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Dodging and Burning in Lightroom: A Comprehensive Guide

20 Jan

The post Dodging and Burning in Lightroom: A Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

Digital photographers who have never worked with film or never even set foot in a darkroom still encounter terms from the early days of photography. The phrase “dodging and burning” is a throwback to those times.

Now, the reasons for using this technique still apply, but the tools and methods for dodging and burning are much easier today. In fact, you can do effective dodging and burning in most post-processing programs, including Lightroom.

So let’s dig into the what, why, and how of dodging and burning in Lightroom – and show you how this technique can improve your photos.

darkroom setup — Working with an enlarger in the orange glow of a safelight. This is how photos used to be printed.

A history lesson

Adobe’s “Lightroom” is a tip of the hat to the place photos were made in days gone by, the darkroom. I had a makeshift darkroom in a corner of my garage and remember the tanks and trays of smelly chemicals, working in the orange glow of a safelight, developing negatives, and making prints. It was a laborious process, and one for which there was no “undo” when a mistake was made.

The standard darkroom workflow went something like this:

Load the film (sheet film for larger “view cameras,” roll film for smaller cameras)
Make shots in the field
Return to the darkroom, and in total darkness or using a film bag, put the film in a developing tank
Develop the film in a multi-step series of chemical baths (develop, rinse, stop bath, rinse, fix, rinse, Photo-Flo, rinse, dry)

At this point, you’d have your negatives, which were film with reversed lights and darks (and colors if you were using a color film.) Next, you’d need to print. Photos were prints; you couldn’t view images on a computer screen.

(Later came reversal film, “slides” that still were physical renditions of your photo but able to be shown with a projector.)

Old school photo enlarger — If you were a DIY photographer and made your own prints in a darkroom, you had to have a lot of tools – including a device like this, called an *enlarger*. People who think photo printing is challenging today have no idea how it used to be!

At this point in the darkroom workflow, you’d be getting to the dodging and burning part.

You’d put your negatives in an enlarger – a projector of sorts which would shine the negative image down onto a piece of photo paper.

(This was all done in the darkroom under a “safelight,” which allowed you to see your work because the orange color wouldn’t expose the photo paper.)

Now, you had to decide how much time was needed to expose the photo paper to the light in order to make a proper exposure. Often, you’d create a “test strip,” a print where you’d create a succession of incremental exposures (shown below). Of course, that would have to be developed in a series of chemical baths, too.

Test strips were made to determine proper photo printing time. — How long should you expose the photo paper to the negative image projected by the enlarger? Better print a test strip.

Finally, you’d be ready to make your print. You’d put a piece of photo paper under the enlarger, set your timer for the exposure duration you established, hit Start, and expose the paper to the light of the projected negative image.

But wait! What if you wanted some parts of the image to be darker and others lighter?

Well, the amount of time the paper was exposed to the light determined how dark the image was.

So if you used an instrument to block light from portions of the image during the projected exposure or, in a second exposure, exposed select portions of the paper to more light, you’d selectively brighten or darken parts of the final print.

The term for selectively blocking the light from the photo paper is “dodging,” and the term for exposing areas of the photo paper to more light is “burning.”

These used to be the tools of the trade before we had dodging and burning in Lightroom — You could buy a dodging kit – or you could just get some wire and make some cardboard cutouts.

Granted, that was a long story just to explain these key terms, but you need to feel the pain just a bit. Imagine doing all those things, then developing the photo paper, spending time and money, only to find that your print didn’t turn out as you hoped. Frustrating, right?

(Guess you weren’t the…wait for it…”artful dodger” you thought you were.)

Dodging and burning in Lightroom sure is easier than the old-school methods! — These are the origins of the terms: “Dodging” meant using various tools to block the light from reaching the photo paper, thus lightening that part of the print. Burning used tools to allow extra light to reach portions of the paper, thus darkening those areas of the print.

Lighten and darken

We have it so much easier, cheaper, and safer with digital photography. No chemicals, no working in the dark, and maybe best of all, the ability to experiment, undo, and replicate the finished results with ease.

So while you will still hear about dodging and burning in Lightroom (as well as in Photoshop and most other digital editing programs), and the tools are still labeled as such, let’s substitute something easier to understand:

Dodging = Lightening.

Burning = Darkening.

Why dodge and burn?

When we use the sliders in Lightroom to adjust our image, we are working with “global” controls. These uniformly apply the effect to the entire image.

For instance, increase or decrease the Exposure slider, and the entire image will get lighter or darker.

What we may want to do is selectively control portions of the image, making some areas darker and some areas lighter. A major reason for doing this is because viewers tend to look at brighter portions of an image first, concentrating less on darker areas.

So to emphasize and deemphasize portions of our image, we may wish to selectively lighten or darken them.

(Remember, lighten=dodge and darken=burn).

The “quick and dirty” method

Dodging and burning in Lightroom can be complicated – but it can also be very simple, and that’s what I’m going to discuss in this section.

Here’s how it works:

Bring up the image you wish to edit in the Develop module of Lightroom. Perform whatever global adjustments you like using the sliders.
Select the Adjustment Brush tool. Double-click the word “Effect” to zero all the sliders. First, we’ll work on areas we wish to lighten (dodge) in the image.
Now let’s “load” the brush. In the Basic panel, drag the Exposure slider up to about +1.0. Set your Feather, Flow, and Density all to 100. This will likely create too much of an effect, but will make it easier to see what you’re doing. You can always back off the brightness later by bringing down the Exposure slider.
Pick an area of the image you wish to lighten and start painting on it with the brush. You will see the area get lighter. Only work on one area. When you’ve painted over all the desired sections, go back to the Exposure slider and drag it up or down to get the final amount of lightness you desire. Click Done when finished with this area.
To work on another area of the image, click the Adjustment Brush again (which will add a new “pin”) and repeat the steps explained above. Because adjustments with the sliders will affect everything done via that “pin” adjustment, you will have more control if you work on multiple smaller areas, rather than lightening multiple areas all at once so you’re forced to apply the same degree of lightening (dodging) to each one.
To darken areas of the image, you can use the same procedure, though you’ll need to drag the Exposure slider in the negative ( -) direction.

Combine global adjustments with simple dodging and burning in Lightroom and you can get a nice result. Before (left) and after (right).

With the Adjustment Brush and the Exposure slider, you can selectively lighten (dodge) and darken (burn) areas of your image.

