Archives For Photoshop How To

Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming (WY), USA

Before and After: Grand Tetons

Jay Patel —  February 13, 2013

This was the view outside our tent when we went camping deep in the Grand Tetons.

Composition: I wanted to capture the late evening light and the foreground flowers. So, I set up the camera very low to the ground to fill the frame with the flowers in the foreground. This also required me to focus using the hyper focal distance principles to get everything sharply in focus.

Field Work: Because the terrain was uneven, I could not use a GND filter. A GND filter would have darkened the top of the mountains. Instead I carefully selected the exposure using the histogram on the back of the camera so that the entire dynamic range of the shot was captured in one single image.

Processing: I processed a single image 3 times and blended them manually to bring out the details in every part of the image. The layers used in the processing are shown in the image above. I used a Wacom Tablet to draw precise selections I needed for creating masks on the adjustment and blending layers. Here is what the photo looked like before editing.

Mountains and sky are overexposed. Flowers show loss of detail. Shadows are Flat.

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Transient Light, Glacier National Park, MT

How much time do you spend in Photoshop?

Jay Patel —  November 12, 2012

For us, the answer is different for every photograph. Some photos require just a moment or two in Photoshop, while others requires more than 30 minutes. On average, I spend between 5 and 15 minutes per image in Photoshop. Here is a typical Photoshop workflow for me.

This is an image from Glacier National Park in Montana. It’s one of my early photographs produced using a GND filter and my old Canon D30 (Canon’s first 3mp DSLR). I always do what I can to get it right in-camera, but the dynamic range of the scene was too great for my camera to handle.

This image showcases two types of light. On the right side of the image, you can see predawn magenta light. This is the subtle reflected light that touches the mountains before the sun comes over the horizon. The light falling on the clouds in the upper left is direct light from the sun, which is very low on the horizon. This light is far more intense than the soft, predawn light on the right side. So even with my GND filter, the top left of the image was over exposed.

To process this image, I started with the Basic tab in Adobe Camera RAW (as shown above – click for a larger view). I chose white balance and exposure settings that produced the most accurate colors for the predawn light. (2 minutes)  As expected, the area that was lit by direct sunlight (the area marked in red) was too bright. I felt that most of the image was correctly processed with just a few simple adjustments to white balance, exposure, and contrast. In almost all my images, I use a colors saturation of 10% or less.

The next step was to open the image in Photoshop and to restore the highlights, bring out the shadow details, and make few minor targeted adjustments. To restores the highlight, I processed this RAW image again, and manually blended the two versions using our iHDR workflow. (6 minutes)  Then, I used layers and masks in Photoshop to make targeted adjustments. I used a Wacom Intuos tablet for drawing selections for masks – the stylus lets me be incredibly precise so I can create perfect masks really quickly. (5 minutes) My total time spend in Photoshop (including Adobe Camera RAW) for this particular image was about 13 minutes.

How much time do you spend in Photoshop? Feel free to share your workflow.

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Tinkers Creek State Park, Ohio (OH), USA

How to Process a Moody Photograph

Jay Patel —  October 1, 2012

Conveying mood in a photograph sometimes requires a little extra care in your processing technique. I took this shot in Tinkers Creek State Park in Ohio on a foggy morning. To preserve the moody atmosphere, I processed a single RAW image twice – then combined these two versions of the same image using our iHDR Manual Blending Workflow.

Low Contrast Processing

Fog and humidity in the air reduce the contrast of objects that are farther away, so my first step was to process the RAW file with low contrast. The image you see above shows the result. The foggy atmosphere in the trees and highlights is preserved, but the grass in the foreground and the wooden boardwalk look dull and unappealing.

High Contrast Processing

Next, I used the same RAW file and processed the image with higher contrast settings. The image above shows that these adjustments produced good details in the foreground – but the appearance of the fog in the tree was all but lost. As a final step, I selectively combined the low-contrast and high-contrast images using layers and masks in Photoshop. I retain good details in the foreground, while also preserving the foggy, low-contrast mood in the trees and the highlights.

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Calf Creek Falls, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah (UT), USA

Photo Processing: Specialization vs. Basics

Jay Patel —  September 17, 2012

‘Why should I learn to use Layers and Masks? Can’t HDR software do all that for me?”

