic Lumix DC-G100, Sony A7S III and the Sony A7C. New lens profiles include: Canon EF 85mm F1.4L IS USM, Canon G5 X Mark II, Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM, Nikon Coolpix P1000, Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm F1.8S, Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm F1.8S, Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN Art, Sony FE 35mm F1.8, Tamron 17-35mm F2.8-4 Di OSD, Tamron 18-400mm F3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD and Zeiss Touit 2.8/50M.
ON1 Photo RAW 2021 is available now. If you are an owner of a previous version of ON1 software, you can upgrade to ON1 Photo RAW 2021 for $ 79.99. New customers can purchase a perpetual license to ON1 Photo RAW 2021 for $ 99.99. There is also a bundle that includes an annual membership to ON1 Plus for $ 129.99.
If you subscribe to ON1 Photo RAW 360, which has plans starting at $ 7.99 per month, you will receive ON1 Photo RAW 2021 automatically. This also includes ON1 Photo RAW for Mobile. ON1 Photo RAW 2021 is compatible for Windows and macOS. You can learn more about ON1 Photo RAW 2021 and check out purchasing options by visiting ON1.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The post 3 Lightroom Tools to Enhance Your Nature and Wildlife Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Shreyas Yadav.
Do you want to bring out texture in your images of flowers, butterflies, plants, or macro subjects?
Are you looking to remove haze from your beautiful landscape images?
Do you want to reveal fine detail in your wildlife images?
Then you’re in the right place.
Because today I am going to share with you three Lightroom tools for nature photography. I use these three tools to enhance my own nature and wildlife images. And I am sure these tools will be helpful to you, as well.
And the best part is?
All of these Lightroom tools are easy to apply. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or an intermediate-level photographer; you can pick up these tools and start enhancing your nature images right away.
Note that these three Lightroom tools can be applied to an overall image (as a global adjustment) or to a targeted area of the image (as a local adjustment).
Let’s do this!
Here are the three Lightroom tools that will instantly enhance your nature photos:
To access these tools, head to the Develop Module, find the Basic Panel, and scroll down to Presence:
Texture has a subtle sharpening effect. It brings out the finer details.
You can use the Texture tool in Lightroom to subtly add sharpening to flowers, patterns, plants, and more.
By default, the Texture slider is set to “0.” Drag the texture slider to the right to increase the texture effect.
Or drag the Texture slider to the left to reduce its effect.
Here is an example of the Texture slider in action. First, take a look at this chameleon photo without any added texture:
Then, as you increase the texture, the chameleon details appear sharper:
Here’s a final before and after:
The effect of the Clarity slider is more prominent than the effect of the Texture slider.
What does Clarity do?
It primarily increases the midtone contrast.
Now, the Clarity slider is set to “0” as a default.
To add Clarity, drag the slider to the right:
To reduce the effect, drag the Clarity slider to the left.
Since the effect of the Clarity slider is strong, make sure you use Clarity in moderation.
If you capture a well-exposed image with a relatively centered histogram, then the Clarity slider will improve the midtone contrast and can bring out additional details in your picture.
Here’s an image without the Clarity slider applied:
As well as its corresponding histogram:
And here’s the image with the Clarity slider applied:
And its corresponding histogram:
As Clarity increases, the midtone contrast increases, too; notice how the center of the histogram has expanded.
Additionally, after increasing the Clarity, details on the bird have begun to pop.
The Dehaze slider is quite helpful for landscape images.
When out photographing, you may end up with haze in the atmosphere. Additionally, fog or rain will make an image look hazy.
You can use the Dehaze slider to reduce the haze.
To apply the Dehaze effect (and reduce the haze), drag the Dehaze slider to the right:
To reduce the Dehaze effect (and increase the haze), drag the Dehaze slider to the left.
As you increase the Dehaze effect, haze in the picture will be reduced, and the overall saturation of the image will increase. If the saturation increases too much, then bring down the Saturation slider slightly.
Note that the Dehaze slider will shift the histogram to the left (toward the side of the histogram representing the darker tones in the image).
When I was photographing the scene below, there was mist and drizzle over the forest valley. Here’s the image prior to applying the Dehaze effect:
And here’s the same image, but with the Dehaze effect applied:
As I increased the value of the Dehaze slider, the haze was reduced. The difference between the original and edited images is quite significant.
You can also use the Dehaze slider for early-morning images, wildlife during the winter season, photos captured in the rain, and wildlife captured from a distance.
