SOFT CLIPPER Audio Effect in DaVinci Resolve 17 | Audio Effects Series

March 25, 2021 in Before/After Images, Davinci Reslove, Davinci Resolve

Today in DaVinci Resolve we look at the Soft Clipper Audio Effect! When you need to add a limiter that doesn't hit quite so hard, the Soft Clipper might be the effect you are looking for. Let’s jump in!

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3 Tips to Take BETTER Photos of Kids

July 11, 2019 in Before/After Images, Children, General, Photography, Photography for Beginners

3 Tips to help you capture better photos of any children including your own kids! Do you have more tips? Share them in the comments below!

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Texture Slider in Lightroom Classic

May 30, 2019 in Before/After Images, Lightroom

Check out the new Texture slider in Adobe Lightroom! It’s also available in Photoshop under the Camera Raw filter. This is a great tool that I will be using all the time. In this video, we will talk about how and where to use it.

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Damaged Photo Repair & Restoration | Photoshop Tutorial

November 08, 2018 in Before/After Images, Adobe Photoshop, Retouching

Repairing and restoring damaged photos in photoshop may seem like a big project, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ll show you how to get an old photograph into your computer, then repair and fix the image up in photoshop. Keep in mind, some photos will need more work than others. With time and some trial and error, you can achieve a restored photo that looks great.

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Creating an AWESOME Photo in a Boring Location

October 16, 2018 in Before/After Images, General, Lightroom, Photography, Photography for Beginners

Believe it or not, you can get great photos even if you are in a boring location! Making great photos takes practice and thinking outside the box will help you create the awesome photos you want. In this video I’ll show you how to take an awesome picture in a driveway that a small puddle and some leaves in it.

Get out there today, find a boring or ugly location and test your creativity to see what you can come up with!

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Sleeklens Presets and Brushes Review

March 01, 2017 in Before/After Images, Lightroom

Recently I received an opportunity from Sleeklens to try out some of their presets and then provide my experience using them. I was happy to accept the opportunity!

Who is Sleeklens?

Sleeklens is a company that provides workflows for both Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. Included in the Lightroom workflow are various presets and brushes. The Photoshop workflow provides various actions, overlays and textures. Sleeklens also provides various templates for photographers to use. For example, invites, albums, cards, etc.

On to the review!

On to the review! The workflow I received was called the ‘Through The Woods Workflow’. The presets arrived to my inbox by way of a .zip file. I extracted the files contained in the .zip to my desktop. Within the folder, there were several items. Included were PDF guides on how to install the brushes, the presets, terms of service, the brushes and presets themselves, and a recipe list with examples using the workflow.

Although I knew how and where to install the brushes and presets, I found the instructions easy to follow. Since I’m working on a MacBook Pro, I followed the Mac installation instructions. Installation of the files went smoothly with no problems. After installing the brushes and presets, I was excited to give them a try.

When I first started looking at the presets, I liked how they were set up. As you can see in the partial screenshot, the presets were clearly labeled in a logical order in which they could be applied. Similarly, the brushes were named in a manner that logically made sense as to what the brush does.

Now it was time to start looking at some images. First, I selected a few images to try the presets and brushes on. These are images that I had previously processed using Lightroom without any special presets or brushes. I simply processed them until I liked what I saw. I wanted to compare the original unedited image to my Lightroom edit, then compare both to my edit using the Sleeklens presets and brushes. For the Sleeklens edits, I tried to use only their presets and brushes.

Below are some comparisons of various images. I was impressed with how the Sleeklens presets and brushes worked. They made it very easy to have a good starting point on an image. I liked how some of the presets were ‘add ons’ to the previous presets you may have used. I found myself being drawn to the same several presets fairly often. I think that just speaks to the style that I like. However, each person would have their own preference as to what they like. I thought that each of the presets did a great job of providing the desired effect. Additional manual adjustments may still be necessary but, that is true of any preset. I don’t feel that presets are supposed to be a one click solution for developing an image.

As with any presets or plugins, etc. I think I would eventually settle on a few that I prefer. Then I would be able to quickly select my presets and move forward with more specific edits if the image needed it.