It works, but maybe you’d like to refine your skills a bit, which is what the next sections are all about:

Tools of the trade

When we talk about dodging and burning in Lightroom, we have three tools we can use:

Adjustment Brush
Radial Filter
Graduated Filter

These tools allow you to select areas of your image where you can apply lightening and darkening.

Let’s discuss how each of these tools might be used and look at some examples that illustrate these concepts.

Tools for dodging and burning in Lightroom

The Adjustment Brush

The Adjustment Brush in Lightroom allows you to selectively “paint” the area of the photo you wish to affect. It might help to think of how you’d control an airbrush rather than a regular paintbrush.

You can make several changes to the Adjustment Brush, including:

Size: Changes the size of the brush. Roll the mouse wheel, use the left and right bracket keys, or use the slider.
Feather: Changes how hard the edge of the brush is and how rapidly the effect falls off. Use Shift while rolling the mouse wheel, Shift and the bracket keys together, or the Feather slider.
Flow: Controls how quickly the effect is applied with each stroke of the brush. Use the slider to adjust the flow, or with the Adjustment Brush selected, change the flow with the number keys on the keyboard. Using multiple strokes will build up the effect.
Density: Controls the maximum opacity of the brush effect. For example, if the Flow was at 100 but the Density was at 50, one stroke of the brush would apply the effect at 50% opacity.

The Radial Filter

The Radial Filter works somewhat like the Adjustment Brush – but rather than allow you to paint randomly, your adjustments are restricted to a circle or oval shape.

You can control the size and shape of the Radial Filter, and you can also feather the edges. Plus, you can control whether the effect takes place inside the circle or outside the circle.

I often use the Radial Filter with the Invert box checked (so only the inside of the circle is affected), and then adjust the filter strength with the Exposure and Feather sliders. You can create what appears to be a spotlight and use it to selectively lighten (dodge) areas of your image.

Some other tips for working with the Radial Filter:

Hold down the Shift key when you drag out the Radial Filter to constrain it to a circle
Use the “handles” on the top, bottom, and sides to drag the Radial Filter into other oval shapes
Once the Radial Filter is created, move the cursor just outside the shape until you see the double-headed arrow and then drag to rotate the shape
Get another “spotlight” to use on a different area by right-clicking a previously-created Radial Filter pin, choosing Duplicate, and then dragging the new Radial Filter off to the next place you want to work.

Creative use of the Radial Filter, one of the tools for dodging and burning in Lightroom — The Coquille River Lighthouse near Bandon, Oregon doesn’t use the light any longer. But with some creative use of the Radial Filter…

radial filter for dodging — …we can turn the light on! A Radial Filter was used to dodge the lighthouse itself, to put a light in the tower, and (as highlighted by the green overlay) to create a light beam.

lighthouse with beam — The finished result.

the radial filter dodging and burning — A Radial Filter was applied to the first window to dodge it, then the Filter was duplicated and moved to each of the other windows. The window at the bottom-right shows how the round shape of the filter can be modified using the Erase brush – which you can switch to by holding down the Alt (Option on Mac) key. The window is showing red because the mask overlay is turned on.

The Graduated Filter

The Graduated Filter can also help you lighten and darken selective areas of your image, but in a more gradual way.

While you might not immediately think of the Graduated Filter as a dodging/burning tool, the concept is the same – you can use it to choose which areas of your image are affected. While it’s a separate subject, combining the Graduated Filter with range masking in Lightroom can provide a very powerful method of selective dodging and burning, which is why I suggest you also read up on range masking.

the graduated filter is one of the tools to dodge and burn in Lightroom — You might want to burn (darken) a sky in Lightroom. The Graduated Filter is a great tool to use – and combined with the Range Mask, it can help you keep the effect where you want it and away from where you don’t, such as the trees in this shot. The red overlay shows where the effect will be placed.

The vignette

A vignette is used for darkening or lightening the edges of your photo.

When used to darken the frame edges, a vignette puts more attention on the center, brighter areas of the image, and helps direct the viewer to the center of the photo.

The Post-Crop Vignetting option is found under the Effects tab in the Lightroom Develop module.

Behind the mask

Any of the tools you use for selective dodging and burning – the Adjustment Brush, the Radial Filter, or the Graduated Filter – are all applying “masks” to your work, controlling how and where the effect is applied.

Often, it can help to see exactly where the masks are applied.

When we first choose one of our dodging and burning tools and begin to work with it, Lightroom will create a “pin,” a marker showing that an effect has been applied.

There is a control to choose when a pin will be displayed, which pins are active, and where the mask has been applied. You can even choose the color of the mask to help you best see it while editing. Hold down Shift, and each time you tap the “O” key, the mask will cycle through its available colors: red, green, white, and black. Use whichever color helps you best see where you’re working.

the mask overlay in Lightroom — Turning on the mask overlay can help you see where your effect is being applied.

Paint on, paint off

Even once you’ve created a dodge or burn effect, there are ways to further refine your selected areas.

Let’s take a quick look at a few of them.

Adjustment Brush: If you need to erase portions of your mask, turn on the overlay so you can see what you’re doing (hit the “O” key). Hold down the Alt (Option on Mac) key, and the “+” sign in the middle of the brush pin will change to a “-” sign. Keep holding down the Alt key, and erase the portions of the mask you don’t want.
Radial and Graduated Filters: After applying a radial or gradient mask, click the word Brush (at the top of the adjustment panel). Then hold down the Alt/Option key so the symbol turns to a “-” sign. Finally, brush out portions of the radial mask you don’t want.
Auto Mask: Checking this box will help the Adjustment Brush find edges and may assist you in selectively masking areas. I suggest you do some further reading to understand how this tool works.

Using the histogram

One feature of the histogram is the ability to show any shadow or highlight clipping. Tap the “J” key, and if any shadows are clipped they will show in blue, while clipped highlights will show in red.

By using the tools we’ve already discussed, you may be able to “rescue” such areas by selectively lightening or darkening them.

There could also be images where you purposely want to black out or white out areas. The “J” key will show you any clipping, then you can dodge or burn areas you wish to black out or white out.

Have a look at the images below, where I used this technique:

Extreme dodging and burning in Lightroom — You don’t want to completely clip your highlights or shadows in a photo…except when you do. This was the straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) photo. It needed some cleanup.

extreme burning in Lightroom — Here, I’m using the Adjustment Brush for some “extreme burning,” a way to black out the background and remove distractions in this shot.

pepper splashing in water — Here is the final edited shot.

