How I edit my images

This week, I decided to kill several stones with one bird and answer any questions that have been thrown my way regarding my photography. To start off, one of the most common questions I get is how I process my imagery. I figured I would do one post on how I edit my photowalks, and one on how I process my portraits/engagements (that will come later this week).

DISCLAIMER – I don’t think I’m the best photographer in the world, but people have asked – so I will answer. I welcome any hater comments though, as I feel it is a benchmark of success. (Still haven’t popped that cherry)

As for the rest of the week, here’s what I have lined up:

Today: How I edit my images
Today on facebook: [Video] How much money I make in the field of photography (Guessing I will achieve my first hater comment with this post)
Thursday: What’s in my bag – lenses, equipment, etc.
Friday: What is the best point & shoot to get (Will be featuring a guest post from a friend of mine)
Monday: Pricing strategies & payment set up (If you are okay with what you hear on Tuesday, you might be interested in this one)

If you have any other ideas/questions on what you would like to hear, post it in the comments!

On with it – took a tour around Vancouver yesterday, here are some of my favorite shots: (narrowed it to 31/193)

All of this done with lightroom 3, logo added manually in photoshop, finished with a 50% (strength) sharpening using Kubota Production Pack’s “Magic Sharp”.

Note – some of my shots are thrown out when I get to photoshop, either because they don’t have a complimentary vertical shot to go with it, or there’s no negative space for my logo, or because I think it’s sh*t and don’t want people to know I took such a bad picture.

As for the logo, it’s mainly there because I think it looks cool. I really don’t care about people stealing my pics, because hey – what good is stressing about that going to do? I’m not here to sell my photowalk stuff, so actually – I hope people *do* take these from my blog! In fact, let me know if you want a hi-res to frame and I’ll send it right over.

To see the final product photowalk of this day, click here.

Before:

After: (Cropped the photo a bit to bring the focus in tighter on the grill, less background. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -48. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (One of the best tools I commonly use is the ‘gradient’ mask. On this shot, the bottom-left corner was already pretty dark, so to keep it consistent, I boosted it up a bit with some more exposure using the gradient tool. It’s the little vertical box next to the brush. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -11. In the HSL panel, I took the blue ‘luminance’ down to -17 to bring back some of the color in the writing in the center. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -16. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of +9. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Bumped the exposure with a gradient so the vignetting wouldn’t lose the bottom half of the photo. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -57. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Bumped up the shadows using the gradient tool. I hate the clarity and the fill-light tools on here with a passion…so I try to steer clear of them as much as possible. I just feel like they make the photo look “fake”. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -34. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -34. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Ok, so I know I just totally dissed on clarity, and here I am using the hell out of it on this photo. *Some* photos aren’t affected as much by it, and this is one where I used it merely to bring out the detail in the bricks & darken those blacks. I would have used the blacks adjustment, but it gives it an effect I wouldn’t want, and affects the rest of the colors. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -16, midpoint +84. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -9. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -30, midpoint 74. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -41, midpoint 73. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (No ‘post crop vignetting’ – not sure how the natural vignette happened on this one, but I’m not complaining! Tried the clarity tool on this one too, and it ended up giving it a sharper look…so I kept it. Used the clone tool (circle up top) to remove the white marks. No other adjustments than what you see) [Note - added +57 contrast in photoshop after deciding that it needed more "pop"]

Before:

After: (EASY FIX: While selecting the previous edited image, selected this one & just synced the settings via sync button at the bottom of the control panel. Tweaked a few minor adjustments here & there and cropped – bam. That easy. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -16, Midpoint 30. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Tweaked the hue to get some variety in the colors, adjusted the highlighting so the writing would come out super clean. No ‘post crop vignetting.’ No other adjustments than what you see.)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -30. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Used a boost of exposure+contrast in a gradient tool to really make the foreground “pop”. Since the background has several lengths of distance, the different levels of exposure isn’t going to show. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -20, midpoint 59. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -45, midpoint 80. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Ended up using the clone tool in photoshop to take out some of the clouds for negative space to place the logo. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -18. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Wanted to mention that I also boosted the individual “yellow” saturation to +100. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -16. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Added in a gradient at top-left to make the logo pop in final post.  No ‘post crop vignetting’. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Put in a couple gradients on the top corners to help the vignette – the bottom is darker & would be too dark only using the vignette tool on it’s own. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -20. Also lowered “red” luminance -29. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -16. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -34. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Note* – In the final version of the post, I have another similar photo in the sequence that I just synced with this one. Saves time doing this opposed to each pic individually. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -34. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (With this pic, I used a gradient to bring in the sky – the blues would overpower the water & shadows on the boats below, not an effect I’m going for. Just wanted to include this so you know of a few different options to get those skies bangin’. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -25. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (Used a clarity gradient to bring out the bricks. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -30. No other adjustments than what you see)

Before:

After: (THIS photo was a little tricky. The green on the sign was adjusted using the “teal” color palette, not “green”. This happens from time to time, so if you’re not getting what you want out of your colors, try changing the yellows to get to the greens or vice versa – oranges to change reds, etc. Sometimes it’s just weird like that. Since you can’t see ‘post crop vignetting,’ I set it to a level of -41, midpoint 78. Also brought down individual “blue” luminance -19 & saturation +29 No other adjustments than what you see) [Ended up not using this pic due to awkward negative space & lack of area for logo placement]

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BONUS!!!
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Ok, so I wanted to share how I do my tilt-shift photos. I rented out a tilt shift lens one day, took some shots, and compared it to my ability to do the same effect in photoshop. The result?

Keep your money.

Here’s the secret:

1. Open up the file in photoshop.

2. Select the gradient tool. Select the reflective pattern for the gradient. Hit the letter “Q” (enters quick mask mode).

3. Click the mouse, hold down, and drag away from the point you want to be clear in the image. (Red blur will appear over area)

4. Hit “Q” again, and click “Filter->Blur->Lens Blur.”

5. The only tool you need to toggle here is radius. I never really bring it higher than 8 or lower than 4…that’s usually the sweet range.

6. Let’s go to SHABOOMS. (+15 points if you know where that reference is from.)

Here are some of my favorite shots I’ve gotten using this little trick:

From a photowalk in Paris:

From a photowalk in Grenada:

From a photowalk at Versailles:

From a photowalk in Sevilla:

From a photowalk in London:

From a photowalk in Madrid:

From a trip to St. Lucia: (this was taken with a water-proof point & shoot)

So that’s all I have for you today! If you have any questions regarding any specific questions, or ideas you might want me to include in my portrait editing post, shoot me a comment below!

Have a great day guys, hope this helped!