I really liked the brushes as well. I found myself not only using the brushes in the ‘brush’ panel, but I also used the brush presets in the radial and graduated filter panels. I think it is great that Lightroom allows you to use select your brush presets in multiple places and it comes in very handy.

Overall I found the Sleeklens presets/brushes intuitive, easy and fun to use. With a few clicks, it is easy to see an image come to life in the way you envisioned it. This is a great product that has the potential to help speed up your workflow. A big thank you to Sleeklens for reaching out to me and letting me try their product! If you are interested in any of the Sleeklens products, visit their website Sleeklens.com and see what they have to offer!

Sample Images

Image #1

Edit using Sleek Lens Presets and Brushes

Image #2

Image #3

Image #4

Image #5

Image #6

Image #7

Before/After using only Sleeklens 'Through the Woods' Presets and Brushes

To see more before/after photos using Sleeklens presets and brushes, jump over to their website Sleeklens.com! You can also find tutorials on how to use any of the Sleeklens products here: https://sleeklens.com/lightroom-tutorials/.

How to Make a Bad Image Look Awesome

June 25, 2014 in Before/After Images, Lightroom, Photography, Retouching

How many times have you looked at an image you took and thought it was no good? By capturing your photos in RAW format, it is possible to recover your photo using Adobe Lightroom and turn it into something awesome.

At first glance, I figured this file was no good. I started playing with it just to see what I could get out of it. It’s not as hard as you might think to bring back images that appear to be no good. I think the results that came out of this photo are great.

Remember that your camera can’t always capture what you envision in your mind when you take the photograph. The post processing you can do to an image plays a big part in the creative process and helps your image to reach the potential you have pictured in your mind.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below! Be sure to check out the rest of my YouTube channel.

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Thanks for watching!

How to Blend Composite Images

June 09, 2014 in Landscape Architecture, Adobe Photoshop, Before/After Images

Here is a great tip that helps blend images together when making a composite. Many times when you are combining different images into one composite, it is obvious that the images were not originally together. There are many different techniques to help blend images together and this is just one of the final additions I like to make to composites.

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Twilight Sky - Before/After

June 04, 2014 in Before/After Images, Lightroom, Photography

Have you ever seen the sky have brilliant blues, purples, pinks, oranges and reds? Many times when we try to photograph these beautiful skies, the camera does not capture the colors as vividly as we see them with our own eyes. In this tutorial using Adobe Lightroom, I’ll show you how you can bring out the amazing colors that you know were there. Having your camera set to save images in RAW format instead of JPG will help preserve the colors and detail that you will be able to enhance in Lightroom.

One thing to note here is that these settings are what worked for this image and what I thought looked best. When I took the photograph I had an idea in my mind what I wanted the final result to be. The key thing to remember here is that you need to experiment with the sliders and settings to find what you like and what works for your image. With this in mind, lets get started!

Step 1

The first thing to do with this image is to drop the temperature and raise the tint. This will help make the blue look more blue and the hint of pink look more pink.

Step 2

Increase the exposure to .75 and the contrast to 75. I want the trees to be a black silhouette against the gradient in the sky.

Step 3

Adjust the Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks. The image to the right shows the settings I used. These settings will vary based on your image and the effect your going for.

Step 4

Increase Clarity. I like to use Clarity on landscape shots. I think it helps bring out details and increase the contrast a bit. Be sure not to over do it with the clarity, unless of course that is the look you’re going for. Increase the saturation. I typically use vibrance when there are people in the image and saturation for landscape images.

Step 5

Under ToneCurve I changed the curve to a medium contrast. I want to make sure the trees are black against the sky.

Step 6

In the HSL panel, I used the target adjustment tool to modify the saturation of the purples. This enhances the pink and purple colors of the sky.

Step 7

Add sharpening. The sharpening settings I used are Amount: 86, Radius: 1.4, Detail: 52, and Masking: 64. Adjust the masking as you need. If you hold down the Opt. or Alt. key while clicking on the masking slider, you will see a preview of the areas that are being sharpened in white.

Hold Opt. or Alt. while adjusting the Masking slider to see the areas that will be sharpened in white.