The elephants pictured below were moving along the riverbank. I was photographing them from a boat at a far distance, it was evening, and there was a slight fog in the atmosphere, hence the image appears a bit hazy:
But, thanks to the Dehaze slider, the haze in the picture is reduced:
There you go!
Those are the three Lightroom tools for nature photography that will instantly enhance your photos.
But here’s one more thing you should know:
Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze aren’t only available as global adjustments. They’re available as local adjustments, too.
You can apply local adjustments using a Graduated Filter, a Radial Filter, or an Adjustment Brush.
As you apply your local adjustments, you can shift the Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze sliders.
Let me give you an example. Here’s an unedited image:
After making global adjustments in Adobe Lightroom, I used a local (targeted) adjustment on the sky:
On the stormy clouds:
And on the road passing through the grassland:
Note that these local adjustments include the Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze sliders.
Here is the final image:
So you can use these three tools when adding local adjustments, too!
I hope these three Lightroom tools will help you enhance your nature and wildlife images.
Now I would like to hear from you:
Which of these Lightroom tools for nature photography are you going to try first?
Let me know by leaving a comment below.
The post 3 Lightroom Tools to Enhance Your Nature and Wildlife Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Shreyas Yadav.
Tether Tools has introduced a new version of its Smart Shooter application that adds a plug-in for Sony cameras so they can tether directly into Adobe’s Lightroom Classic. The standalone software is also compatible with Nikon and Canon cameras and allows users to control their camera settings and import images from the camera as they are being shot.
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While Nikon and Canon users can also use Lightroom Classic they need to do so via hot folders from the standalone software, but with the new plug-in Sony cameras can be seen in the Lightroom Tethering Bar. Images shot on Sony cameras will be pulled in to Lightroom automatically, collecting presets on the way to give users finished pictures directly in their catalogs.
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Users can also elect to save pictures to the computer and the memory card at the same time, while the on-screen live view allows multiple loupe positions for simultaneously checking focus in more than one area. The company says Smart Shooter 4 offers more camera controls than before and that import scripts can be automated.
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A ‘Pro’ version of the software gives photographers the ability to toggle between up to eight connected cameras, and to trigger them all at the same time. It also allows barcode and QR code scanning via the tethered camera.
Tether Tools Smart Shooter 4 is available now and costs $ 69.95 for the standard version and $ 195.95 for the Pro version. Tether Tools says it is working on a plug-in for Canon cameras that it hopes to release next year. For more information see the Tether Tools website.
Press release
Photographers can now enhance their tethering experience in Lightroom through this direct integration from Tether Tools.
Tether Tools is pleased to announce the release of an integrated Smart Shooter 4 plug-in for Lightroom Classic. As the industry leader in solutions for tethered capture, Tether Tools developed the plug-in with the goal of expanding Lightroom Classic’s native tethering capabilities. The result is a smooth, stable tethered connection with added Sony compatibility and valuable features for Nikon users. The Smart Shooter plug-in for Lightroom will provide users with efficiency, enhanced workflow quality, and delivering a more unified tethered experience.
“Tether Tools is always assessing how we can create compatibility between gear and systems within the tethered workflow. Among other great features, we’re really excited for Sony photographers to be able to tether directly into Lightroom,” says Josh Simons, Tether Tools’ President & CEO.
Smart Shooter 4 is a digital photography workflow application that allows users to fully control a camera from a computer, giving the freedom to explore and experiment to help take the perfect picture. Automatic download and display provide the ability to fully evaluate photos in seconds, and real time live view output will help focus and compose the image. Scripting language lets users have control of their camera, allowing them to take multiple photos with varying settings just by clicking a single button.
This integration with the Smart Shooter Plug-In adds onto native Lightroom Classic functionality to provide:
Compatibility with Sony Cameras: Users will be able to see their Sony camera in the Lightroom Classic tethering bar and ingest images directly into Lightroom Classic without any additional configuration or set-up.
Automatically Apply Lightroom Presets: Using the plug-in, images are immediately imported into Lightroom Classic catalogs so that users will be able to apply presets in real-time. This saves time compared to alternative solutions that require use of watch folders.
Save to card and computer simultaneously: Smart Shooter provides the ability to capture and save images to both their computer and camera memory card for backup.
Advanced Tethering Features: Direct your tethered session from Smart Shooter to take advantage of its advanced tethering features including multi-loupe view, Live View, automated scripts, increased camera controls and more while still instantly transferring images to Lightroom.
