Post Production: Curves Adjustments

It's amazing what a little post production can do to lift a photograph to the next level. I'm not talking about HDR, or over saturating the colors, or even blending images (although all of those can 'lift' a photo when used in moderation), but I'm talking about the basics. The tools you can find in most photo development software. I personally use Adobe Lightroom for all my post production and cataloging and love it. I think it's a great program, but there are many others that work just as well, especially with the basics I'm discussing here. When you shoot in RAW format (as I do 100% of the time) the file NEEDS post production. The reason I shoot in RAW is to get as much information from the original photo as possible and also be able to control aspects such as white balance and exposure in post production without losing file information. Very seldom do I do nothing to a photo. Most often, a quick curves adjustment is all a RAW photo needs. That's what I've done here. The photo above is one that needed a slight curves adjustment, creating a cleaner finished product. 

Above is the difference between the RAW file (left) and the developed photo (right). You can also see the curves tool on the right hand side that looks like an elongated 'S'. On this photo I adjusted the darks to -25 and the lights to +38. It creates a bit more contrast and really shows off the details and colors in the foreground and sky.

If you are serious about photography and you're not shooting in RAW I would strongly recommend switching. You will notice a difference, especially in the digital darkroom.

Note: If you have tried to access my website in the last day or two you may have been redirected. I apologize for the inconvenience. I am working on a new and improved website that will hopefully be more informative and easier to navigate. Check back soon!

Cataloging Photos with Adobe Lightroom

I've been reviewing old photos and came across several that I had dismissed initially but are actually some of my favorites in their own series.  Amazingly enough this happens quite often, which is exactly why I never delete photos, always back them up, and continually review old ones.  You never know what surprises you're going to find.  I catalog my photos to keep them organized and filtered.  I use Lightroom for this purpose and I find that it works wonders.  You have to keep up on it, but with the help of a regular routine you'll be thanking yourself later. 

As soon as I am able to sit down with my computer and CF card after a shoot, I plug in my card reader and start downloading images.  Ideally, I am near my external hard drive and can do a back up then and there and forget about it.  No matter when I get to it I will back up my photos.  Backing up your photos may be the most important step, so don't forget it!  I can do this automatically with Adobe Lightroom and kill two birds with one stone on one download.  I've preset mine so that all I have to do is plug in my external hard drive and press OK and it'll automatically back up to my selected hard drive.  If it's not plugged into my computer Lightroom will remind me.  After I get all my photos into Lightroom and backed up on external hard drives, I start to go through and weed out the good from the bad.  I use a 'flag' for the ones that draw an initial reaction and I know are good, and a rejection flag for any overexposures or out of focus photos I know I don't want to keep.  Then, I go through the flagged photos and narrow it down even further to the best of the best with a rating of five stars.  I can filter the photos so that only the flagged photos are showing and develop from there, eventually focusing on the five star images.

When I am satisfied with my selection of "good" photos I start to play around in the digital darkroom.  Does the photo tell a better story in black and white?  Will it look better cropped?  What can I change to express my vision?  Aside from correcting exposure, color correcting and removing dust spots I don't like to "correct" too much unless I'm trying to achieve a certain look.  The point is to try and capture it in-camera as best you can.  Photoshop, Lightroom or iPhoto will only take you so far.  Getting an image right in-camera is the best practice and will improve anyone's photography.  I try to take that to heart.  

Last but not least, I go through my images regularly.  If I missed a back up I get it done as soon as I can. If I haven't gone through and edited dust spots, I'll do it.  Most importantly, I'll look with a fresh set of eyes at all the captures and if there is a photo I think should be flagged or even starred that isn't I'll do it then.  It's amazing what a fresh set of eyes can see.  I often find photos that were initially overlooked and wonder why I hadn't flagged them or given them a better status to begin with.  The best practice is to review, review, review!