u/thephlog

I came along this very cool spot with this tree standing in the water. As you can see comparing the before and after shot there was quite a bit of editing involved, removing things in the foreground and create a sort, warm look. Before people begin posting about keeping photos “nAtUrAl”, I enjoy heavily editing MY images. If that not something you like that’s fine, too. Just accept not everyone has the same goals with their photos.

Everything here was done in Lightroom and the whole process was recorded in a video here (you can also download the original raw file here to try it yourself) https://youtu.be/pE02CKxjiZ8

1. Basic Adjustments

First, I cropped the image (not visible here in the before shot) and cleaned up the foreground using Lightrooms remove tool. Then, I changed the used profile to Adobe Standard for a less contrasty base image. For the airy, warm look the shot needed to be brighter. The exposure, the whites, the blacks and shadows were raised for that purpose. Then, I slightly dropped the highlights in order to stop the brightest parts from blowing out.

For more intense color the vibrance and saturation was pushed a bit. Then, I brought up texture for sharpness and dropped clarity and dehaze slightly to add a glowing look on top.

2. Masking

On the foreground I added a linear gradient adding more clarity and texture to make give the rocks below the water surface more punch. I also dropped the temperature to make it slightly colder and dropped the saturation a bit.

Using a color range mask in combination with a linear gradient I made the top right corner a bit brighter and adjusted the colors through the temperature slider to reduce the effect of the polarizing filter I used.

Using another linear gradient this time on the top left side, the sky there was made slightly darker to balance both sides.

3. Color Grading

In the Tone curves red channel the highlights were shifted further towards the reds and in the blue channel the highlights were slightly dropped to the yellows, resulting in a warmer look overall.

With the color mixer, I slightly shifted the yellow colors into the orange color range and brought down the purple and blue hue to give the sky stronger cyan tones. Then, I pushed the yellow saturation.

Finally, for some split toning the highlights received a warmer color, as well as mid tones and the global color wheel.

I recently learned there is a popular spot to watch fireflies nearby. Never have I seen them in person, so of course I had to check that out. As the sun set more and more fireflies started the glow in the dark like tiny LED Lights.

I started photographing the scene at F/1.8, ISO 200 and and exposure time of 8 seconds and kept the camera going for a while. Once back home as I checked the images, I saw I got a relatively clean shot of this random couple standing there in the middle of the trail which I think makes this scene a lot cooler!

Had this bird shot on my hard drive since winter. Since its currently brutally hot here in Germany, I decided to cool myself down with a cold bird edit :D As always keeping it “natural” is not my goal when editing images. I love to play around with extremer adjustments so obviously this wont be something for everyone!

Everything was done in Lightroom, you can watch the whole process and download the raw file to try it yourself here: https://youtu.be/NXfrpjDfzDA

1. Basic Adjustments

I changed the profile to Adobe Landscape for more base saturation. Then, I brought up the exposure, shadows and blacks to make the image brighter and reduce overall contrast. This results in a softer looking photo. I also brought down the highlights so the background of the base image isn’t pure white.

To make the colors pop I added a bit of vibrance. Finally. I added texture and clarity for more sharpness and mid-tones contrast while also dropping the dehaze gently introducing some glow to the shot.

2. Masking

Using masks I transformed the image a bit more heavily. I wanted to make the background darker and colder, so the warmer subjects stands out more through color contrast.

I used a couple of linear gradients coming in from each side (except the top right corner where the light coming down) and always subtracted the subject with the help of an objects mask, then brough down the exposure and dropped the temperature to make it colder and darker.

I also used an objects mask to target the subject itself and give it a little more texture and saturation. I also brought the temperature up slightly to give the bird warmer colors.

3. Color Grading

The yellow hue was brought down gently, introducing more orange tones. I also dropped the green hue all the way to eliminate the greens in the image ( I just don’t like them here). Also, the blue hue was dropped to introduce a stronger cyan look in the background.

To balance the colors, saturation of yellow and orange was reduced and blue was increased.

