- This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 6 months, 1 week ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi everyone! I had a tough time editing a photo I took during the last big snow storm here in WV. Attached is my final edit.
However, I was curious how others would edit the exact same photo! Here’s the raw file (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nwa6QGzI6dMp28Ae0DamgUxCkiHDIoAH/view?usp=sharing) if you’d like to take a stab at editing it yourself!
When submitting your edited version, tell us what program you were using and a little about how or why you did what you did.
Have fun with it!
Attachments:
Ok, I had some fun with this other day. I hadn’t looked at your edited version so I would just edit it how I would normally approach a photo.
Using Lightroom Classic, I brightened it up (it seemed underexposed to me), pulled back the highlights for detail in the sky, brightened shadows for details in dark areas, tweaked black & white points for contrast, upped vibrance to bring out color in the sky. Made some other small tweaks, but that was basically it!
When I was done, I came back and looked at your edit, and I laughed to see how different it was! Yours has a more epic, inspiring feel with attention drawn to the sky, whereas mine I think feels more simple, just like a pretty winter day in the country.
Attachments:
Here is the best with what I could do with my editing program. I’ve never taken any pictures of snow, so I’ve never edited a snowy scene before. Any tips or thoughts would be appreciated.🙂
I wanted to try and bring out the color in the sky, but I couldn’t find a way to do it. I tried pulling back the highlights and bringing up the saturation, but it didn’t seem to do much to bring more color in the sky.
I don’t feel like the way I edited it was perfect, but after doing basic adjustments maybe I at least got it better than it was to begin with.🙂Attachments:
That’s so fun, @lenspirationlydia! Good idea, not to look at mine first. 🙂
Very interesting, @samuelwest, having never edited a snow photo before! I’m glad you can now say you have. 🙂
The reason I edited mine the way I did (kinda dark), is because I wanted attention to be drawn to the sky. I tried to bring out the color there as best I could. It took some local adjustments. I also wanted to make he beehives more prominent, so that’s why I cropped it. Should have done that on-location in-camera by zooming in. I also went for the slightly pinkish feel so it wouldn’t look too warm for a snowscape.
Hey! This looked kinda cool so I thought I’d jump in. I’m proud to say that @jamesstaddon was the first one to show me how to edit a RAW image at a homeschool conference eight years ago… it feels interesting to edit his image using some of his same techniques!
Like @lenspirationlydia, I didn’t look at James’s image before starting. I’m using ON1 Photo RAW 2023 to edit this image.
The first thing I noticed about this pic was that the composition wasn’t grabbing me as much as I’d like… I’m not on scene, but I do have a powerful tool at my disposal: the crop tool (Lenspiration tip #1). I cropped the image down to a 8×10 aspect ratio, putting the house (which I thought was the best spot for the eye to go) on the 3rd.
I then went into exposure and cranked it up about a stop and a third. Snow is supposed to be white, not grey! Usually the next thing I’ll do here as well is drop my blacks about 8-10 clicks (Lenspiration tip #2) and then because it’s a snowy image I popped the whites a little bit as well. I increased global contrast a bit too, gave it a little bit of structure (I think lightroom calls it “clarity”) and warmed up the white balance a smidge.
Then I went into my ON1NoNoiseAI section (the image didn’t really need it but ON1’s denoiser is scarily amazing and it also sharpens the image nicely). I let the robot do the work here and didn’t touch it after turning it on.
Jumped into curves, played a little bit with the contrast again…
At this point my sky was really blown out, so I went into the local settings, painted a mask over the sky using a feathered brush, dropped the exposure about a stop or two, popped the contrast, and then played with curves again for the sky. I brought in a little bit of red and blue with this tool as well to try and warm it up and make it play to the morning light.
Last thing I did was pop a vignette over the top of it (Lenspiration tip #3)… this draws attention more toward the sky and house.
If I were taking this picture, I’d probably recompose a smidge (at least for my edit style). I like the tree, but I feel the creek is a lead-in line that keeps derailing my eye to the left side of the frame.
… and then I looked at James’s edit. Very moody! It makes me feel like this image was taken at dawn… his edit is good too because he darkens the whole image except for what he wants the attention at.
… and then I looked at Lydia’s edit. Light, bright, and airy, which is part and parcel with what I’ve seen Lydia shoot before 🙂
… and then I looked at @samuelwest ‘s edit. I like how he captures the texture in the snow. It looks soft and inviting, which is something I don’t think I did very well.
… and then I looked back at mine. If I had to do it over, I’d decrease my contrast a bit.
This was a good challenge and I think it’s cool to see how we all approached the same image differently!
Attachments:
@loganlamar, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your process and the analysis of the different edits that have been done! It’s been really fun to see the different ways each person has approached the photo, and the stylistic differences that come out.
Believe it or not, I’m just now looking at your reply for the first time, @loganlamar. Was kinda busy there for a few weeks. 🙂 But I really enjoyed reading your explanations and thoughts on everyone else’s edits too! I really do like seeing the different ways different people edit.
This was very insightful: “If I were taking this picture, I’d probably recompose a smidge (at least for my edit style). I like the tree, but I feel the creek is a lead-in line that keeps derailing my eye to the left side of the frame.” Derailing is the perfect word.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.