Dodging and burning in Lightroom to clean up the background — I used the same technique for this photo. The rose shot against the black background was cleaned up by burning the background until the shadows were totally clipped. The rose on the white background was cleaned up by dodging the background until the highlights were totally clipped. Turn on the clipping indicator (hit the “J” key), set up your Adjustment Brush, check the Auto Mask box, and go to work.

Complexifying the light

When I was first learning to use Lightroom, I spent quite a few hours watching French photographer Serge Ramelli’s Youtube videos. He would often use the term “complexifying the light” when speaking about dodging and burning, and when talking about how you could use dodging and burning to make images more interesting.

I suggest you take a look at some of his tutorials; below is an image I edited with similar techniques.

Less is more

A good chef knows that a little salt can enhance the flavor of a dish, but too much can ruin it. A good photo editor learns that any manipulation of an image needs to be subtle, enhancing the image while not drawing attention to itself.

After a session of dodging and burning, it’s a good idea to get away from the screen for a while, then come back and view the image again. If you didn’t know, would you suspect that areas had been lightened or darkened with dodging and burning techniques?

I think you’ll often find that – especially when learning – you’ll need to dial back the sliders a touch to make the effects more subtle.

The technical and the aesthetic

As with all of photography, there are two sides to dodging and burning.

First, there’s the technical side, which requires learning the tools and techniques for dodging and burning in Lightroom.

The other component is aesthetic; you need to understand how to artistically view your image and decide where to dodge and burn to better direct the eye of your viewer to and through the image.

The technical side requires study to learn the tools. The aesthetic side requires artful contemplation and practice.

Union Pacific 844 train — The Union Pacific 844 is a “thundering beast,” the only steam locomotive owned by a North American Class I railroad that has never been retired. I wanted to capture its might. This unedited shot didn’t quite do it.

train with dodging and burning — But bring to bear the diversity of editing tools in Lightroom, including some dodging and burning, and you get an edited version that does a much better job of capturing my vision.

Dodging and burning in Lightroom: Conclusion

There are many photo-editing programs, tools, and techniques for dodging and burning your photos.

Some photographers may favor Photoshop, Luminar, ON1, Corel PaintShop Pro, or any of the dozens of other choices.

So feel free to choose your weapon.

But realize that no one will ask you what tool you used to improve your image. Master the tool you choose and wield it well. For me, dodging and burning in Lightroom is one tool for adding flair to my photos.

Now over to you:

Do you do dodging and burning in Lightroom? Do you want to? Share your thoughts, tips, and tricks in the comments below!

The post Dodging and Burning in Lightroom: A Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

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Capture One 21 Has Been Released, a Powerful Alternative to Lightroom

14 Dec

The post Capture One 21 Has Been Released, a Powerful Alternative to Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Just last week, Phase One launched the latest version of their Capture One software:

Capture One 21, which offers several powerful new features, plus all the tools that made the post-processing program so compelling in the first place.

While Capture One is often pitched as a Lightroom alternative, it’s known among photographers as the “advanced” all-in-one photo editor, geared toward serious hobbyists and professionals looking for extensive editing capabilities in a single package.

In other words:

Compared to Lightroom, Capture One is more difficult to learn – but also the better program, once you get the hang of it. In nearly every area, Capture One (including Capture One 21) matches Lightroom edit for edit. But the program also outperforms Lightroom in a few key ways, which is why more and more serious photographers have been making the conversion to Capture One.

So what does Capture One 21 offer?

First, the new features:

Capture One 21 now boasts a Dehaze slider, which removes haze from your photos for a crisp, contrasty look.

You also get improved color profiles for certain cameras, including Sony’s high-end mirrorless models, plus a handful of Nikon and Canon DSLRs and MILCs.

Phase One has also promised performance upgrades, claiming that with Capture One 21 it’ll be “faster than ever to search and browse photos.” There’s also a brand-new “Speed Edit” feature, which lets you quickly edit images without using sliders; instead, you can make changes with a few hotkeys and the scroll wheel.

Additional new features include Capture One’s support of 8-bit HEIC files, so you can edit your HEIC smartphone photos directly in Capture One, and a set of integrated tips and tutorials for mastering Capture One 21 as quickly as possible.

Of course, Capture One 21 also packs its usual standout features. First, there’s the class-leading color tools, which allow you to take your photos to the next level with selective color adjustments and precise color grading.

Then there’s the powerful digital asset management capabilities, which allow for both session-based and catalog-based organization, plus keywording, comprehensive export options, and seamless Photoshop integration.

Finally, there’s a suite of powerful adjustment tools, including layers, luminosity masking, levels, curves, and more.

For advanced photographers looking for a comprehensive alternative to Lightroom, Capture One 21 is the way to go. You can grab it here starting at $ 129 USD for a one-time license, or you can purchase a subscription starting at $ 9.99 USD per month. Alternatively, you can download a 30-day free trial right here.

Now over to you:

Have you tried Capture One software? Are you a fan? And which do you prefer, Capture One or Adobe Lightroom? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post Capture One 21 Has Been Released, a Powerful Alternative to Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Lightroom Color Grading: An Easy Way to Supercharge Your Photos

25 Nov

The post Lightroom Color Grading: An Easy Way to Supercharge Your Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

The October 2020 update to Lightroom Classic introduced a feature called Color Grading, which puts an advanced color-correction tool in the hands of everyone who uses Lightroom.

For newcomers who have never tried this technique, it can feel a bit overwhelming.

But with a bit of practice, you’ll get the hang of Lightroom color grading in no time at all. And you’ll be able to give your photos the Hollywood treatment you never knew you could achieve!

young man portrait — Nikon D7100 | Nikon 85mm f/1.8G | 85mm | 1/2000s | f/1.8 | ISO 200

What is color grading?

While color grading is often associated with film productions, it applies to photography just as easily.

Color grading refers to the process of changing global attributes of an image to give it a specific look or feel. It’s a subjective, stylistic process that can involve many different types of edits, but generally involves changing the appearance of the highlights, shadows, and midtones of a picture. This allows a photographer to create a mood or tone, and convey a certain emotion to the viewer.

In a strict sense, any stylistic adjustments to an image could be considered color grading. Adjusting the HSL/Color panel or tweaking the tone curve are both valid color grading techniques.

However, when most editors talk about color grading, they are referring to the way a specific tint is applied to the shadows, highlights, and midtones.

A common color grading technique in movies, for instance, involves giving shadows a teal color and making midtones more orange. This gives a more intense, cinematic feel to films and the same is true for photos.

kids walking without color grading — Nikon D750 | 200mm | f/2.8 | 1/250s | f/2.8 | ISO 220. Ungraded.

kids walking with color grading — The same image as above, but with color grading applied in Lightroom. The shadows are slightly more teal, the highlights are slightly more yellow, and the midtones are just a bit more orange.