Step 8

Under Lens Corrections, I chose Remove Chromatic Aberrations to take care of some purple fringing around the trees.

Step 9

Add a Post-Crop Vignette. I used an amount of 38 and changed the feather to 100.

The image is complete! To see a before/after of your image, make sure you are in the Develop Module in Lightroom and press the ‘\’ key. This will toggle between before and after images.

If you have any questions or would like to learn other techniques in Lightroom, please leave a comment below. Thanks for watching and reading this tutorial!

Before Image (left) and After Image (right).

Before/After - Dandelion in a Bubble

May 22, 2014 in Before/After Images, Photography, Lightroom

In this tutorial I’ll show you my post processing workflow for this dandelion in a bubble image. I used Adobe Lightroom and Perfect Effects 8 for the post processing of this image. In my opinion Perfect Effects is a great tool to use in combination with Lightroom.

The image was taken with my Canon 60D using the 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS lens at 120mm. Camera settings in manual mode were, 1/250 sec at f8.0, ISO 400. It was a cloudy overcast morning which created a nice diffuse light.

Step 1

Bring the image into Adobe Lightroom.

Step 2

Make some global adjustments in Lightroom. Here I adjusted the exposure, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks. I did not modify the contrast because I knew I wanted to use the dynamic contrast filter in Perfect Effects. With these adjustments complete, I brought the image over into Perfect Effects by going to File – Plug-in Extras – Perfect Effects 8.

Step 3

Once the image is in Perfect Effects I started adding Filter Layers. First, I added a Dynamic Contrast - Natural layer. Under the Filter Options and Detail, I adjusted the settings as follows: Small = 30, Medium = 20, Large = 0.

Step 4

Add a new layer to the Filter Stack. Choose Color Enhancer – Green Enhancer. Using the mask tool, place a mask on top of the yellow dandelion so the effect is not applied to the flower. The green is now a little to much, so reduce the layer opacity to 50%.

Step 5

Add a new layer to the Filter Stack. Choose Sunshine – Glow. Reduce the layer opacity to 20%. Copy the layer mask from the previous ‘Color Enhancer’ layer by using Ctrl + click to drag the mask to the current layer.

Step 6

Add a new layer to the Filter Stack. Choose Sharpening – Amazing Detail Finder. Using the masking bush, mask out the background and foreground of the image. To see where you are masking, press Ctrl + M. Since these areas are out of focus to begin with, they do not need to be sharpened.

Step 7

Add a new layer to the Filter Stack. Choose Vignette – Big Softy. Reduce the layer opacity to 65%.

Step 8

Click Apply to apply the filters and bring the image back into Lightroom.

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Thanks for watching!

How to Enlarge a Low-Res Image for Print

May 20, 2014 in Before/After Images, Adobe Photoshop, Photography

Has there ever been a time when you had a low resolution image you want to print? Maybe a screenshot of something or an image where the quality just wasn't there? In this tutorial I'll show you one way you can modify an image and enlarge it to be printed as an 8x10. It only takes a few minutes and a couple of steps. One quick note, I did not create the original image used in this tutorial - I'm not sure who did, but I have seen the image used in various places on the web.

Video Summary

This particular image was at a resolution of 72 ppi and approximately 5.5" x 6.5". Our goal was to modify this image so it could be printed as an 8x10. When preparing images for print, it’s important to keep in mind that your file resolution should be a minimum of 240 ppi to get a high quality print. In this case I wanted to use 300 ppi.

Step 1

Open image. Unlock background layer by double clicking on the LOCK icon on the layer. Resize the image by going to Image >Image Size. Then change the resolution to 300. Click OK

Step 2

Change canvas size to 8x10 by going to Image > Canvas Size. Use 8 for the width and 10 for the height. Click OK.

Step 3

Using Free Transform (cmd + T), resize the image so it is as large as it can be without cutting off any of the edges. Notice we have a small area on the bottom and side that we will need to fill in.

Step 4

Extract the text. Select the Magic Wand tool. Change sample size to 3 by 3, and tolarance to 12. Select a black portion of the text. Right click and select ‘Similar’. If there are more pixels to be selected within the text, select Similar again. Right click in the selection and select Make Work Path. For the tolerance, use 2.0. The text and graphics will be extracted as a path and can be found in the Paths panel.