Well… if somebody will hand me my soapbox, I’ll go ahead and answer that…

Here we are in the digital age. It’s an era of high-speed internet, smart phones, and instant gratification. It’s tough to remember that sometimes you have to slow down and think about the details. We want quick solutions. Click-of-a-button answers. But photo processing isn’t always that easy.

More and more photographers are abandoning the art of Photo Processing and going directly to the plugins or specialized programs that process images with the click of a button. Just pick your preset and whamo. It’s all done for you. Cool stuff! Varina and I even use some of it! But what if you want to create something specific? What if your artistic vision falls outside the scope of the software’s ability to create a finished product for you?

When you get to the point where presets aren’t enough, you need to chose a program and learn to use it. Take the time to really learn how to use the software – we use Adobe Photoshop – and you’ll find that you are no longer limited.

Consider the High Dynamic Range (HDR) software that’s available today. It’s incredibly easy to blend images into a single finished image with a broad dynamic range. The photographer doesn’t have to do a lot of thinking. You play with the sliders until you are happy with the result. Easy enough, right?

But what if you want to blend images where half the scene was in shade and the other half in the sun? Now you are dealing with different white balance settings on top of dynamic range problems. What if you want to blend a polarized lake with an unpolarized sky? In the image above, I used layers and masks in Photoshop to blend two images. Take a look at the original shots…

I took the first image (below) without a polarizer. Notice the clear reflection in the water. I took the second with a circular polarizer. Notice the rich tones in the rocks and trees behind the pool. To get to the final image, I selectively blended the two images below using photoshop layers and masks.

With a working knowledge of layers and masks, I can blend dynamic range like most HDR programs do, but I can also do so much more. I can blend image with different color balances. I can work with polarized and non-polarized images. I can target adjustments to specific areas so that my adjustments only effect the areas where they are needed.

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Metlako Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon (OR), USA

Post-processing with a Histogram – Highlights

Jay Patel —  August 13, 2012

Here’s a shot from Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. In an earlier post, we talked about using histogram to capture details in the highlights. Here, we’re going to talk a little bit about bringing out details in every part of the image.

After RAW processing, the photo looked like this:

Notice the lack of details in the water. We can use the lasso tool to draw a selection around the highlights in the water, and then look at the histogram to see what’s happening in that area (see image above). In this case, the histogram shows that the water is not overexposed – but the peak pretty narrow, and skewed to the right. There’s not a lot of detail in the water, and the highlights are pretty bright. We’ll blend a second exposure for that area and see if we can reduce the brightness just a bit – pull that peak apart with a little more contrast.

There are a variety of options for fixing the highlights. We might use an adjustment layer and a mask to bring out the details in the waterfall. Or, we might blend two exposures – one for the highlights in the water and the other for the surrounding forest. Either option will work just fine. Here’s the finished image after blending. The histogram for the selected area is wider, which shows that we have much better detail in the water.

To learn more about Layer and Mark check our iHDR webinars and our eBooks:

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Eagle Creek, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon (OR), USA

Manual Blending Workflow

Jay Patel —  July 16, 2012

Take a look at the workflow I used to process this photograph from Eagle Creek in Oregon.

Raw Image

Raw Image + iHDR Highlight Blend

Take a look at the RAW image above on the left – the trees look just right, but there are some blown highlights in the water. This is a typical problem when shooting water. The solution is simple. I process the same image again – this time for the highlights in the water. I blend the two images using layers and masks in Photoshop. The result looks like the image on the right. Both the trees and the water are properly exposed, and we can see details in highlights as well as shadows.

The next step is to make some minor adjustments to restore contrast in the image. I use a stylus to draw selections with my Wacom graphics tablet and create masks to make adjustments that are targeted to specific areas. A little bit more contrast at the river’s edge, some softer contrast in the water… and so on. The image below shows the layers and masks I used to make those adjustments.

Raw Image + iHDR Highlight Blend + Targeted Adjustment

Most of our post-processing revolves around these simple steps. To learn more check out our iHDR webinars and eBooks below:

 

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Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Selective Sharpening Workflow

Jay Patel —  July 9, 2012


One of the things that people ask us about a lot is sharpening. So, here’s a quick tutorial on how we do it. There are lots of different ways to sharpen an image – and lots of tool available. Right now, we’re using a great tool called Nik Output Sharpener for sharpening images for print and preparing images for web display. Jay used Nik Sharpener to sharpen the image above.