Color grading vs split toning

The Color Grading tool replaces a tool called Split Toning, which was available as its own panel in the Develop module in earlier versions of Lightroom.

Split Toning was like a beta version of Color Grading, in that it let users adjust the tint of shadows and highlights, but not the midtones. While this was certainly useful, the omission of midtone editing was a frustrating sore spot that dramatically limited the value of the tool.

Lightroom color grading split toning — The Lightroom Split Toning panel, which let users adjust the hue and saturation of only the highlights and shadows. The Color Grading tool does everything that Split Toning did and much more.

Color Grading contains all the functionality of Split Toning – and much more. In fact, any photos that were edited using Split Toning will have their adjustments completely intact thanks to the Color Grading tool.

In addition to midtone editing, the Color Grading tool introduces the vastly more useful color wheels in place of linear sliders:

The Lightroom Color Grading tool: a step by step guide

While the color grading tool has incredible depth, accessing it and getting started could hardly be easier.

Open Lightroom and click on the Develop module.

Then open the Color Grading panel on the right side, and you’re all set.

The Lightroom Color Grading panel consists of three color wheels in the middle, a line of icons at the top, and two sliders at the bottom. Each of the color wheels lets you change the tint of its respective range: midtones, shadows, and highlights.

Click and drag anywhere on one of the color wheels and you will immediately see the edit applied to your image. As you drag the slider, note that the distance from the center adjusts the saturation of the color grade, while the position of the slider around the circle adjusts its hue.

You can also click and drag the inner circle to adjust only the saturation and use the outer circle to adjust the hue. The slider at the bottom can be used to change the overall luminance of the midtones, shadows, or highlights, depending on which color wheel you are using.

Click and hold the eye icon just below and to the right of a color wheel to temporarily remove the tint adjustment, and then release the mouse button to re-engage the adjustment. Double-click anywhere inside a color wheel to reset the tint if you want to start over.

The Blending slider at the bottom of the Color Grading panel lets you adjust how much the midtones, shadows, and highlights blend together.

The Balance slider lets you customize the overall balance of highlights and shadows; values greater than 0 make the highlight edits more pronounced, while values less than 0 increase the presence of the shadow edits.

Lightroom Color Grading blending balance — Move Blending to the left to keep your shadows, midtones, and highlights separate from each other. Move Blending to the right to make your edits blend in with one another. Slide Balance to the left to make your edits to the shadows apply to more of the image. Slide it to the right to make your highlight edits more prominent. Or just leave these sliders alone and you’ll probably be just fine.

Look closely at the top of the Color Grading panel and you will see a strange-looking row of circular icons. The first appears to be some kind of alien hieroglyph, while the rest look like circles with different shading patterns. These switch between the different modes within the Color Grading panel.

The first icon, with three small circles, shows all three editing options at once: Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows. The others let you adjust a single parameter at a time. The final icon is a global Hue/Saturation/Luminance adjustment.

If you want more fine-tuned adjustments, you can click on one of the icons that show a much larger version of any of the three adjustment parameters. This can help you select your adjustments with pinpoint accuracy and give you greater control over precisely how your edits are implemented.

How to use the Color Grading tool for great results

As you make adjustments, keep in mind that there is no one correct way to use the Color Grading panel. It’s merely another tool in your arsenal to help you get your images looking the way you want.

That being said, if you want to get your feet wet but aren’t sure how to start, let’s walk through a color grading edit so you can see firsthand how it can be used to give your pictures an extra bit of punch and visual impact.

kids running in an alley with no color grading — Nikon D7100 | Nikon 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1/180s | f/4.0 | ISO 1250. Original photo without any color grading applied.

For a scene like the one above, with a lot of tonal variety, I like to start by editing the shadows first. Rather than using the all-in-one adjustment option with all three circles showing, I prefer to use the larger circles to edit each parameter individually. I like the fine-grained control this gives me.

I recommend you start by adjusting the Luminance slider, which will make the darkest portions of the image even darker when pushed to the left, or brighter when pushed to the right. For this example, I’m going to make shadows punchier by decreasing the luminance.

Then click and drag on the color wheel to add a teal tint to the shadows; this will start to give the photo a more cinematic feel. Your shot might look a little weird with only the shadows adjusted, but it will come together after you customize the highlights and midtones.

kids running in an alley — Color grading applied to the shadows.

Next, click the Highlights option and adjust the Luminance slider to make the brightest portions of the photo lighter or darker. Some people prefer to adjust the Luminance before doing any color editing, but this is up to you.

Once you have the Luminance adjusted, click on the wheel to add a bit of orange. This will make the brightest portions of the image really stand out from the darkest portions of the image, since teal and orange are on opposite sides of the color wheel.

At this point, the example image is starting to come together. It has a grittier, cinematic feel compared to the original, thanks to a touch of teal in the shadows and orange in the highlights.

After the highlights and shadows are edited, head to the Midtones wheel to give your image a warmer or cooler feel overall. Instead of changing the appearance of the brightest or darkest portions of your image, the Midtones wheel affects everything between those two extremes.

Midtone adjustments are useful for giving your entire picture more of a warm or cool feeling. Adjust the Luminance slider, then click and drag the dot to orange or red to make your photo warmer, or blue to make it cooler.

At this point, the image is nearing completion, and you can see the results below. It’s a far cry from the original, which feels flat and boring by comparison.

Lightroom Color Grading kids running alley — The shadows, highlights, and midtones have been adjusted. But the image isn’t quite done yet.

After editing the shadows, highlights, and midtones, it’s time to tweak the Blending and Balance sliders.

As I explained above, blending refers to how much each of the three parameters stays within its own range. It has a default value of 50, which results in a relatively smooth color grade overall.

Sliding Blending to the left means the edits to shadows are confined almost exclusively to the darkest portions of the shot, and the edits to the highlights are confined almost exclusively to the lightest portions of the shot. A balance of 0 essentially makes each of the edits stay in its own lane and not affect the rest of the picture. And bringing the Balance slider to the right will increase how much each tonal area overlaps with one another. The result is often quite subtle, but can have a noticeable impact when applied carefully.

Now, the Balance slider determines how much of the picture is treated as shadows and how much is treated as highlights. Moving the slider to the left takes whatever adjustments you made to the shadows and applies them to more of the picture overall. The same happens to the highlight edits when you move the slider to the right.