Step 5

Blur the background layer to remove pixilation. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Adjust the blur to your liking. I used a 4 pixel blur.

Step 6

Fill in the missing areas on the bottom and right hand side. Use the Marquee tool to select the blank areas. Be sure to overlap the surrounding pixels so Photoshop knows what to fill the area in with. After making the selection press Shift + Delete to bring up the Fill dialog box. Choose Content-Aware and click OK. Blend further if necessary.

Step 7

Add text back on top of image. Create a new blank layer labeled Text. Go into the Paths panel and highlight the work path that was created. Right click and select Fill Path. Use Black as the color for fill.

Step 8

Add stroke around text. First setup your brush settings – use a hard edge brush and a width of 8 pixels in this case. Right click on the text Path again and select Stroke. Use the Brush as the tool to stroke the path with.

Step 9

Increase Contrast. Create a new curves adjustment layer. Select preset called ‘Medium Contrast’.

Step 10

Combine all layers and Sharpen. Combine all layers using Shift + Option + CMD + E. To sharpen the image go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. Use an amount of 200 and leave the rest of the settings as they are. You’re Done!

Step 11

Send out for print, the image is complete! The image is now 8x10 with a resolution of 300 ppi and will make a great print.

Thank you for watching!

Before/After Image Processing - Bleeding Hearts

May 13, 2014 in Before/After Images, Lightroom

Before - RAW File Out of Camera, Canon 60D, 50mm f/1.4, 1/500 sec at f/2.0, ISO 200 — *Before - RAW File Out of Camera,* Canon 60D, 50mm f/1.4, 1/500 sec at f/2.0, ISO 200

After - Image Processed Using Adobe Lightroom & onOne Perfect Effects 8.                                                … — *After -* Image Processed Using Adobe Lightroom & onOne Perfect Effects 8.

Ever have a chance to photograph a bleeding heart? These are awesome plants! The plants are beautiful when in bloom and I couldn't help but photograph this one. This is a quick before/after tutorial to show you how I arrived at my final image. After taking a few shots of this plant, I liked this one the best so lets get started!

Camera Setup & Settings

It was an overcast day with full cloud cover, just before a rain storm. Cloudy days provide great light for photographs because the clouds cause the sky to act like a big soft box giving off nice even and diffuse light. This image was shot with the Canon 60D using a 50mm f/1.4 lens. The settings I used to create the image were 1/500 second at f/2.0, and and ISO of 200. Every image I shoot is in RAW format. I always recommend using RAW format since this will give you the highest quality and the best ability to modify images down the road if necessary.

Lightroom

The first thing I did with this image was to bring the RAW file into Adobe Lightroom 5. Next, I went into the develop module and applied some general adjustments to the image. Starting at the top of the Basic panel, I worked my way down. Exposure was increased by +.20 to help brighten the bleeding hearts a bit. I reduced the contrast a because I love the dynamic contrast feature in Perfect Effects 8. I'll use the dynamic contrast filter later on to bring back contrast in the image. I pulled back on the highlights to insure there was no detail lost in the bottom section of the flowers. Shadows were increased a bit to help bring out the entire flower. Whites and blacks were adjusted a bit to help round out the image.

Quick Tip:

When adjusting Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks, you can hold the option key on Mac and alt. key on a PC to show you the clipping points for each slider. It's helpful in determining how much of each slider you use.

Perfect Effects

With these few global adjustments made, I'm now ready to bring the file over into Perfect Effects. In Lightroom go to File > Plug-in Extras > Perfect Effects 8.

