There are a variety of techniques for sharpening photos during the editing process, some more effective than others, but none are quite like the method you’ll learn in today’s tutorial that photographer Jethro Stebbings developed himself for bringing images to life.
Stebbings is a British landscape photographer who notes that some conventional sharpening techniques are only effective with certain types of images and don’t work particularly well with others. That’s why he created his own approach in Photoshop that he says will enable you to “tackle any scene and any subject matter with confidence.”
This 13-minute episode is somewhat more involved than others we’ve shared, so we suggest jotting down a few notes for future reference, but you’ll be justly rewarded for your efforts. Stebbings also explains how to negate the negative effects that often occur with sharpening so that you’ll consistently achieve “super-clean” results.
Stebbings walks you through all the important steps while editing a stunning seascape image photographed in Cornwall. His goal is to sharpen the shot in a way that adds texture and impact to the prominent rocks in the foreground and mid-range, as well as to a cliff face in the background.
One reason why this technique is so effective is that it doesn’t rely upon global adjustments to sharpen the entire image at once. Instead, Stebbings separate the photo into three distinct sections and makes selective adjustments to each. As he explains, “this means we’re going to employ different strategies for each area or plane.” As you’ll see, this makes total sense because one overall adjustment simply won’t work to perfection.
Stebbings creates three layers for each plane he intends to sharpen. He then tuns to Photoshop’s High Pass filter that you’ve likely used in a different way before. Here you’ll want to move the Radius slider until you start to see the image come to life. In basic terms this means “you want this filter to essentially make an outline of the details that are there.” For this shot a Radius of six or seven pixels seems about right.
The next step in Stebbings technique is reducing Opacity, and you learn how this contributes to the final result. He then completes the precision transformation by dealing with any remaining negative artifacts. You be impressed when you compare the before/after images.
There’s much more to learn on Stebbings’ instructional YouTube channel and in a tutorial we posted earlier, explaining how to solve the challenges of wide-angle landscape photography.
If you’re looking for a few ways to spice up your fall landscape photo you’ve come to the right place, because the tutorial below from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel demonstrates six quick-and-easy techniques. And don’t worry, these have nothing to do with dreaded pumpkin-spice flavors.
German landscape pro Christian Mohrle is a favorite among Shutterbug readers who appreciate how his lessons simplify potentially complicated tasks. The Lightroom effects in this episode are guaranteed to give your outdoor images a unique and eye-catching look. You may want to download Mohrle’s Raw files using the link beneath the video and make the changes yourself as they’re explained.
We all love shooting autumn photos because of the breathtaking colors that occur as foliage transforms before trees drop their leaves, and that’s the topic of Mohrle’s first creative effect. This technique for enhancing fall colors involves the use of Lightroom’s HSL and Calibration adjustments.
The trees in the demonstration image have yet to fully display the amazing warm tones off fall, so Mohrle opens the HSL panel, explaining that the “the most important setting you want to change is found under the Hue tab.” Here you can use simple sliders to modify green, yellow, and orange tones to get the exact look you’re after.
After also adjusting Saturation and Luminance the green colors of spring are gone and the image now has a realistic autumn look, but there’s more you can do to complete the natural-looking transformation by opening Lightroom’s Calibration tab. As you’ll see, simply adjusting two sliders quickly gets the job done. Mohrle stresses the importance of taking a subtle approach so you don’t bias blue tones in the sky.
Mohrle’s second trick is what he calls a “Polarization Effect” that’s just as simple to accomplish. Here the goal is to darken the sky with deeper and more intense blue tones—just like you’d do when shooting with a polarizing filter on your lens. A positive byproduct of this method is there will be more contrast in your image.
You’ll learn four more special effects by watching this 12-minute video so pay close attention. These include creating “bokeh balls,” and an “Orton Glow,” as well as adding fog and glowing areas to your shots. Once you’re done take a look at Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel for more ways to add impact to landscape photos.
We also recommend watching the tutorial we posted earlier from another image-editing expert, with an easy Lightroom method for enhancing your autumn landscape photographs.