If you have applied a certain tint to the shadows but want that tint to affect more of the picture, move the Balance slider to the left. Likewise, if you want your highlight adjustment to apply to more than just the brightest portions, adjust the Balance slider to the right.

Tips and tricks for Lightroom color grading

The key to color grading is to remember that there is no one magic solution. Don’t think of color grading as a search for the right way to adjust your image, but as a doorway to infinite possibilities that can be used however you see fit.

The best way to learn about color grading is to click around on the color wheels and experiment on your own. Lightroom is non-destructive, so you can always revert back to your earlier image. And in the meantime, you just might find a new way to edit your pictures that you never thought of before.

sunset on a lake without color grading — Fujifilm X100F | 23mm | 77 seconds | f/16 | ISO 200. Edited, but not color graded.

That being said, these tips will send you on your way to improving your color grading skills:

Edit your image to have an even exposure prior to using the Lightroom Color Grading tool. Use the Basic panel for highlights/shadows adjustments.
Give your shadows a richer look by adjusting them to be teal, blue, or purple
Contrast the highlights with the shadows by making them yellow, orange, or red
Adjust the midtones a little, but not too much. The midtones should complement the highlights and shadows, not compete by standing out.
For subtle tweaks, use the Blending slider to control how your graded colors meld together
Click the eye icon next to one of the color wheels to toggle between a before and after view

Sunset on a lake with color grading — The same image as above, but color graded. The shadows are blue, the highlights are orange, and the midtones are yellow-orange.

Lightroom color grading: conclusion

You should now have enough to get started with Lightroom color grading. Just remember that the goal here is the same as it is with most editing: You want to end up with an image you like! Color grading is just another tool you can use to make that happen.

Lightroom is a non-destructive editor. That means you can always undo your changes, so experiment with color grading as much as you want. And feel free to share your before and after images in the comments below!

The post Lightroom Color Grading: An Easy Way to Supercharge Your Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

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Darktable: Is This Free Lightroom Alternative Right for You?

11 Nov

The post Darktable: Is This Free Lightroom Alternative Right for You? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

When most people think about software for managing and editing their photographs, the most prominent program that comes to mind is Adobe Lightroom.

And while there are other options, such as Capture One and Apple Photos, there’s another program worth considering:

Darktable.

Darktable is an open-source alternative to the mainstream options, and while it might not have every single feature of its counterparts, it does have one enormous advantage: it’s free. That alone makes it worth checking out, but is it the right solution for you?

Read on to find out.

What is Darktable?

Darktable might be a new name for you, but it has been around since 2009 and has been steadily growing in popularity ever since. In an era where software costs are skyrocketing and more programs are moving to a subscription model, Darktable’s approach seems almost quaint.

Anyone can use Darktable for free – with no worries about contracts, upgrades, or missing features. This alone makes it a highly compelling editing solution, and certainly one worth considering for photographers without an unlimited budget.

There are some important tradeoffs with Darktable, especially if you are used to using Lightroom or another commercial program. Keep your expectations in check, and remember that the phrase “You get what you pay for” is popular for a reason.

That’s not to say you should ignore Darktable, but just be aware of what you are getting into.

Darktable overview

At its core, Darktable is similar to other programs you might already use. It’s a non-destructive image editor (it can handle RAW, JPEG, and many other formats) with a bevy of tools and options to edit your images.

Darktable has two central modes:

Lighttable and Darkroom.

These function much like the Library and Develop modules in Lightroom. Darktable lets you import, categorize, sort, rate, flag, and tag images just like most other programs. Even the name Darktable is a play on the word Lightroom.

That said, there is a bit of a learning curve to Darktable because the features it offers are so overwhelming. Some new users are put off by this at first, but it doesn’t take much time to pick up the basics and start editing.

One additional thing worth noting:

I have found Darktable to be noticeably slower than Lightroom. Edits are shown in real time, but there is just a bit of lag as you drag sliders and change values. It’s not a dealbreaker, but something to be aware of.

highly detailed Darktable editing tools — Many of the editing tools in Darktable are highly detailed and quite powerful.

In order to find out if Darktable is right for you, it’s helpful to understand precisely how its two main components, Lighttable and Darkroom, function.

Lighttable

In a broad sense, the Lighttable mode is similar to Lightroom’s Library module. You use Lighttable for importing images as well as tagging, rating, sorting, and general organizing.

The Import dialog lets you select files or a folder of images from your computer that is then loaded into the application. You can select multiple files and perform batch operations such as adding keywords, assigning color labels, and even applying GPX files for location data.

The sheer number of options is a bit overwhelming at first, but like any program, the more you use it the more it makes sense. Much of the Lighttable interface will be familiar to longtime Lightroom users, though the program does not strive for 1:1 feature parity. Instead, Darktable presents a logical series of actions and options designed to help photographers manage and import images.

Note also that the Export panel is in the Lighttable module, which is one way in which Darktable differentiates itself from Lightroom and other programs. In the screenshot below, you can see some of the many options available for exporting, which gives you a sense of the sheer depth offered by Darktable:

Darktable export — You can customize many different elements of the export process.

While things seem great up to this point, I do need to temper your expectations a bit. My biggest issue with Darktable is evident just from using the Lighttable module: overall responsiveness is not great. Scrolling through images, selecting pictures, editing metadata information, and other simple operations take far longer than other programs. Not that Lightroom and Capture One are speed demons – but comparing them to Darktable is like comparing a Ferrari to a Toyota Corolla. The latter will get the job done, but the former will do it way faster.

That’s not necessarily the only peg to hang your editing hat on, though. While speed is important, it’s not everything, and many quibbles with Darktable are mitigated by its price.

After all, despite my issues with Darktable’s user interface and lack of polish, it’s impossible to overlook the cost. I am still kind of amazed that all these features are in a free program that continues to be actively developed. For frugal photographers, it would be difficult not to recommend Darktable, and for everyone else, it just helps to have some patience.

The Lighttable feature — Lighttable allows you to assign color labels, star ratings, flags, and more.

One note for more technical users: Darktable doesn’t operate with a catalog like Lightroom.

Instead, the program stores all metadata in sidecar XMP files that reside next to your images on your computer. That means any information, such as keywords, star ratings, color tags, and edits, can be transferred along with your images just by copying the XMP files.

Some people find this more freeing than the catalog system in Lightroom, and while I have never had any issues with a catalog system, I do see the benefits of this approach.

Darkroom

While the Lighttable module is used for sorting and organizing your images, Darkroom is designed for the type of in-depth editing you would expect from a program that caters to the most demanding photo editors.

