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April 2010
If you are reading this then I am taking it for granted that you also have been bitten by the photo bug and in doing so have put a rather large hole in your bank account. Buying the camera,the tripod, memory cards and a few filters all adds up.
I am also taking it for granted that you have been a dedicated & enthuastic photographer. Abandonding your warm bed on many a cold morning to stand at hideous hours freezing your ass off without a Starbucks in sight. Hopefully as a result of your efforts you have managed to capture some wonderful images. Now what?
There is only one answer, processing!
Years ago unlike now photographers typically had two options when it came to processing. You either left your film into the local photo store and waited for the results. Or if you were like me, you locked yourself into the bathroom come darkroom, developed the film and then printed the images yourself. All the while hoping the rest of the family had strong bladders. Not easy when you are from a family of 9!
Processing in the modern age means using software to manipluate the data stored in the digital RAW file to output a final image that you are proud to call your own. So much easier than they way it use to be.
The modern RAW file in essence is a digital negative that contain mountains of information. Getting the most out that information poses a signficant learning curve, but thankfully there are a number of programs on the market to help us.
Of course most camera manufactuers supply their own software and there are a number of free programs available to download. The most popular professional grade programmes include Adobe Lightroom, Aperture, Capture One and Adobe Photoshop. Sadly they are not free and range in price from €200 to €800 euro.
Personally I use Adobe Lightroom, as I like the way it allows me to manage my catalogue of images and how it compliments my own digital workflow.
At its most basic Lightroom allows the photographer to adjust exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, colour & tone. Its more advance features include localised adjustment brushes & gradients. In edition it lets the user output slideshows & webgalleries. Anyway enough of the Adobe advertising, I promise I don’t work for them. Lets show an example of what it can do.
For this example I am going to use a coastal seascape taken in Skerries County Dublin. The view over looks Colt Island and was taken at sunrise. The image was taken on a Canon 5DMK11 using a 17-40F4lens. An exposure of 20seconds at F13 was used. Mounted to the front of the lens where two graduated Neutral density filters from Singh Ray.
The first image you see depicts the untouched RAW file in the develop module of Lightroom. The basic settings are all the default for this camera model.
When it comes to processing it all comes down to personal taste. You could give the file to a 100 people and they would all do something unique.
In this instance the image is not too bad, as no major adjustments are required. (panel 1)There is plenty of detail in the shadows and there is detail in the highlights. I just wanted to make a few subtle changes including adjustments to colour temperature as well as the brightness and contrast of the overall image.
So using the global adjustments and the control sliders available I first adjusted the color temperature, followed by an increase in the brightness and contrast of the image. Then to pull back some of the detail in the lighter sections of the image I used the recovery slider. (below)
With those changes made the last change I made was to the sky. To do that I used Lightrooms gradient tool to selected a section of the sky and decreased the brightness. (see below)
The result you see in the after shot.