Once the image is opened in Perfect Effects, The first filter layer I'm going to add is Dynamic Contrast - Natural. There are a few modifications I want to make on the Dynamic Contrast layer. On the right side of the window, under Filter Options, there is a section called 'Detail'. Here you have the ability to adjust how the Dynamic Contrast is applied to the image. 'Small' makes contrast adjustments to all of the small or fine details within the image. I used a setting if 10. Next, 'Medium' effects the contrast of the medium or mid size-details within the picture. Most of the areas I want to see more contrast in are within the medium range. Therefore I used a setting of 25 to get the amount of contrast I liked without over doing it. 'Large' effects the larger areas and textures in your image. Here I don't want to add much contrast to the background, so I use a setting of 2. You might be thinking - how do I know what settings to use? The best thing to do is play with the sliders and see what you like. Experimentation is the best way to see how things work and are affected by different settings.

Perfect Effects 8 - Bleeding Hearts Image with Dynamic Contrast Applied.

Next, add 2 new filter layers by clicking the '+' in the filter layer stack. I want to enhance the color of the image, so I'm going go to the Filters on the left side of the window, then find 'Color Enhancer'. For the first filter layer, lets choose 'Increase Color'. Reduce the layer opacity to 40% so the effect is not over done. On the next filter layer, again go to 'Color Enhancer' and choose 'Red Enhancer' to help bring out the magenta in the bleeding hearts. Reduce the layer opacity to 20%. I also made some adjustments in the filter options of the 'Red Enhancer' layer. Under 'Color Range' I increased the saturation of both Magenta and Green just a touch to help it all pop a little more.

Perfect Effects 8 - Color Enhancer Filters

The next adjustment is to add a 'Sunshine Filter'. The sunshine filter really helps warm everything up and gives it a slight glow. It helps convey a warm, happy feeling through the image.

Perfect Effects_Sunshine_Bleeding Hearts

Next we need to apply some sharpening to the image to help tighten everything up. To do this, add a new layer in the Filter Stack. Then, look under 'Sharpening' in the Filters list on the left hand side. Select 'Amazing Detail Finder'. Reduce the layer opacity to 90%. Finally I think a vignette will finish off this image nicely. Again, add a new layer in the Filter Stack. Choose 'Vignette', then select 'Subtle'. Now the image is complete. Click 'Apply' at the bottom right hand side of the window and the filters will be applied and brought back into Lightroom.

I hope this tutorial helps you to further understand how Adobe Lightroom and onOne's Perfect Effects can be used together to create great images. If you have any questions, leave a comment below. Thanks!

Before/After Image Processing - Old School Gas Pump

May 06, 2014 in Before/After Images

Recently I was looking through some old images and I came across the image below. It is a photograph of an 'old school gas pump' in front of a vintage hardware store. I liked the photograph, but I thought it looked flat, dull and needed some cleaning up. The photograph was taken in Lancaster Pennsylvania back in 2008.

Canon Powershot A80, 7.8mm, 1/500 sec at F/5.0, ISO 50

Step One

First, some background information on this photograph - it was taken with a Canon Powershot A80. Yes a point and shoot camera! Regardless of the kind of camera you use, great images can be made with any camera. You just have to put your mind to it and be creative.

Adjustments made in Adobe Lightroom's 'Basic' panel

After finding this image, the first thing I did was to bring it into Adobe Lightroom. As I've mentioned, I keep all of my images in Lightroom. The first thing I did with the image was to go into the Develop module and make some global adjustments. I increased the contrast, reduced the highlights, opened up the shadows, subtly reduced the whites and increased the blacks. I also added a hint of clarity to help tighten everything up a bit. Be careful with the clarity sliders. Drastically increasing the clarity can create an unrealistic looking image. Of course there are always exceptions - for example if you are trying to go for an HDR look for your image, the clarity slider will help you achieve that look.

Image after being processed in Lightroom

Screen Shot 2014-05-04 at 10.03.26 PM.png

Step 2

After some quick global adjustments in Lightroom, it's time to bring the image over to Adobe Photoshop for some retouching and enhancements. I brought the image over to Photoshop using the Cmd + E shortcut. You can also select the image, go to the menu bar and select Photo > Edit In > Edit In Adobe Photoshop CC (or the version you have).

First I created a new layer above the background layer titled 'Retouching'. I went through the entire image and removed all of the distractions, wires, pavement markings, imperfections in the gas pump, and shadows I didn't want to see.

Image with Lightroom adjustments in Photoshop.  Yellow arrows indicate the major areas to be retouched. — Image with Lightroom adjustments in Photoshop. Yellow arrows indicate the major areas to be retouched.