In fact, in terms of sheer editing prowess, Darktable blows Lightroom clear out of the water.

Darkroom in Darktable — The Darkroom interface is where you edit your photos, much like the Develop module in Lightroom.

On the left side of the Darkroom interface, you will find elements that operate similarly to Lightroom and other editors. Darkroom contains a history panel, a system for managing duplicate images, a snapshot browser, and more. Across the bottom is a series of thumbnails for selecting images. The right side shows a histogram and a series of modules for editing things such as white balance, tone curves, sharpness, lens imperfections, and more.

The final two words of the previous paragraph hide the true strength of Darkroom: the sheer quantity of editing options available is absolutely stunning. Whereas Lightroom has nine modules to choose from, Darktable has dozens. So many, in fact, that most of them aren’t even shown by default and are instead kept tucked away under a module called “More Modules.”

Beneath the histogram are icons that let you choose from a default set of modules most photographers find particularly useful: Basic, Tone, Color, Correction, and Effects. Click any of these to load modules that correspond to that type of edit.

For instance, click the Basic Group icon to access modules such as Base Curve, Tone Equalizer, Crop and Rotate, Exposure, and White Balance. You can also create your own custom set of editing modules and use the “Search Module” feature to locate a particular module just by typing its name.

histogram in Darktable — Below the histogram is a row of icons that let you switch between sets of commonly-used editing modules. The search bar helps you find a particular editing module quickly.

Click any of the module titles to open its editing parameters, and you will see a familiar set of sliders and numerical values. The key difference with Darktable is the sheer quantity of sliders, values, and editing options at your disposal.

For instance, the Color Balance module contains sliders such as Input Saturation, Output Saturation, Contrast Fulcrum, and Contrast. In addition, there are three separate values (Factor, Hue, and Saturation) for Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights.

Compare this to the options in Lightroom, and you’ll quickly see that Darktable clearly pulls ahead in terms of editing efficacy. And Color Balance is just one of the editing modules available to you. Some of the modules are so technical that Darktable lets you adjust their parameters but actively discourages you from doing so:

Another powerful feature in Darktable is its implementation of custom masks. Most of the editing options can be combined with masks that can be accessed in the Mask Manager on the left side.

This lets you use common shapes, such as a brush or a circle, to create masks. However, Darktable goes one step further by letting you draw custom masks. This is helpful for anyone whose editing has been stymied by the comparatively limited options available in Lightroom.

the Pen tool — You can create masks of all shapes and sizes in Darktable, which are useful for applying edits in specific image locations.

Again, I need to temper expectations. Performing many of the editing maneuvers is an exercise in patience, even on a newer computer. Drawing a mask, moving a slider, or even cropping an image often involves precious seconds of wait time, which can really add up when going through hundreds of images.

There is also no mobile support, meaning photographers who rely on tablets or phones as essential components of their editing workflow will be left out in the cold.

Proceed with caution

At this point, you might be ready to cancel all your editing software subscriptions and jump on the Darktable bandwagon.

But before you take the leap, I need to offer a few words of caution. This article is not meant to be a review of Darktable, but rather a tool to help you decide if this program is right for you. And while there is no doubt that Darktable can handle any image editing tasks you throw at it, including more advanced options such as tethered shooting, slideshows, and printing, there are a host of drawbacks, as well.

As much as I want to like Darktable, I just can’t get around its overall sluggishness and lack of polish. Implementing edits is slow, and drawing custom masks can be a patience-draining exercise. Odd interface quirks abound, like truncated slider names and weird thumbnail resizing when switching in and out of the Lighttable mode.

Darktable glitches — Glitches like this show up far more than I’d prefer. Here, the Lighttable interface is unusable until all the thumbnails can be properly re-loaded by the program.

The sheer level of complexity can also be a significant detriment. It takes a great deal of experimentation, trial and error, and online searching to figure out all the tools at your disposal. While this is true of any image editing program, the relatively small Darktable user base means that there just aren’t as many resources available to aspiring users compared to Lightroom and others.

Is Darktable right for you?

The best person to answer that question is you, and since Darktable is free for anyone to download, I recommend you give it a shot and see what you think.

However, if you want a bit more guidance, the following information might help.

I recommend Darktable for:

Photographers on a budget who still want powerful editing software
Highly technical editors who enjoy really digging into the editing process and don’t mind some software quirks
Users who are unsatisfied with current offerings from Adobe, Capture One, and others, and want to try something different

I do not recommend Darktable for some people, including:

Photographers who value speed and efficiency in their workflow
Editors who want robust software that gets regular, substantive updates to fix bugs and add new features
Casual users who value simplicity and user-friendliness over sheer editing power
Mobile-centric photographers who prefer solutions that work on phones and tablets

Children whispering — For many photographers, Darktable is the best-kept secret in image editing.

Where you fall along this spectrum is up to you to decide. You can’t lose anything just by downloading Darktable and taking it for a test drive.

You might very well be surprised by what it can do for you!

You can download the latest version of Darktable here.

The post Darktable: Is This Free Lightroom Alternative Right for You? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

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Custom Lightroom Presets for Autumn

10 Nov

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Mastering Noise Reduction in Lightroom: The Essential Guide

04 Nov

The post Mastering Noise Reduction in Lightroom: The Essential Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Shooting at a high ISO is a great way to retain control over other exposure parameters such as aperture and shutter speed while still getting a usable image.

However, even today’s digital cameras still produce noise and grain when shooting at values like ISO 6400, ISO 12800, and beyond. While an ISO 6400 photo is never going to look as clean as a photo taken at ISO 100, you can use Lightroom noise reduction to clean up your high ISO images.

Mastering noise reduction in Lightroom involves a few tradeoffs. But it’s a great solution for people who need the flexibility of shooting at high ISO values while still getting great results.

Mastering noise reduction in Lightroom infant — Nikon D750 | Nikon 85mm f/1.8G | 85mm | 1/500 sec | f/1.8 | ISO 6400

To understand how to use Lightroom noise reduction, it’s important to learn a little more about ISO.

In a nutshell, ISO is a measure of a camera’s sensitivity to light. When shooting with film, each roll has a single value and cannot be changed until you use up all your exposures and put in a new roll. Digital photography, on the other hand, lets you alter your ISO any time you want.

Higher ISO values let you use smaller apertures or faster shutter speeds because your camera produces a brighter exposure. As a result, you don’t need as much light coming through the lens in order to take a picture. This means that you can use a smaller aperture, faster shutter speed, or both. (Or you can use Auto ISO and let your camera figure out the rest.)