Barcode Scanning: Automatically scan barcodes or QR codes, through the camera lens, to automate workflow, improve organization and save time in post-production.
Multi-camera connectivity: Seamlessly toggle between up to 8 cameras in Lightroom or simultaneously control and trigger up to 8 cameras from the Smart Shooter interface.
Long-time Lightroom user and photographer Bryan Welsh stated, “As a working portrait photographer, I rely on tools that enhance my ability to work without adding stress. The new plug-in for Smart Shooter 4 and Adobe Lightroom [Classic] performs seamlessly to deliver on that. This combination allows me to see my best work realized.”
Smart Shooter comes in two versions, both for a single user, but with different options and prices. Smart Shooter 4, which costs $ 69.95, can be used with one camera and offers tethered shooting, remote control, live view and prepackaged scripts. Smart Shooter 4 PRO has the functions from the base version, but offers multi-camera control, Through the Lens Barcode and QR code scanning, external API integration and custom scripting. Priced at $ 195.95, it also allows users to shoot simultaneously with up to 8 cameras.
For Sony and Nikon users, the Smart Shooter Plug-In for Adobe Lightroom is available on TetherTools.com and through Tether Tools retailers globally. Each purchase grants a fully licensed version of Smart Shooter 4 or Smart Shooter 4 PRO which includes the Lightroom plug-in. Tether Tools is also working to make the plug-in available through the Adobe Exchange. Tether Tools is working with Adobe to enable full plug-in support for Canon next year.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Negative conversion tool Negative Lab Pro has released a version 2.2 update it calls ‘the most rigorously developed update’ to date, bringing with it a ‘new engine, easier editing tools, and breathtaking color and tone reproduction’
For those unfamiliar with Negative Lab Pro, it’s a plug-in for Lightroom 6 and Lightroom Classic that adds a specific toolset and workflow for converting negative film scans. It rids the need for hand-editing curves and manually accounting for scan densities, making it easy to go from scan to final image in a matter of minutes through its own graphic interface within Lightroom. Below is a year-old introduction to how Negative Lab Pro works:
With that out of the way, let’s get on to the new features Negative Lab Pro 2.2 brings to the table.
First up, Negative Lab Pro 2.2 features an entirely rebuilt engine that ensures the entire workflow can be done with Raw file formats and is non-destructive. Now, rather than there being multiple layers of adjustments atop the image, all conversions and adjustments are made directly to the Raw negative scan (if you convert the scanned negative into a Raw file format upon import). In theory, this should mean there isn’t any loss of quality when multiple adjustments are made on top of one another.
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| A screen recording showing how the curves will intelligently adjust based on the adjustments made to scans. |
The new engine also features what its developer calls ‘Multilayer Auto-Generating Integrated Curves,’ which is a fancy way of saying the plug-in is able to intelligently adjust the curves to preserve the tonality and scans as adjustments are made. Negative Lab Pro developer Nate Johnson provides an explanation for how this new technology works:
‘The new engine has its own processing pipeline with 9 internal processing layers working together seamlessly under the hood. Internally, I can define, order and combine each layer in the way that makes the most sense for film processing. For instance, color balancing happens earliest in the pipeline, so your color balance remains stable even if you drastically adjust your tones. Negative Lab Pro then auto-generates up to 42 curve points in real time (14 integrated points for each color channel), which are then fed directly into Lightroom’s curve control.’
Put simply, this new development should result in ‘purer tones and colors’ in your negatives, even as adjustments are applied.
Another benefit of the redesigned engine is improved color stability. Now, adjustments made to the image — such as contrast, brightness and more — won’t affect the color balance of an image. Nate demonstrates in the comparison images below the difference between Negative Lab Pro version 2.1 and version 2.2 when making changes to contrast:
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A collection of new tools have also been added to Negative Lab Pro 2.2, including film-specific color temperature and tint sliders, a new color picker, range control for highlights and shadows, and new tone profile families, which provide different baselines for getting started with editing your scans.
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| The integrated temp/tint sliders that use the new 2.2 engine. |
If you’re using Negative Lab Pro 2.2 with Lightroom Classic, the update also adds new LUT-based emulations. Unlike Adobe Lightroom 6, Lightroom Classic has integrated 3D Lookup Tables. This capabilities allows the new LUT-based emulations to make ‘incredibly nuanced adjustments to color and tone reproduction,’ which should result in more accurate film stock emulations.
