A short explaination
Hi Bubblers,
Thanks to all the people that have taken the time to view and comment on my work to date not to mention the kind BubbleMails I get from a few of you, it’s really appreciated.
I thought I might submit a short tutorial or guide or whatever you want to call it regarding my last few uploads in the RB galleries, in particular a few of my last ones as I’ve been getting a lot of feedback requesting or asking for tips.
First of all, my basic tools consist of PSCS3 (as of last week), Lightroom, CaptureOne and Photomatix.
For that edgey look, I mostly use Lightroom, but since CS3 came along I’ve been able to produce it via Camera Raw.
The settings for Lightroom are as follows.
1. In the develop Module I make a virtual copy first and work on that instead of the orig.
2. This next bit always starts off looking ugly so just hang in there with me.
Drag the following sliders to 100%
Recovery, Fill Light, Contrast, Clarity and Vibrance.
3. Drag Blacks to somewhere between 20 and 40 for now.
4. Turn down the Saturation, it’s probably screeming like hell about now.
5. Set Luminance and Colour to the max.
Thats the basis for a lot of the treatments with variations and adjustments made to suit each image as required, they are never all the same but at least this is a starting point, I’ve made this into a Lightroom Preset so I have it when I want it, then tweek each picture from there on.
That was for a Jpeg or RAW in Lightroom, for PSCS3 it’s virtually exactly the same if your using a RAW file, the controls are nearly identical except if your starting from a Jpeg, then it gets more time consuming, time isn’t something I have a lot of lately so I tend to go for the “under 30 minute” proceedures, I’m 50 next year and don’t want to spend all my time in front of the computer….......that time is reserved for getting out and about with my camera and trying to make a quid here and there.
I digress,
Photomatix, my favorite piece of software to date bar none. Quite aversatile bit of gear in my book. I like to use it when converting single RAW files from LDR to HDR, then opening them up in PS to finish off. Another bit of kit I like to use is LucisArt, it makes very edgey pictures in a snap also. I have the PS plugin version, not the pro one, it’s like 600 bucks….ouch!
All this pulling and pushing of colours, lights and shadows can and likely will cause a heck of amount of noise in your finished work, so thats where a good noise filter comes in, one that has some bells and whistles for adjustment…......none of that ‘one size fits all’ canned crap. I want control baby, all the way. Most are really good these days though and can be purchased for under 100 bucks.
So there you go, I hope I answered some questions some of you might of had.
Happy New Year
Pete
Deri Dority
Thank you so much Pete. I appreciate you sharing this. I love learning new things!
John Conway
just finished reading all that Pete and the thing that stuck out was…......50 next year!!, you ol’ bugger :-)
...but seriously though, for those that don’t know Pete on a personal basis, you couldn’t find a more passionate man as he is about photography and photoshop. I have read so many of his tutorials, I wondering sometimes where he finds the time to create these to help people, time to get a bit selfish Pete and back into taking some photos (but you better find time to finish the home renovation first, or you might not be allowed out)
Peter Marin
Your welcome, I hope it come in handy some time.
Peter Marin
..........did I mention I was 50 next year? Must of slipped.
Thanks for the kind words John, now I’ll go have a spew LOL.
Peter Redmond
Thank Pete, that’s nice of you to write all that down. Sheds a bit more light on thngs..! Now to get out there and get some photos to do all that work to…....!!!
Robyn Lakeman
Thanks Pete, always love your work and appreciate the fact that you are so willing to help with tutorials.
Hans Kawitzki
Thanks Pete for taking the time to explain your workflow,very much appreciated,wish other experts would follow when asked.
DId you mentioned 50 next year ? my oldest child turned 50 last year,now that makes you very young in my eyes :)
Mel Brackstone
Good on you Pete, your wilingness to share your techniques is always very much appreciated. HNY to you and yours, and don’t worry about the 50 mate, life just gets better :)
Dharna
Thank you Peter for explaining your techniques. Much appreciated.
peterhoenderdos
Thank you very much peter. I hope I’ll be a contender of very nice stuff soon. Although I have to save money for a new camera first, since I only use a hybrid, that does not shoot in raw. But I will check out the software. I guess it must be downloadable in most cases. The trick is to find it for free
Sharon Hammond
You are very kind to share your knowledge. Thank you
Curtiss Simpson
So kind of you to share this with us. Going to have to try this out in Lightroom.
Melinda Kerr
Thanks Peter so much. Can you recommend a good noise filter? Any particular brand?
Peter Marin
Thanks Bubbler’s, I’m happy that you found all thats stuff helpful.
Melinda, I use Noiseware by Imagenomic. It does a great job and has all the bell’s and whistles to selectively adjust almost any area I choose to. I have heard that Noise Ninja is also great, it’s used by a lot of the pro’s too. I have Noiseware as a plugin for PS, they also make another plugin called Portraiture which is available as a PS plugin also. It does all the hard work involved in retouching skin, like you see in the glam mag’s. The great thing about it is that it has a algorith that only effects skin tones and leaves other areas alone, great for those hard to get at spots. Having said that, I have had instances where the smoothing was being applied to hair, but only on the blonde type that falls into a skin tone colour. Hope you find what your looking for.
All the best.
Melinda Kerr
Thanks Peter, much appreciated.
Kim Roper
Thank you for your time and effort in putting up this technique – I have had a ball trying it out on various pics ( Have only posted one so far) love the effect this creates. Happy New Year to you and your family and happy photographing in 2008, may all your aspirations and inspirations come true!
Cheers!
Peter Marin
Your most welcome.
Kim, which one? I’d love to see what you’ve done.
All the best for ‘08 to you too.
Chanel2
Thank you for this Peter, very generous of you. I can’t wait to try!!
ADuDeWiDaCaMeRa
hey that was a great read thx for that