Image in Photoshop after retouching is complete.

Step 3

Next, I combine the background image and the retouching layer using Shift + Opt + Cmd + E on the Mac (Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E on a PC). This shortcut makes a new flattened layer of all the layers below it.

Step 4

The next thing I'd like to do is make some adjustments to help the overall contrast of the image. I added a curves adjustment layer and created a slight 'S' curve to help darken the shadows a bit and lighten the highlights a little. Next I added an additional curves adjustments layer to open the shadows up just a little bit.

Step 5

After the curves adjustment layers, I added a new layer to do some dodging & burning. The layer was filled with 50% gray and set to the Soft Light layer blend mode. By using the Soft Light blend mode, the gray will be invisible. However, any areas that are dodged and burned will appear. I then used the dodge and burn tools on that layer to darken and lighten various areas of the photo. This helps bring back some depth into the image. After the dodging and burning is complete, I lowered the layer opacity to 55%.

Step 6

Once I was finished with dodging and burning, I added a gradient map adjustment layer. I reduced the gradient map adjustment layer opacity to 10% and changed the blend mode to Soft Light. I felt that it added a little more contrast/punch to the image and gave it that little extra boost.

Step 7

At this point, I felt the image process and retouching were complete. The second to last step was to add some sharpening to the image. To do this, I used the High Pass filter. First, create a merged layer using Sift + Opt + Cmd + E on a Mac. Next, go to Filter > Other > High Pass to bring up the High Pass filter window. I used 1.5 pixels for the radius size, but you can play with different amounts to see what works for your image. Click OK. The layer blend mode should be set to either Overlay, Soft Light or Hard Light. Each blend mode will give you a varying amount of intensity of the High Pass layer. In this case, I chose Hard Light and reduced the opacity to 50%.

Step 8

Finally to complete the image, I added a Post Crop Vignette. To do this, I again merged all the layers together using Shift + Opt + Cmd + E, then went to Filter > Camera Raw Filter. I then went to the Effects panel and added the vignette. With the vignette added, the image is complete. I simply saved it and closed it to bring it back into Lightroom. Below is the final image I ended up with. Overall I am happy with the end result.

Before/After Image Processing - Train Car

April 24, 2014 in Before/After Images

Post Processing

Canon 60D:  1/250th @ F5.0, ISO 800                            Out of Camera Raw File — Canon 60D: 1/250th @ F5.0, ISO 800 Out of Camera Raw File

Many images can benefit from some general retouching and color enhancing. When shooting in RAW format, it is always necessary for some level of post processing. Above is an example of a photograph I shot in the winter of 2012. The image was shot with my Canon 60D with an 18-135 Kit lens. On the left you see the original RAW file as it came out of the camera. To the right, you see the same photograph processed in Adobe Lightroom. Modifications made in Lightroom include adjusting contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, a touch more vibrance and lens corrections.

After making some global adjustments in Lightroom, I used Cmd+E on the Mac to take the image over to Adobe Photoshop for some retouching. In this case, I removed the people, the car and evergreen tree from the photograph. I also had to reconstruct the train rail where the people were removed. I wanted the focus of the photograph to be the old rustic train car and I felt the items I removed were distractions to my overall vision for this image. The tools of choice in Photoshop were the clone tool, healing brush, layer masks and adjustment layers. With the retouching work in Photoshop complete, I saved and closed the file, which brings it back into Lightroom.

Now that I essentially had the image I wanted, it is time for some finishing touches. I have been using onOne Software's Perfect Effects 8 and I have found it to be a great tool. To bring the image from Lightroom into Perfect Effects, in Lightroom go to File > Plug-in Extras > Perfect Effects 8. I then added some dynamic contrast, color enhancers, and sharpening. Once I was happy with the final product, I applied the settings and sent the image back to Lightroom. Below is the final image after all of the processing is complete. Many times the image I see in my mind when I press the shutter button is not what comes straight out of the camera. With the help of some great tools, the image in my mind becomes a reality.

Final image after being processed through onOne's Perfect Effects 8.

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