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The best part is, in the case of most scans edited with previous versions of Negative Lab Pro should automatically be converted to the rebuilt engine in version 2.2. So, unless you want to make more precise edits with the new engine, you shouldn’t have to go back and manually re-edit all of your scans.
Negative Lab Pro version 2.2 is free for anyone who currently has a license. If you’re trying out Negative Lab Pro for the first time, you will be able to convert 12 images for free before you’re required to purchase a license.
Negative Lab Pro 2.2 is available to purchase for $ 99. The plug-in receives consistent updates and to date, all past updates have been free so long as you own a license. Nate does note, however, that at some point there may be paid updates or extras available for purchase.
You can find out more information about Negative Labs 2.2 in Nate’s incredibly comprehensive update post. on the Negative Lab Pro forums.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The post Great Photoshop Tools to Edit Backgrounds in Images for Online Use appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.
Are you moving your business online? You’re probably noticing the huge amount of possibilities? From blogs to Instagram; from banners to thumbnails – you need to keep editing your images to fit your every need. Fortunately, there are some Photoshop tools to edit backgrounds that come to the rescue. Keep reading to learn how to solve some of the most common issues about backgrounds.
There are a number of Photoshop tools to edit white backgrounds, so let’s break them down.
A white background shot seems simple, but it ‘s not so easy to achieve. You can always cut out the subject and replace the backdrop, but this can be very time-consuming even if you did it right in the photo-shoot. You still need to do some editing, and one of the best Photoshop tools to edit a backgrounds’ brightness is Curves.
Often, despite your best efforts, your seemingly white background is not 100% white. Look at the example above. On the left, you can see the result of the photo-shoot, which appears to be okay. But, if I add a white background layer, you can see it’s not. Notice how you can see the difference in the corners. To easily fix this, you have to add a Curves Adjustment Layer.
To add a Curves adjustment, click on the Adjustments icon at the bottom of the Layer palette, denoted by a circle with black and white halves.
Then, lighten your image by dragging the top part of the curve. Keep going until the transition between your photo and the digital background is not visible. Don’t worry if your subject is getting too light, you’ll fix that in the next step.
Now, grab the Brush tool, and with a soft brush at 10 or 15% flow, start painting black over your subject. This will mask out the adjustments from the curve to keep the original exposure on the subject, including its shadows.
There will be times when you also need to extend your image backgrounds. Here are some tools to help you do that.
The Clone Stamp is one of the most useful Photoshop tools to edit backgrounds. Being able to clone one part of the image to another, helps you to retouch almost anything.
You can correct any specks, dust, or scratches in your image.
I want to show you another situation where it can come in handy too. Imagine you need to extend your background to gain some negative space. You can clone your background to cover a bigger area. First, enlarge your document by going to Menu->Image->Canvas Size and set up the new size.
Grab the Clone Stamp and take a sample from the background to start cloning. If you are working on a separate layer, make sure to set Current and Below in the options bar. If you’re working on the same layer, use “Current Layer.”
Keep going by sampling from different areas each time, that way, it’s less noticeable, and you’ll get a better result. If the area is too big for this, then the Pattern Stamp tool will be more efficient.
First, use the Rectangular Marquee tool to select a sample of the background. Then go to Menu->Edit->Define Pattern. This will open a pop-up window where you can name and save this background as a pattern.
Pick the Pattern Stamp tool that you’ll find under the Clone Stamp. On the options bar, you can open the pattern menu and choose the one you just created.
Now you just have to paint all the space you want to fill. You can adjust the size of the brush, the hardness, and flow for better results.
If the separation between stamps is noticeable, then go back to the clone stamp tool and smooth out the junctions.
Similar to the Clone Stamp is the Healing Brush, which has two variations. Unlike the clone, both of them will blend the new pixels with the existing ones. As a result, the correction is much smoother. Let’s see the difference between them.
The Spot Healing Brush will automatically sample the pixels it thinks are best to use as a source. It will take the texture and reproduce it while blending the color and luminosity with the pixels in the new spot.
This is really useful when you’re working on large empty areas, like textures. In most cases, I find it’s very unpredictable, and it includes pieces that don’t belong, so I don’t use it often. However, it’s a matter of finding what works best in each situation.
If you cancel the action by going back on your history or using the command Ctrl+Z and try again, it will give you a different result. It works better when you use a small brush and tackle small areas at a time.
If you want to cover a big space, you’ll be better off using the Healing Brush Tool.