The tradeoff is that increasing your camera’s ISO inevitably leads to noise being introduced to the picture. (Digital noise is kind of like the static you might remember seeing on old television sets.) High ISO shots aren’t as sharp, and colors aren’t as vibrant, thanks to noise. But if shooting at ISO 6400 means you can use a fast shutter speed to avoid motion blur, then it’s generally a tradeoff worth making.

Mastering noise reduction in Lightroom man portrait — Nikon D750 | Nikon 85mm f/1.8G | 85mm | 1/90 sec | f/4.8 | ISO 6400

The best of both worlds would be a high-ISO shot that retains the color and sharpness of a low ISO shot. Unfortunately, that’s not actually possible (at least not with current technology). But mastering noise reduction in software such as Lightroom gives you a great deal of control over reducing high-ISO artifacts while keeping as much detail as possible.

A closer look

The effects of high ISOs aren’t always visible when photos are downsized for the web. To really see what happens at high ISOs, and to understand how to clean it up, you should look at images up close.

Here’s a zoomed-in view of the above image; you can now see the effects of shooting at high-ISO values:

Mastering noise reduction in Lightroom portrait close-up — Up close you can see the speckled background on the left and the lack of definition in the eyebrows. These are just some of the effects of shooting at ISO 6400. Noise reduction settings are at their default values: Luminance 10, Detail 50, and Contrast 0.

Lightroom lets you remedy these ISO artifacts, at least partially, through the Detail panel in the Develop module.

There are two types of noise reduction available: Luminance and Color.

Luminance is the most common form of noise in digital photography and refers to the slight speckled variations in brightness from one pixel to the next. You can see this most clearly in the brown background on the left side of the above photo.

Color noise is often obvious at very high ISO values like 25600 or greater. It looks like random splotches of color scattered around the brightest or darkest portions of an image. In modern digital photography, color noise isn’t nearly as much of an issue in most instances. Most of the time you won’t need to use the Color, Detail, and Smoothness sliders. For most practical purposes, it’s best to stick with luminance noise reduction adjustments.

Lightroom noise reduction sliders mastering noise reduction

To access the noise reduction sliders, click the Detail panel in the Develop module. The noise reduction sliders are grouped with sharpening adjustments because these often go hand-in-hand. Boosting noise reduction can have a smoothing effect on your images which can be somewhat mitigated by adjusting the sharpening sliders.

Getting detailed

When working with luminance noise, there are three sliders to adjust:

Luminance
Detail
Contrast

Luminance is a measure of how much noise to remove, while Detail and Contrast give you finer control over the effects of the noise reduction.

You might notice that Lightroom automatically applies a small amount of noise reduction to every RAW file by default. This is generally a good starting point because RAW files, due to their unprocessed nature, inherently contain more noise than in-camera JPEG files. And it’s almost always recommended to remove some of that noise even if just a tiny bit.

To start the noise removal process, move the Luminance slider to the right. The farther you go, the more pronounced the noise removal effect will be. I generally don’t push it past 50, but your settings will depend on your image and your personal preferences.

After adjusting the Luminance slider to your liking, use Detail and Contrast to bring back parts of your image that might have been lost by the noise reduction algorithm. Move the Detail slider to control the threshold at which the noise reduction starts to kick in. This can help retain some of the details in your image but end up leaving some of the noise intact.

As you adjust the Luminance slider, you will see some parts of your picture get muddy, almost like a layer of petroleum jelly has been smeared across the shot. Use the Contrast slider to bring back some of the high-contrast parts of your image that are most affected by the Luminance slider.

As with many aspects of photography, there is no single correct answer for how much noise reduction to use in Lightroom. Some high-ISO images will look fine without too much tinkering, while others require more drastic measures. Mastering noise reduction isn’t about finding one solution that works for every image. It’s about understanding how to use the editing tools to create the best possible outcome for any given photo.

Low ISO versus noise reduction

To really understand how Lightroom noise reduction works, it helps to look at some comparisons of images so you can see the results for yourself.

The following images show different versions of the same scene; one base shot is taken at a very low ISO, while another is taken at a high ISO. I then apply varying degrees of noise reduction and display the results.

I took the first image at ISO 100:

test scene — Nikon D7100 | Nikon 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1 sec | f/8 | ISO 100

Here’s the same scene shot at ISO 6400 for comparison:

When resizing images for the web, some of the issues with shooting at a high ISO are difficult to notice. However, a few artifacts do stand out, such as the muddiness of the solid blue radio toy, and a clear lack of definition in the intricate parts of the ball maze on the left.

For a closer look, here are 100% crops of each image:

test scene crop — A 100% crop of the original ISO 100 image. Note the fine detail in the cactus and the overall clarity of the picture.

test scene crop ISO 6400 — A 100% crop of the original ISO 6400 image. Colors are washed-out and subtle texture is obliterated. Note that the green paint lines at the borders of the white lines are completely gone.

When looking at these images close-up, it’s clear that the ISO 6400 photo is noticeably worse. However, if shooting at ISO 6400 or greater will give you the ability to get the shot you want, then it’s a tradeoff worth making.

High-ISO shooting becomes even more practical when you learn to eliminate some of these issues in Lightroom. Using the noise reduction options won’t fix a high-ISO image entirely, but it can go a long way toward cleaning things up.

test scene with noise reduction — A 100% crop of the ISO 6400 image with these adjustments applied: Luminance 80, Detail 60, and Contrast 55. While the ugly noise artifacts have been smoothed out, the image still isn’t as rich and detailed as its low-ISO counterpart.

Mastering noise reduction in Lightroom isn’t just limited to moving three sliders in the Detail panel. It’s best paired with other adjustments such as Texture, Clarity, Contrast, Saturation, etc. There is no one-size-fits-all preset to magically make your ISO 6400 images look as good as ISO 100 images. But with a little work, you can bring back some of the punch and brilliance of your originals.

test scene noise reduction and edits added — A 100% crop of the high-ISO image with previous noise reduction edits applied along with the following: Contrast -15, Shadows +34, Blacks -35, Texture +42, and Saturation +22.

Noise reduction isn’t a cure-all, and it won’t resurrect parts of the image that were never captured to begin with. In the ISO 6400 shot above, no amount of software-based noise reduction can bring back the green paint along the white lines that were clearly present in the low-ISO image.

But careful use of the tools available to you can go a long way toward making a messy picture more than usable.

