Stylize Outdoor Photos by Editing Colors Like This (VIDEO)
We’re all looking for ways to capture attention-grabbing outdoor photos that stand out from the crowd, while keeping things looking natural. The Lightroom workflow illustrated below is a lot of fun because it involves experimenting with stylizing your images until you discover a signature look that’s easy to replicate in the future.
This interesting approach reveals several straightforward methods for enhancing colors in Lightroom to create a unique look by building off the creative process favored by British educator and landscape pro Chris Harvey.
Harvey prefers a rather simple approach to post processing that he describes like this: “My style isn’t particularly drastic in terms of completely re-visualizing what I see in the field and I still want to retain the essence of a scene as it appears to the naked eye.”
His stylistic goal is to enhance colors in a way that creates a recognizable look with continuity and cohesion throughout his portfolio of spectacular images. You can easily accomplish this important task by following the recommendations he provides in the next 17-minutes, and then making a few modifications that bring your personal vision to reality.
Harvey starts with an overview of Lightroom’s color-enhancement features, followed by a demonstration of his preferred strategy for employing contrast and other familiar enhancements. As you’ll see, there are ways to employ these familiar tools in a way that differs from the manner in which you’ve made these adjustments in the past.
He delves into unique vibrance and saturation tricks and explains a different approach for applying tone curves and color curves that can make a big difference. And stylized color grading is also part of the plan.
There’s a lot more to learn as the video proceeds, including how Lightroom’s HSL sliders can be a big help in creating a signature style— whether you’re editing landscapes, wildlife photos, environmental portraits, or just about any other image you capture in the great outdoors.
Be sure to visit Harvey’s popular YouTube channel and explore the many how-to videos available.
And if you prefer editing images in Photoshop, don’t miss the tutorial we feature with another Adobe expert who demonstrates how to take advantage of Adobe’s New Harmonize tool to create realistic high-quality composite photographs.
