It still amazes me photographers are not using Camera Calibration in their workflow!!
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This image have been adjusted using Camera Calibration only. By the way, location is the Hill Inlet in the Whitsundays.
2.
This is the original.
What is Camera Calibration in Adobe Lightroom?
Camera Calibration should be one of the first thing you do to adjust the basic color. It is everything you need to saturate and control the hue. As you can see, major improvements from a very simple and easy to use tool which took me no longer than 30 seconds.
We will try our best to keep all of the white details in, but that is not always possible.Especially when back-lighting (main source of light coming from behind the subject).
Expose for the face.
Because all cameras have a dynamic range that is much less than a human eye, it is impossible to capture the 100% of the scene. This is the time when we decide what details are important and what to sacrifice. Priority number one is always the face of the subject.
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Settings: 1/200 @ f1.6 @ ISO100 … the lens was 85mm f1.2 @ 85mm
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Settings: 1/125 @ f1.2 @ ISO100 … the lens was 85mm f1.2 @ 85mm
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Extreme example of the white details blowing out. However as you can see, the correctly exposed face was much more important.
Settings: 1/125 @ f1.2 @ ISO100 … the lens was 85mm f1.2 @ 85mm
4.
Settings: 1/125 @ f1.2 @ ISO100 … the lens was 85mm f1.2 @ 85mm
We all love film noir, there is just this magical feel about them. Call it nostalgia or whatever but I think every photographer should be capable of doing a descent film noir conversion.
Presets!!
One of the many benefits of using Lightroom is how easy it is to use presets and instantly completely change your photos.
There are so many presets out there for Lightroom, any effect you can think of, you can bet someone’s done a preset for it.
These 2 below were done with a free preset called BW2-ST2.
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Original color images.
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Settings: 1/125 @ f11 @ ISO100 … the lens was 85mm f1.2 @ 85mm
4.
Settings: 1/160 @ f10 @ ISO100 … the lens was 85mm f1.2 @ 85mm
At the instant when your shutter clicked, what you have in front of you is never as what you want it to be. There are always a number of variables such as lighting, composition, color, etc. Hmm… so what can I do?
White Balance.
White balance would have to be the number one most effective way to change your images no matter what genre of photography you are shooting. If you shoot in RAW format, white balance can be changed in post production will no negative effect.
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This is the original, its not bad, but I am after the sunset feel.
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After a quick change in white balance.
Settings: 1/500 @ f2 @ ISO100 … the lens was 200mm f2 @ 200mm
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Settings: 1/500 @ f2 @ ISO100 … the lens was 200mm f2 @ 200mm
Some edit to reflect what they saw with their eyes, I choose to edit to what I believe would create the biggest impact with the viewers.
There are alot of freedom when it comes to editing, thousands of presets are available to Lightroom users with most being free.
One photographer, one style.
Doesn’t matter if its a wedding, a concert or a family portrait session. There is nothing worse than looking at a series of shots all with completely different edits which makes it looks like it was shot by numerous different photographers. Especially when the dreaded selective coloring shows up (sigh)…
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Akon with a burning wall of spark in the background.
Settings: 1/500 @ f2.8 @ ISO1600 … the lens was 70-200mm f2.8 @ 200mm
2.
Flor Rida, he gave away all his blings at the concert.
Settings: 1/800 @ f2 @ ISO1600 … the lens was 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm
3.
Settings: 1/320 @ f2.8 @ ISO1600 … the lens was 70-200mm f2.8 @ 200mm
4.
Travie McCoy, stand off with the microphone.
Settings: 1/250 @ f2.8 @ ISO1600 … the lens was 70-200mm f2.8 @ 200mm
5.
Settings: 1/250 @ f2.8 @ ISO1600 … the lens was 70-200mm f2.8 @ 80mm
