Welcome to the 33rd week of Shoot and Edit: Part 2. Click HERE for all the details and upcoming prompts/themes (also including previous editing tutorials). This week’s theme or prompt was to show us one “Shadow” SOOC shot (this was just a suggestion, you can show us any SOOC shot). Hopefully you linked up with Jill’s blog earlier this week.
Each Thursday, I will take my SOOC shot and provide a simple/basic or advanced Photoshop/Photoshop Elements or Lightroom tutorial. You can then try my tutorial on your own photos and link up here – linky will now open EARLY on Thursdays and be open THROUGH SUNDAY. If you’d prefer, can simply share your own edit and show us what you did to achieve the look.
We want this challenge to be a learning experience, so feel free to teach us something new too! Also, it does not matter what editing program you use. Although I tend to work within Adobe CS5 (Photoshop), Photoshop Elements, Adobe Camera Raw and now Lightroom…it does not mean that you have to use the exact same program. I hope you’ll be able to take the concepts and apply them in the program you feel most comfortable using.
Much like last week, I started in Lightroom (I seriously love this program). Although I can literally do everything I need to do in Lightroom, I find myself switching between LR and Photoshop to share editing techniques for both types of users. For those of you that don’t understand why you’d use both…it really isn’t necessary.
For example, my image didn’t really need a preset for basic processing, I just needed to add a little fill light (+10), increase my blacks (+15), increase my brightness (+50) and contrast (+45). You can do each of those steps in Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements or Photoshop – the buttons are just located in slightly different places (minus fill light – that would only apply to LR and ACR). I also applied a slight sharpen and noise reduction. If you’re a clean processing type of gal or guy…that’s all ya need to do. Here’s the before and after:
I initially edited my photo with a few clicks. Over the past few weeks, I’ve added a bunch of LR presets, but some of my favorites come from Caroline’s (Frogmum) Lightroom Collection. I used Uber Colour-Pop, Std Noise Reduction and Frog Vignette. Of all my edits this week, this is still my favorite.
You can do something very similar by adjusting the white balance. Using the temperature slider, slide left for a cooler image…slide right for a warmer image. You can also experiment with your temperature. For the edit below, I adjusted the temperature to 9433 and the tint to +40. Makes it feel more like a warm sunny day.
Let’s say you prefer to just work in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements? You can certainly try any number of tricks that we’ve discussed over the past 33 weeks (gradient maps perhaps?) or you can experiment with your photo filters. I think because it’s been so hot outside, I want this image to feel cooler. Therefore, I added cooling filter 80 at 82% density. Just out of curiosity, I duplicated the photo filter layer and applied a soft light blending mode at 38% opacity. Mouse over to see the subtle difference it made. It feels cold…even sad.
So, to recap our lesson, today we discussed a few ways to change the “mood” of an image: adjusting the white balance, using presets and applying photo filters. Here’s a final look at my SOOC shot, Lightroom edits (preset and white balance) and Photoshop edit (photo filter).
For your edit, I would love to see you continuing using the lessons we’ve covered in the past 32 weeks as well as apply today’s lesson or share something you’ve learned recently. I hope you all have a great Thursday and I look forward to seeing your edits. Next week’s theme is “Ocean/Pool/Lake/River.” Have a great Thursday!
I’ve seen some amazing shadow shots this week, and I thought it might be interesting to experiment with white balance and photo filters to change the mood of an image. Here’s my SOOC again:
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| SOOC |
For example, my image didn’t really need a preset for basic processing, I just needed to add a little fill light (+10), increase my blacks (+15), increase my brightness (+50) and contrast (+45). You can do each of those steps in Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements or Photoshop – the buttons are just located in slightly different places (minus fill light – that would only apply to LR and ACR). I also applied a slight sharpen and noise reduction. If you’re a clean processing type of gal or guy…that’s all ya need to do. Here’s the before and after:
I initially edited my photo with a few clicks. Over the past few weeks, I’ve added a bunch of LR presets, but some of my favorites come from Caroline’s (Frogmum) Lightroom Collection. I used Uber Colour-Pop, Std Noise Reduction and Frog Vignette. Of all my edits this week, this is still my favorite. |
| Uber Colour Pop – Lightroom Preset |
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| LR – White Balance Adjustment |
So, to recap our lesson, today we discussed a few ways to change the “mood” of an image: adjusting the white balance, using presets and applying photo filters. Here’s a final look at my SOOC shot, Lightroom edits (preset and white balance) and Photoshop edit (photo filter). For your edit, I would love to see you continuing using the lessons we’ve covered in the past 32 weeks as well as apply today’s lesson or share something you’ve learned recently. I hope you all have a great Thursday and I look forward to seeing your edits. Next week’s theme is “Ocean/Pool/Lake/River.” Have a great Thursday!By the way, don’t forget to add your edited photo to our good to WOW {EDIT} Flickr Group (for those of you that prefer to upload and visit that way). When adding your photos to the group pool, be sure to include the Week #, the Theme and EDIT in the description section. You may upload one photo per week. I also want to point out that we are all here to improve our editing skills. When offering constructive criticism (either on Flickr or within blog comment sections), be sure to point out at least one thing you really like about the edit before offering any advice for improvement.
One more thing before you link up…today I am responding to Amber’s question, “If heaven and hell did not exist, would you still be a Christian?” Click HERE to see my response.
One more thing before you link up…today I am responding to Amber’s question, “If heaven and hell did not exist, would you still be a Christian?” Click HERE to see my response.
