Lightroom is a very intuitive program and is well suited for both beginning and advanced photo editing. Once you have the basics down in Lightroom and learn to see in your photo editing, it’s time to branch out and use some tools that will take your photography to the next level.
The secret to creating great images in Lightroom is, number one, getting it right in camera. (or as close as possible). I prefer to see a solid histogram that shows that there is information in both the highlights and the shadows of the image. That will make your post processing job a whole lot easier.
Here are some examples of Histograms:
This is an example of a balanced histogram. Notice there are no spikes on either the left wall or the right wall of the graph. If there was a spike flat on the left wall, it would mean that there was no information in the dark areas or shadows in the image. If there is no information, you are not able to bring up the darkest areas in post processing. It looks like this image is too dark, but the histogram is telling us something different.
If your histogram is balanced, you will have much more opportunity to create beautiful imagery rather than fight with an over exposed or under exposed area in post processing.
Here’s another example of the first image we looked at after image editing was applied in Lightroom. Quite a difference!
Balanced histogram allows you to bring up the shadows in an image.
The image above is the edited version of the first image in this article. Notice how the histogram has shifted over from the darkest areas of the graph and there are no “blown out” or underexposed areas. With some minor adjustments of bringing up the shadows, and bringing down the highlights, this image changed considerably and went from a “throw out” to a an interesting piece.
Here’s another histogram example:
Here’s an example of an underexposed histogram
The example of above is an underexposed histogram. Notice the “spike” on the left wall showing there is no information in the darkest areas of the image. It’s easy to see what the graph is telling you if you look at the dark rocks in the image.
This shows you the benefit of watching your histogram when you are shooting. If the image seems to dark or too light, and you watch your histogram, you will have a good idea of the potential of the picture when it comes to post processing down the line. It’s always important when you are composing a picture to think about what you might do with it in post processing. Then you are intentionally creating an image, not just a snap shot.
Image capture and post processing go hand in hand when you are shooting. Learn how to make the best of your camera and the tools you have available to you!
Learn more tricks to effective photo editing and work flow with my upcoming Lightroom Quick Start or Lightroom presets class.
BPSOP Instructor – Holly Higbee-Jansen
Holly Higbee-Jansen is photographer, trainer, blogger, and workshop leader who enjoys teaching and the creative process. Her passions include teaching photography workshops in beautiful locations in California, Iceland, Costa Rica and the American West with her husband Mark. Holly also teaches online classes on Lightroom, Photoshop and photographic technique. Get Holly’s Free E-Book on “Landscape Photography and the Light“ and find out about her newest workshops at Jansen Photo Expeditions.com.
Reach Holly by email at: [email protected] and read her blog at: JansenPhotoExpeditions.com/Blog
Holly Teaches:
iPhone Photography
In this class, we will introduce you to the magic of iPhone photography using several shooting and editing apps that will give you the ability to make your pictures sing in a fun and easy way.You will learn how to crop, change saturation, brightness and affect the overall look of your pictures with HDR, drama and grunge filters and other techniques. You will be amazed at the simple and effective methods.
Do you want to learn to create images that show the beauty of the scene you saw when you took the photograph? Do you want to learn the other essential side of digital photography, photo editing and get up to speed quickly?
This course is designed to get you up and running FAST in this incredibly powerful program. In this two week information packed class, you will learn how to import, organize and perform simple and effective editing processes that will let you produce beautiful adjustments to your pictures.
Lightroom Presets: Taking Your Photos from Good to Great
In this two week class, we will show you how to create your own presets to use over and over and create your own signature style. You will also learn to use third party presets to help with your creativity and enhance your editing power. You will receive detailed information on the website page each week, as well as tutorial videos to help you understand the course material.
For a complete list of Holly’s current workshops go to:
Jansen Photo Expeditions – JansenPhotoExpeditions.com
Holly’s Blog: http://jansenphotoexpeditions.com/blog
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Jansenphotoexpeditions
Instagram – http://instagram.com/photographyexplorations
YouTube – youtube.com/c/Jansenphotoexpeditions
Google+ – https://plus.google.com/+jansenphotoexpeditions
500px – https://500px.com/hhjphoto