Mastering noise reduction in Lightroom test scene — Nikon D750 | Nikon 85mm f/1.8G | 85mm | 1/250 sec | f/2.8 | ISO 6400. The sun was setting and I needed a fast shutter speed, so I chose to shoot at ISO 6400 and was able to adjust it in Lightroom. My clients loved the results.

Mastering noise reduction in Lightroom: Conclusion

Mastering noise reduction in Lightroom isn’t a science; each image is different and your own preferences matter most of all. Shoot some test images at ISO 6400 or higher, then see what you can do to clean them up using the tools available to you.

You might be surprised at how much latitude you have when editing. The more you experiment, the more skilled you will get.

And soon you’ll be transforming your photos from noisy messes into near-masterpieces.

The post Mastering Noise Reduction in Lightroom: The Essential Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

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3 Lightroom Tools to Enhance Your Nature and Wildlife Photography

21 Oct

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.

lightroom tools nature photography mountain

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!

The 3 Lightroom tools for nature photography

Here are the three Lightroom tools that will instantly enhance your nature photos:

Texture
Clarity
Dehaze

To access these tools, head to the Develop Module, find the Basic Panel, and scroll down to Presence:

develop module lightroom tools nature photography — The Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze sliders in Adobe Lightroom.

Texture

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:

Chameleon before the texture slider is applied in Lightroom — Before applying the Texture slider.

Then, as you increase the texture, the chameleon details appear sharper:

Chameleon after texture slider is applied in Lightroom lightroom tools nature photography — After applying the Texture slider.

Here’s a final before and after:

texture slider before and after lightroom tools nature photography — The effect of the Texture slider (before and after).

Clarity

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:

the clarity slider in Lightroom — The Clarity slider is a useful Lightroom tool for nature photography.

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:

bird before the Lightroom Clarity slider is used — Before applying the Clarity slider.

As well as its corresponding histogram:

the histogram in Lightroom — The histogram before applying the Clarity slider.

And here’s the image with the Clarity slider applied:

The bird with the Clarity tool applied — After applying the Clarity slider.

And its corresponding histogram:

the histogram in Lightroom after the Clarity slider has been used — The histogram after applying the Clarity slider.

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.

Dehaze

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:

the Dehaze slider in Lightroom — The Dehaze slider in Lightroom.

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:

mountain landscape before the Dehaze tool is applied — Before applying Dehaze.

And here’s the same image, but with the Dehaze effect applied:

the mountain landscape after the Dehaze tool is used — After applying Dehaze.

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:

two elephants before the Dehaze tool is used — Before applying Dehaze.

But, thanks to the Dehaze slider, the haze in the picture is reduced:

two elephants after the Dehaze slider is used — After applying Dehaze.

The Lightroom tools for local adjustments

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:

the road with a targeted adjustment applied

On the stormy clouds:

the road with another targeted adjustment applied

And on the road passing through the grassland:

the road with a third targeted adjustment applied

Note that these local adjustments include the Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze sliders.

Here is the final image:

final edited road with storm clouds using lightroom tools nature photography — The final, post-processed image.

So you can use these three tools when adding local adjustments, too!

Lightroom tools for nature photography: Conclusion

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.

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Using Lightroom vs Photoshop: A Quick Reference Comparison

21 Oct

One of the most common questions we get from photographers that are just starting out is about photo editing software and which one they should use. Most people have heard of Adobe and its Photoshop and Lightroom software but are confused to what the differences between them are and exactly which one they should be using. Let’s take an in Continue Reading

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Adobe Lightroom Classic 10.0 released, includes Color Grading and more

19 Oct

Adobe has released Lightroom Classic version 10.0, ushering in a variety of performance improvements and new features, including new controlled color grading adjustments for shadows, midtones and highlights.

With Lightroom Classic’s new color grading tool, users can control the color separately in midtones, shadows and highlights, or adjust the color of your entire image with a global control. The Color Grading panel replaces Split Toning and offers additional control overall color. Within Color Grading, you can adjust hue, saturation and luminance by moving the point in each color wheel. When making adjustments, if you hold the Shift key or Command key, you restrict wheel movement for Saturation or Hue adjustments, respectively.

Image credit: Adobe

The Color Grading panel also includes Blending and Balance sliders. The Blending slider ‘adjusts the amount of overlap between the shadows and highlights.’ The Balance slider balances the effect of sliders between highlights, midtones and shadows. If the value is greater than zero, the effect of highlights will be increased. A value below zero increases the effect of the shadows. If you want to recreate the effect of the old Split Toning effect, set the Blending slider to 100.

A few weeks ago, Adobe showed a sneak peek at the new Color Grading feature. You can view the early look at the feature below.

Lightroom Classic version 10 includes performance improvements as well. Adobe promises faster editing when using brushes and gradients when GPU acceleration is enabled. Further, the new version delivers faster scrolling through the Library Grid, Folders and Collections, particularly for users with large catalogs.

When using the Loupe, Compare and Reference views in Lightroom, there is improved control over zoom levels with new Scrubby zoom and Box zoom options. Scrubby Zoom can be used while dragging your move left or right while pressing the Shift key. This is only available when GPU acceleration is enabled. The Box Zoom is available in Library and Develop modules by pressing Ctrl on Windows or Command on macOS while drawing a box with your cursor. The Navigator panel has been updated as well, it now offers Fit/Fill, 100% and Zoom percent options (ranging from 6% to 1600%).

A summary of Lightroom Classic version 10.0’s new features. Click to enlarge. Image credit: Adobe

For Canon camera users, you can see what you are shooting in real-time when tethered to Lightroom Classic version 10. Your connected camera’s live view will appear in a new, resizable window with orientation options. The tether bar includes focus control buttons and an autofocus button. To learn more about this feature, check out this article.

In addition to new tethered support, Lightroom Classic 10.0 includes new camera and lens profile support. The Fujifilm X-S10, Panasonic Lumix S5, Sony A7C and Sony A7S Mark III are all now supported. A variety of Sigma lenses and Voigtlander lenses have new support in Lightroom Classic 10.0. You can view the full list of supported cameras and lenses via the following links: Supported cameras and supported lenses.

When you update Lightroom Classic to the latest version, you will be prompted to upgrade your catalog. When doing so, a new feature will allow you to control the name of your catalog. To learn more about the new features in Adobe Lightroom Classic version 10.0, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Tether Tools Smart Shooter 4 adds Sony tethering to Lightroom Classic

10 Oct

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.

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.

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.

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

New Smart Shooter 4 Plug-in Enables Sony Tethering Support For Adobe Lightroom Classic

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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