Great photo enhancement with Lightroom

[stevoarnold]

Hey all!

It's been a long time since I've posted to the before/after forum but I just felt I had to do so again after I created this image and noticed how easily lightroom can be used to really help bring a photo in line with the scene I saw in front of me by way of a few simple adjustments.

Firstly, here's the original.



By way of trial and error, I performed the following adjustments having imported my raw file:

White balance: Set to Daylight
Temperature: add some extra warmth + 667
Black Clipping: set to 11
Fill light: set to 20
Highlight recovery: set to 33
Exposure: +.50
Saturation: set to 14
Vibrance: set to 43
Clarity: set to 67

At this point my sky was a bit too light, so I used the adjustment-brush tool to make a simple mask over the sky which I then applied the following settings to:

Exposure: -1.6
Saturation 47


I only recently learned how to use the adjustment brush and realised how easy it is to use on an area with distinct edges, as with this sky. It allows you to apply localised adjustments without needing to go into photoshop and start messing around with layers.

Anyway, here is the final product!

[kjonnnn]

It looks like you put a lot of time into your photo, but actually looks better before. There is more contrast and the colors are truer. The After photo looks over saturation and the sky still looks milky.

Im using Photoshop so I dont know if Lightroom has the same features, but if it does, may I suggest that you learn levels and the selection tools. I selected the sky, rocks and plants separately to edit and get a more realistic rendention. Did some slight smart sharpen. I could, but didnt use in extra layers. It took about 3 minutes.

[kencaleno]

One minute in photoshop:

Workflow

Tidy up


1. Image> adjustments> Auto levels

2. Ctrl+J

3. Image> adjustments > Equalize

3. Blend mode-Soft light- (adjust opacity slider to suit)

4. Flatten/Save


Colour Boost

1. Ctrl+J

2. Image> Adjustments> Match Color

3. Luminance 119

4. Color intensity 126

5. Flatten/Save


Sharpen

1. Ctrl+J

2. Filter> Other> High pass 4

3. Soft light

4. Flatten/Save

[Evn1ngStar]

Originally Posted by kjonnnn

but actually looks better before. There is more contrast and the colors are truer. The After photo looks over saturation and the sky still looks milky.]

I agree with kjonnn, the only other thing I would do is clone out that stick in the forefront that rather sticks out like a sore thumb. It distracts the eye from the rest of this fine shot.

This thread title is extremely misleading. I want my time back.