This tool is a mix between the Spot Healing Brush and the Clone Stamp. You can manually choose where to sample by clicking on the spot while holding the Alt key. Then click on the area you want to ‘heal’ and it will blend the source pixels with the current ones. This way the result will be much more uniform. Make sure that “Sampled” is marked as the Source in the Options bar.
You can use this tool to extend your background or to retouch any details on it. It’s very versatile, so try it out.
Your background can complement, enhance, or distract from the subject, so it’s just as important and you want to give it enough attention. Whether it’s a blemish or an extension, these Photoshop tools to edit backgrounds can help you out for most of your online needs.
What is your favorite tool? Share it in the comments section!
The post Great Photoshop Tools to Edit Backgrounds in Images for Online Use appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.
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Datacolor has released its new ‘SpyderX Photo Kit’ that comes with three of its most popular photo and monitor calibration tools at a dramatic discount compared to purchasing the items individually.
The Datacolor SpyderX Photo Kit comes with a SpyderX Elite monitor calibration tool, a Spyder Checkr 24 and the SpyderCube, a die-shaped grey card for getting the white balance just right in post-production. The kit is currently listed at an ‘anniversary special’ price of $ 200 on its website ‘while supplies last.’ That’s $ 180 less than if you purchase each piece individually, plus it all comes in a hard carrying case.
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Strangely enough, though, Datacolor says the kit will eventually retail for $ 400 (it’— which is $ 20 more than what it’d cost to buy everything on its own. Maybe Datacolor is taking the carrying case into account? Who knows. Regardless, at its current price, it’s a solid steal considering the SpyderX Elite retails for $ 240 on its own.
The SpyderX Photo Kit joins Datacolor’s SpyderX Studio and SpyderX Capture Pro kits, which also bundle various calibration tools together at a discount. You can find out more information on the kit and each of the products on Datacolor’s product page.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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One of the most important skills that photographers can learn is how to control and manipulate light. After all, it’s the very definition of photography! So if you aren’t already a master of photography lighting, use this quarantine time at home to explore and practice lighting techniques. In this article, I’ll show you some of the most popular lighting solutions that professional photographers use, and DIY versions that you can make with regular household products.
This guide is geared towards those with little-to-no knowledge of lighting, but it can also be useful for professionals. Gear can malfunction at any time, and it is helpful to know how to hack quick solutions, especially on paid jobs.
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The lights that professional photographers use can fall into two broad categories: natural light and artificial light. Natural light simply means any available ambient light, most commonly sunlight. The plus side to natural light is that there is plenty of it available, and you can use it as-is or with modifiers such as a reflector (more on this below).
However, the downside to natural light is that it changes throughout the day, and is not always consistent. Natural light at sunrise or sunset has very different qualities than that of midday natural light.
While it’s beneficial for pro photographers to know how to use natural lighting, understanding how to use artificial lighting is also valuable since one cannot always rely on natural lighting to be available. Most photographers incorporate artificial lighting in the form of strobes, Speedlights, or LED panel lights.
Strobes and Speedlights are external flashes that produce a bright burst of light at high power. In comparison, LED panels are external lights that are always on, giving you a real-time preview of what your subject will look like with lighting on. The main downside to LEDs is that they are generally not as powerful as strobes or Speedlights.
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The best DIY light source is a flashlight. This can be a dedicated flashlight or the one on your cell phone will do just fine.
From here on out, we’ll talk about lighting modifiers. The most important thing to understand about a modifier is that it (naturally) can’t be any brighter than the light that already exists, so it is best to start off with the most powerful light you can find. For the DIY versions of these modifiers, don’t worry if your materials are wrinkled, stained or dirty. All we’re doing is using them to reflect light, so little imperfections are fine.
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The most basic and inexpensive light modifier is a reflector. This tool manipulates light by bouncing it off of reflective surfaces. There are several different kinds of reflectors out there, but the handiest by far is the 5-in-1 reflector. This gives you five different tools to work with:
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5-in-1 reflectors are quite cheap, so get one if you can afford it. But if you want to use household items, you can recreate the effects of the 5-in-1 reflector with some common materials:
Tools Needed
Step 1: Cut the large foam boards into your desired size, but keep it in a rectangular or square shape to help it stay balanced. Determine the ideal size by figuring out what kind of photo subject you are trying to light. A larger photo subject = a larger foam board.
Step 2: The foam board can be used as-is if you simply want a white or black surface to bounce light off of. Simply attach the binder clips or clamps to the bottom of the reflector to give it feet to stand on, and start using it.
