This is the time of year for personal reflection and gratitude, so we’re bringing you the following tutorial that demonstrates why you should be grateful for High Dynamic Range (HDR) editing. While photographic tips don’t compare to our feeling for friends and family, you’ll definitely appreciate how HDR processing will have a big impact on the look of your photographs.
Like with just about everything we do in Lightroom, Photoshop, and the kitchen, this technique should be approached with care and caution to avoid “overcooking” our images. When done right, your images will be tastier than ever.
Instructor Christian Mohrle is a fantastic landscape photographer and an equally adept image-editing expert. His goal for today’s 10-minute episode is to demonstrate “why HDR editing in Lightroom makes photos look so good.” And a meat thermometer isn’t required.
We recommend downloading the demonstration Raw file with the link beneath the video so you can make Mohrle’s adjustments yourself as the complete workflow is explained. You’ll also learn the basic global adjustments Mohrle makes to prepare his image for the HDR process that follows.
So what’s the big deal about HDR? Mohrle illustrates the answer by applying conventional edits to “fix” the under- and over-exposed areas in his shot. The histogram looks good but check out what’s apparent when you zoom in on the photo. All the information in the bright area is lost, “and there’s no way to recover it from this single Raw file.”
The shadows appear somewhat better, but they still they still appear “somewhat funny,” and they likewise can’t be significantly approved by just messing around with the sliders. Mohrle then explains that, “In order to get higher image quality what we want to do is merge and HDR file.” He notes further that, “luckily this is very easy to do in Lightroom” and he walks you through the simple steps for getting the job done.
All you need to do is to shoot an HDR sequence of scenes with a wide dynamic range—one image with a base exposure and a few others that are progressively brighter and darker. Then by following Mohrle’s advice for merging the files you’ll end up with one hero shot with a properly balanced exposure and nice details throughout the frame.
Mohrle demonstrates the initial global adjustments, demonstrates the masking procedure, and provides a few simple color-grading tricks that complete the transformation. A quick examination of his before/after images is all you need to be convinced.
After watching the video take a look at Mohrle’s robust YouTube channel for more great landscape photo editing advice.
You may also want to check out the tutorial we posted earlier from another accomplished pro, with a bunch of careless editing mistakes that will ruin your photographs, and tips for fixing them.
Take a look at your computer’s keyboard and what do you see? We’re not referring to the dirt and grime that’s long overdue for a cleaning, but rather to the modifier keys that can work wonders for quick and precise edits.
The video below reveals several “keyboard hacks” to accelerate the task of processing images so you can get back out in the field with a camera doing what you love most. Instructor Brian Matiash kicks off today’s Lightroom lesson with this: “I want to show you seven simple hacks that will enable you to be more effective with Lightroom with these modifier keys.”
Matiash is working on a Mac, so if you’re a PC user just remember that whenever he says “Option” that means “Alt” for you. Likewise, when he mentions “Command” you’re going to think of “Control.” Other than that proviso, everything works the same.
Matiash pulls up a landscape image to demonstrate his tricks, and the first one is very straightforward. As you’ll see, he’s already made a few basic adjustments with several sliders, and the photo looks pretty good. But there’s a quick keyboard shortcut for instantly resetting one or all of these sliders if you want to cancel a single enhancement or completely start over from scratch.
The second keyboard hack is particularly important when editing the tone of an image. As you’ll see, you can employ the Option key to advantage with five of the sliders within Lightroom’s Light panel; namely, Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks. Here Matiash demonstrates the effect of holding down the Option Key when modifying exposure, and the trick works equally well while adjusting the other four parameters.
Matiash then turns to Lightroom’s powerful Tone Curve tool and demonstrates what happens when you drop a dot on the diagonal line. Normally when you do this and drag the point to the left (or right) the point quickly follows all the way to the margin. This is fine when you want to make “big edits,” but what if your goal is a subtle, more refined approach?
By first holding down the Option key your selected point will move much slower, lagging behind the cursor as you drag. As soon as you try this you’ll discover what Matiash means by precision “granular control.”
At this point you still four helpful keyboard tricks to go, and you’ll have to watch the video to see how helpful they are. But here’s a hint: they involve targeted adjustments with the Point Color tool, a faster method of accomplishing color-grading edits, how to fine-tune vignettes, and an accelerated technique for applying sharpening.
For more quick and helpful advice like this, just pay a visit to Brian’s instructional YouTube channel.
And for another timesaving Lightroom tutorial, check out the video we posted from an equally adept processing expert who reveals a one-click trick for batch-editing photographs for perfect exposure.
Most of us strive to achieve sharp and precise focus in the camera when shooting in the field, yet every so often a bit of editing is required to rehabilitate soft areas within a shot. But here’s the catch: sometimes the conventional approach can do more damage than good.
Today’s enlightening tutorial from one of favorite landscape photographers reveals the unique method he prefers when sharpening in Lightroom is required, and it likely differs from the approach you’ve been using for years. It’s not difficult to do and delivers clean, realistic results without overly “crispy” photos spoiled by image-killing artifacts.
Instructor Christian Irmler is an accomplished German landscape photographer who regularly posts straightforward tutorials that reveal the secrets to his success. In this episode he describes what he refers to as “bad sharpness,” reveals the “truth” about contrast, and provides examples of how the method you employ can either spoil the mood of an image of give it a big boost.
Irmler also reveals a few exceptions to his approach and discusses why “extreme sharpness” is sometimes required instead of the more subtle method he typically employs. He begins with an explanation of what he refers to as “bad sharpness” that often occurs when relying solely upon sliders in Lightroom sharpening panel.
You’ll also see why images shot in the Raw file format are much easier to correct without killing the mood in an image. He illustrates why the common approach of increasing Clarity, Contrast and Sharpness can be detrimental to overall image quality—noting that there’s a “much better way” to get the job done to perfection.
Interestingly, Irmler says, “I don’t touch the sharpening slider at all and I don’t want overall Contrast and Clarity throughout an entire scene.” Instead, he makes selective adjustments to only those areas within the frame that really need help. As you’ll see, this method helps draw a viewer’s attention to the key components of the image.
Irmler’s straightforward alternative technique involves a precisely positioned Linear Gradient to quickly make the appropriate modifications. In the case of his first demonstration photo this means placing the gradient mask over the foreground of the shot and then carefully limiting his Sharpening, Contrast and Clarity adjustments to this portion of the frame. He explains how he does so in a way that that “supports the effects already made by nature.”
You’ll watch Irmler use this technique to sharpen other images that require a slightly different approach. Sometimes, as you’ll see, more than one mask is required for an ideal transformation. Admittedly, this method takes a bit more time than just moving a slider to the right, but this is the way to go if great results are your goal.
After watching this very helpful lesson head over to Irmler’s instructional YouTube channel where there’s much more to learn.
And don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another top pro, explaining the proper way to use a polarizing filter to shoot landscape photos that demand attention.