Nik’s sharpening software lets us control the edge sharpness and local contrast independently, and it’s “structure” control lets us get picky about fine details. We fine-tune our sharpening with their “U-Point” technology – which makes the whole process easy, and gives us even more control. Most importantly – in our opinion anyway – the final results are displayed in Photoshop as a separate layer. That means we can create and adjust masks to further restrict the sharpening to specific areas of the image. (Did I mention that we’re control freaks?)

Here’s what our workflow looks like.

We start by selecting a preset option that is close to what we want for our finished image. We want the image to look sharp – but it’s important to avoid haloing along high-contrast edges. The preset option we choose differs depending upon the image we’re working with… but once we’ve chosen one that’s close to what we want, we start refining. We use control points to define local contrast and structure selectively. Maybe we want more contrast in one area and less in another – control points let us make very specific adjustments as we work.

When we’re happy with the results in every part of the image, we click “done” and the image opens automatically in Photoshop. There’s the layer we’ve just created… ready and waiting.  In an image like this one, we might want to remove sharpening in some areas – like the water and the sky – to eliminate noise. We prefer a softer look for skies and water, so we don’t want to sharpen those areas. A quick adjustment to the mask does the trick, and we’re done.

To learn more about Layers and Masks please check our our eBooks and Webinars below:

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Metlako Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon (OR), USA

How do we determine proper exposure?

Jay Patel —  June 18, 2012

Take a look at this photo of Metlako Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. Besides the vibrant colors, you will notice that every part of the photograph seems to be correctly exposed. A histogram can help us determine whether a photo is properly exposed, and if the photo needs to be bracketed in order to capture the entire dynamic range of the scene. Sometimes, we process a single image multiple times in order to get proper exposure in different parts of the photograph.

Lets take a look at this scene as an example. If you wanted to expose this scene for the highlights, I would look at the bright water in the falls, and adjust the shutter speed and exposure until my histogram showed that I had captured detail in the bright areas of the image. We can do the same during post-processing… as seen in the image below.

In post-processing, I kept an eye on the highlights and histogram. I adjusted the image so that I had the detail and contrast that I wanted in the highlight. Of course, this meant that the rest of the image was drastically underexposed. I can blend the image exposed for the highlights with one exposed for the shadows and mid-tone, and the result will be a natural-looking scene with nice details throughout the image.

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What the Heck is a Histogram? – Now Available at Flatbooks.com

Jay Patel —  June 1, 2012

We’ve teamed up with Flatbooks to offer our Popular eBook: What the Heck is a Histogram?

What the Heck is a Histogram? is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to understanding and using histograms to improve your photography. In it, we explain the relationship between the histogram, and contrast and exposure in the image it represents. We offer tons of real-world examples to help you understand how to use histograms in the field and in post-processing.

Why are we selling our eBooks with Flatbooks? Because Flatbooks offers a large collection of excellent eBooks from a variety of authors. The books cover a wide range of topics and are geared towards all different skill-levels. Plus, the site is easy to navigate and the order process is simple. Check it out!

And right now, you can get a discount on What the Heck is a Histogram? with this discount code: jayandvarinaonflatbooks

We hope you enjoy it!

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San Gregorio State Park, California (CA), USA

Photoshop How To: Lower Contrast Images

Jay Patel —  May 21, 2012

Sometimes we find ourselves photographing a scene where the light conditions are just perfect. We can capture the entire dynamic range with a single exposure, so no special filters or bracketing is necessary. But when you open up your raw file, it often appears to lack the contrast and details that you remember seeing while you were out in the field. This happens because the contrast and sensitivity of our eyes adjusts based upon the light conditions. The dynamic range of the sensor remains fixed. So, low contrast scenes end up using only a fraction of the dynamic range of the sensor, and this creates a flat and unappealing image. Here is a video that show how we deal with lower-contrast scenes like this one:

Layers and Mask are valuable tools that have the potential to dramatically improve your photography. To learn more about Layers and Masks, check out our webinars.

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