Step 3: If you have aluminum foil or metallic gift wrap, take it a step further by wrapping the foam board cutout with the reflective material. It doesn’t matter if the foil or gift wrap is wrinkled – all you want is the reflective quality of the material. After your foam board is wrapped and secured with tape, attach the binder clips or clamps for feet, and you’re ready to go.
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Similar to the translucent panel of a reflector, a softbox diffuses light. It can turn harsh light with heavy shadows into soft, even light. Like all other lighting modifiers, softboxes vary in terms of size and shape. When choosing softboxes, consider the size of your photo subject – a larger softbox is needed to light larger subjects – and if your subject has any reflective surfaces. Softboxes can often be seen in reflections (ie. glass bottles, or a photo subject’s eyes). This may impact the shape of the softbox that you should use.
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Bottles of wine or other beverages are often shot with rectangular softboxes so that the reflection compliments the bottle’s form. |
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In the previous section, the use of parchment paper was not explained because you would use the parchment paper in much of the same way you would make this DIY softbox.
Tools Needed:
Tape or glue, Exacto knife (or scissors), large clamps, large foam boards, parchment paper (most of these can be found in a craft or hardware store).
Step 1: Cut the foam board into a certain size, if desired, but it is best to use the largest foam board that you have available.
Step 2: Cut out a generous portion of the middle of the foam board, leaving a foam board frame. This is easiest done with an Exacto knife.
Step 3: Tear off a piece of parchment paper large enough to fill in the foam board hole. Tape or glue the parchment paper to the foam board frame.
Step 4: Depending on the size of your DIY softbox, you may be able to balance it on a surface if you use large clamps as feet. If you have a really large softbox, use an assistant to hold it in place, or set your camera on a timer and hold the softbox yourself.
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To get the best light out of your DIY softbox, play around with the placement of your light source and the softbox. A good rule of thumb is that the larger the softbox, the softer the light quality. However, the proximity of the softbox to your photo subject also affects the light output – the closer your photo subject is to the light source, the softer the light appears.
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The last type of photography lighting modifier I’ll discuss is the snoot. A snoot is a long tube that fits on the front of a light, producing a targeted beam of light, similar to a spotlight. Photographers often use snoots as a hair light in portrait photography to create separation between the subject and background.
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There are many ways to DIY a snoot. Which tool is best for you really depends on the size of your light source, since the snoot needs to tightly fit around the end of your light. Assuming that you are using a relatively small flashlight, the cheapest and easiest way to DIY a snoot is to use the inner cardboard piece of a toilet paper or paper towel roll. Simply cut and toilet paper piece and rearrange it to tightly fit around the end of your light, and tape or glue the shape into place.
And there you have it – plenty of ideas to experiment with around the house. Watch the video below to see these DIY solutions in action, and let us know your best household item lighting hacks in the comments!
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Gentlemen Coders LLC, the creator of RAW Power for macOS and iOS, has released RAW Power 3.0. The latest version introduces more integration with native macOS and iOS Photos applications and delivers an improved workflow.
RAW Power 3 is the first, and currently only, third-party application to include full support for Apple Photos libraries on macOS and iOS. With this integration, photographers can rate and edit their images on their Mac or iOS devices with full iCloud synchronization.
The software was developed by Nik Bhatt, a former Apple engineer. While at Apple, Bhatt led the iPhone and Aperture teams. Of RAW Power 3, Bhatt says, “RAW Power has gained a strong following among serious photographers for its unique control over Apple’s RAW engine, combined with its robust and easy-to-use editing tools.”
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| RAW Power 3 includes a variety of improvements to its integration with Apple Photos and its overall workspace. Users can utilize tabs to view multiple albums in the library at the same time. Users can also rate, flag and filter albums, with ratings and flags automatically syncing through iCloud Photos. Click to enlarge the image. Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
From its first release, RAW Power has been designed to build upon the existing Apple Photos native application and add additional functionality and editing capabilities. RAW Power allows the user to keep their files organized at the system level while also performing more advanced edits to their photos. By leveraging Apple Photos, users can also avoid committing to a proprietary photo library or subscription-based software.
Considering the Mac version of RAW Power 3.0, the software works directly with your Photos library while adding additional editing and organizational tools. You can browse and create albums and folders, which are then instantly applied to the system’s photo library and changes are synced over iCloud when using iCloud Photos. RAW Power 3 specifically adds rating and flagging functionality to the software, something not available in Apple Photos. In the case of a flag, this will instantly appear on the image file in the Finder as well.