 

Every now and then I love to work with super over-the-top-colors like I did for this long exposure shot. I wanted to create intense orange tones while slighty shifting the blues into the cyan color range and overall add a dreamy look on the scene. Keep in mind: For me I don’t want or need to keep the image “natural” or how it was on location. I enjoy edits with more intense colors.

Everything was done in Lightroom, if you’re interested in seeing the whole workflow I have a video on it with raw file to follow along here: https://youtu.be/O4aLhnEXQNc

1. Basic Adjustments

After cropping the image and cleaning up sensor spots, vignetting and other distracting objects (not visible here in the before image) I changed the profile to Adobe Landscape for more base saturation.

The raw file was a bit too dark, so I brought up the exposure and I also raised the blacks to lower the overall contrast which helps for a dreamy, soft look. At that point the brighter areas were too bright, to fix that I brought down the highlights.

The white balance temperature was raised to make the image feel warmer. I also raised the tint since there was a slight green color cast because of the ND-Filter I used. I also brought up the vibrance and saturation to give the image way stronger colors.

Finally, I added texture for a sharper look, at the same time I brought down clarity and dehaze to add a subtle glow effect.

2. Masking

Using a linear gradient I made the top right and bottom right side of the image slightly darker by dropping the exposure. This helps to make the subject stand out a little more. I also made the blue parts of the sky darker using a color range mask and further dropping the exposure.

For morel ight and glow coming in from the left I used different radial gradients adding a bit of blacks and reducing the dehaze for glow. I also added some more temperature and saturation to make the colors stronger in the brighter area.

3. Color Grading

In the HSL panel the yellow hue was brought down slightly shifting all yellow toens of the image more into the orange color range. I also brought down the blue hue a bit for stronger cyan tones. In the saturation panel I brought up yellow and orange while dropping the greens to make the water look “cleaner”.

With a bit of split toning I added even more warmth to the highlights and the global color wheel while keeping a bit of color contrast by adding a cold color to the mid tones of the image.

Letztes Wochenende habe ich hier den "perfekten" Spot gefunden um den Sonnenuntergang zu fotografieren. Nachdem ich ein paar Schritte gelaufen bin, konnte ich die Sonne schön mittig zwischen den beiden Bäume platzieren. Die Schatten der Bäume sind die perfekten Leading Lines!

Um den Sonnenstern-Effekt zu erzeugen habe ich das Foto bei 16mm Brennweite mit Blende F/16 fotografiert (weiter offen und die "strahlen" verschwinden)

Since its spring time again there are tons of rapeseed fields here in southern Germany. I love photographing them because of their bright yellow color. This works especially well in combination with darker skies. So for this long exposure, I wanted to create a dark, grim edit.

1. Basic Adjustments

If you’re wondering why the base image is so bright, that’s because I set up the exposure as high as possible to keep details in the shadows without blowing out highlights (ETTR). This helps immensely when applying heavier edits like in this case. I started by dropping the exposure to make everything darker. I also dropped the highlights to recover more details in the sky. Then, I slightly brought up the shadows and the blacks.

I gently pushed the vibrance, but the color where already quite good imo. I also added texture for sharpness while dropping clarity and dehaze for a subtle glow effect.

2. Masking

Once the base was set up I transformed the image with masking. The goal was to make the top part of the sky much darker and introduce a much grimmer look this way. I started with a simple sky mask and added a bit of clarity and contrast while also slightly dropping the white balance temperature for a colder look. Then I used a bunch of differently sized linear gradients at the top and brought down the exposure to make the top darker.

I also added some light to the bottom of the sky on the left side for more dynamic. Then, I used a combination of linear gradients to add a bit of light and shadow to the rapeseed field itself.

Yes, after the masking adjustments, there is a bit of a halo around the trees. I could have gone a bit more gentle on the darkening of the sky to prevent that or try to fix that in Photoshop, but to me its not that big of an issue for online purposes. Might fix that if I ever print it.

3. Color grading

As I said I already was quite happy with the colors. The only thing I changed was in the color mixer where I brought up the luminance of the yellow and green tones to add some morelight to the foreground. I also dropped the blue luminance for a deeper sky.