Corn and Sky - Gradient tool in Lightroom

[abarickman]

Hey all,

Admittedly not the most interesting picture but I thought the technique using Lightroom might be useful to someone.

Before:


After:


I applied a gradient filter from the top to the bottom and placed the middle line of the tool on the tops of the stalks (at an angle). I reduced the exposure using this gradient to darken the sky. I then did the reverse and added a second gradient from the bottom to the top, again placing the line on the tops of the stalks, and then lightened the corn stalks. This added a lot more impact and punch. I then sharpened, added clarity and bumped vibrancy.

The effect appears much more subtle once uploaded to Flickr but its pretty significant when viewed in Lightroom as a before and after.

[subyello]

Like the final effect, the corn is nice, little shadow where as the sky is dark ane menacing .. nice pic.

[shiraq]

good work!

[arlon]

Did you start with a RAW file or the .jpg? Just wondering if the extra latitude of the RAW would be helpful. Neat idea, thanks for sharing.

[abarickman]

Originally Posted by arlon

Did you start with a RAW file or the .jpg? Just wondering if the extra latitude of the RAW would be helpful. Neat idea, thanks for sharing.

I did start with a RAW file as I always do and I do think that the latitude was helpful. I could have pushed this much further without issue.

[Quo Fan]

I love using the gradient tools. They work real good when you have a straight line to gradient to.

BTW, nice image.