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| RAW Power 3 introduces a variety of user-requested features, including hot and cold pixel indicators, integration of LUTs and reordering of default adjustments within your customized workspace. Click to enlarge the image. Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
Additionally, RAW Power 3 includes a new section for recently viewed items. There’s a threshold for what counts as “viewed,” meaning that only images you spent more than a few seconds looking at will be included. To make it easier to view and work on multiple images or albums at once, RAW Power 3 includes tabs.
RAW Power 3 introduces a variety of new image adjustments, including: Auto Enhance with Face Balancing, Auto White Balance, LUTs with film simulations, Levels and a Channel Mixer. With the new adjustment tools, the total now available to users is 15. With so many adjustments now built into the software, RAW Power 3 includes a refreshed editing interface and new workflow functionality. Users can reorder and select the default adjustments, to ensure that adjustments they use less frequently do not clog up their workspace.
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| RAW Power 3 introduces two new Auto adjustment features, including Auto Enhance and Auto White Balance (shown here). Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
RAW Power 3 also adds LUTs. The software ships with 20 of them, including Bhatt’s own film simulation LUTS. Users can add their own LUTs as well. When using LUTs, users can adjust the strength of the effect using an intensity slider. With respect to existing image adjustments, there have also been tweaks. For example, there are now hot pixel indicators in the software.
Considering the new Auto Enhance image adjustment, this works by analyzing the image on a variety of criteria before applying varying levels of different RAW Power adjustments. Auto Enhance can adjust highlights and shadows, change the exposure, adjust white balance and more.
RAW Power 3 for iOS includes many of the same improvements as RAW Power 3 for macOS, including the new image editing tools, including LUT integration. RAW Power 3 for iOS also includes the ability to reorder and organize your workspace, which is even more important when working on the smaller display of an iPhone or iPad.
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| The iOS version of RAW Power 3 for iPhone and iPad (shown above) includes a nearly identical feature set as the Mac version, including batch editing. For example, you can batch process and apply Auto Enhance to selected images, as shown in this screenshot. Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
With the latest version of RAW Power, users can now manage their images either in the native Photos application or in the iOS Files app. You can switch seamlessly between Photos and Files, although some iOS limitations result in edits, ratings, flags and filters not syncing over iCloud when working in Files.
The same new rating workflow from the Mac version carries over to iOS, representing a first for iCloud photographers on iOS. By utilizing ratings and flags, you can easily sort and filter your image library to quickly find specific images.
RAW Power 3 also includes new one-tap integration with the popular Halide camera application and Halide has added RAW Power to its quick-launch integration within the app’s photo reviewer.
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| If you use Portrait mode on your iOS device, RAW Power 3, like prior versions, can access the depth data in your image files. By utilizing this data, users can selectively adjust different areas of the image depending on how close or far the subject was from the lens. For example, you can adjust the highlights and shadows in the background and foreground independently while also adjusting the depth mask threshold. You can see the mask created using depth data in this screenshot from the iPad version of RAW Power 3. Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
For users of Apple’s Portrait mode on their iOS devices, RAW Power 3 can access the depth data in the image file and allow users to create depth maps for selective edits. You can access and edit using the depth data on both iOS and Mac versions of RAW Power.
RAW Power 3 for macOS and iOS is available today from the App Store. For existing owners of RAW Power 2, the update is free on both platforms. For new users, RAW Power 3 for macOS is $ 39.99 and RAW Power 3 for iOS is $ 9.99. RAW Power 3 for macOS runs on macOS Catalina and Mojave. On iOS, RAW Power 3 runs on iOS 12 and iOS 13, although the app does not support iPhone 5s, 6 or 6 Plus or iPad mini 3 or earlier.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The post How to Use the Luminar 4 Pro Tools Panel appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Christian Hoiberg.
Luminar 4 is an intuitive photo editor that’s used by both complete beginners and advanced photographers. Their popular Artificial Intelligence tools such as the AI Sky Replacement and AI Enhance have been talked about a lot, but I want us to take a closer look at the Luminar 4 Pro Tools category.
Don’t be fooled, though. Despite being named ‘Pro Tools’ and containing more advanced tools, most of them are still easy to use. There aren’t any AI tools in this category, so you will need to do a little more manual work.
The Professional Tools category is the final tools category marked with the ‘Pro’ icon. Click it to expand the Professional panel and reveal 7 tools.
Let’s take a closer look at the tools in Luminar 4 Pro Tools panel:
This is a tool that I recommend you learn and take advantage of. In fact, it’s one of my most used tools in Luminar.
Contrast is important in photography, but it can be difficult to apply it correctly. Globally applying contrast can lead to shadows becoming too dark and highlights becoming too bright.
The ‘Smart Contrast’ tool (found in the Essentials Tools), does a good job avoiding this by taking the histogram into the equation. But you’ll often want better control over where contrast is introduced.
That’s where the Advanced Contrast Tool comes in handy. It allows you to manually adjust the amount of contrast introduced to specific zones in the photo.
I find that the Highlights and Midtones sliders work best for landscape images. Midtones contrast is something I regularly work on in my images and this is an easy method to do so.
Remember that each image might react differently to these adjustments, so make sure to experiment a little with the sliders before to find what suits a particular image the best.
The next tool in the Luminar 4 Pro Tools panel is the Adjustable Gradient Tool.
This tool is useful when you want to make a quick adjustment to the top or bottom part of an image. It’s also a useful tool for those who prefer an easy solution, but it lacks the possibility to create multiple gradients in different orientations (for this you need to create different gradients on individual layers).
In other words, this is a good tool for more default adjustments if you just need to darken the sky or desaturate the foreground.
Top/Bottom defines which area of the image gets affected by the adjustments. You can use both at the same time – applying individual adjustment settings to areas above the gradient and below.
The smoothness of the transition between the two adjustments depends on the distance between the top and bottom line in the gradient.
Dodging & Burning has been around since the beginning of photography. The fact that it’s still used in the digital darkroom is a testament to its effectiveness and a great reason why you could implement it into your post-processing workflow.
Click Start Painting to reveal the Dodge & Burn tool tab above your image. This is where you choose to Lighten (Dodge), Darken (Burn) or Erase the effect. You can also adjust the brush size and intensity.
You can switch between the Lighten and Darken brush at any time. If you want to brighten places in the image, simply click the Lighten button and adjust the brush size and strength.
You can now brush along the areas you want to brighten. Should you accidentally brush somewhere you weren’t supposed to, you can use the Erase option to remove it.
When you’re finished with dodging and burning, click the Done button. You can use the Overall Amount slider to adjust the global intensity of the adjustment. Reduce the amount to lower the opacity of the adjustment.
Several tools impact the colors in your photos, but none of them are quite as advanced as the Color Enhancer Tool. Here you get several options that give you precise control over both the global and local colors.
You can target Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights individually by selecting them from the Range Selector buttons. Note that the sliders below are linked to the individual tonal region, allowing you to make adjustments to each of them.
Use the sliders to adjust the balance of the Cyan-Red, Magenta-Green and Yellow-Blue colors. You can use these to, for example, correct the colors in your image or to give a creative look to it.
Another tool in the Luminar 4 Pro Tools panel is the Photo Filter. You can use this filter to add extra warmth or cool down an image by simulating a color filter placed in front of a camera.
You can apply it in order to make a sunset sky ‘pop,’ or to give your image an artistic look; it all depends on how you choose to use it.
The final tool found in the Luminar 4 Pro Tools Category is the powerful Split Toning Tool. It can be used to either introduce color toning to Black & White images or to add a color cast to the shadows and highlights individually.
Amount controls the overall intensity of the applied color toning.
Highlights Hue lets you adjust the colors found in the bright areas of your image.
Highlights Saturation increases the intensity of the colors in the bright areas.
Shadows Hue lets you adjust the colors found in the darker areas of your image.
Shadows Saturation increases the intensity of the colors in the darker areas.
Balance shifts the balance between highlights and shadows and how they’re affected.
The Luminar 4 Pro Tools category contains a bunch of powerful tools that can help take your post-processing to the next level. There’s no need to be intimidated because of its name. However, I do recommend spending some time playing and experimenting with the tools.
Several of the tools can quickly become a bit ‘too much’ and need to be applied with some caution. However, when used right, these are the tools that can help your images stand out from the crowd.
Are you using Luminar 4 and would like to learn how you can create professional-looking images with it? Then make sure to have a look at my popular eBook ‘A Photographer’s Guide to Luminar 4′. Here you’ll learn everything you need about mastering this popular photo-editor.
If you have any questions or comments, pop them into the comments section.
The post How to Use the Luminar 4 Pro Tools Panel appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Christian Hoiberg.
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