DaVinci Resolve 16 Workflow for Beginners

July 02, 2020 in Davinci Reslove, Davinci Resolve

Looking to set up your DaVinci Resolve 16 Workflow? With so much to learn in DaVinci Resolve 16 as a Beginner, it's easy to miss a few simple steps to help set you up for success. In this video, I'm going to share a high level view of my DaVinci Resolve 16 Workflow, including where I store my files, the folder structure I use, how to make sure you never loose any work, and backing up your projects both locally and offsite. My goal is to help set you up for success in DaVinci Resolve 16!

CONTENTS:

0:00 Get Started!
0:48 Media File Organization, Storage and Folder Structure
4:47 Database File Location
5:32 Never Loose Work!
5:47 Auto Save and Auto Backup
6:21 Archiving and Backing Up Media
7:28 Backing Up Computer
8:19 Offsite Backups

HARD DRIVES Samsung T5 SSD: https://geni.us/MbF5 (Amazon)
Drobo 5DT: https://geni.us/Dea6 (Amazon) and https://www.drobo.com/
BACKBLAZE Online Backups: https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup.html#af9v77

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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/.

Lightroom Quick Tip - Star Ratings & Pick Flags

August 07, 2014 in Lightroom, Photography

We all face the challenge of sorting through our images to find the keepers, the throwaways, and the best of the best. Personally I use both star ratings and ‘pick’ flags to sort my images. This tutorial is a quick tip on how to speed up your workflow when rating and picking images. You might only save a small amount of time for each image you review, but over several hundred or several thousand images, the time will add up.

Whenever possible, it helps to have Lightroom do the work for you. In this case, we will make Lightroom auto advance to the next image after we apply the star rating or flag the image as a pick. The first thing I do is to place all of my unrated images into one collection or folder. While in the Library module, I make the first image full screen within Lightroom (or complete full screen by pressing the ‘F’ key in Lightroom 5). This will allow you to see the image at a large size so you can make a good decision as to how you want to rate the image. Next, make sure the caps lock is turned on. By turning on the caps lock, Lightroom knows that it should automatically advance to the next image any time a rating is applied to the current image. Once caps lock is on, use the number keys 1 through 5 to rate the images or press ‘P’ to flag the image as a pick.

I rate all of my images with stars to help keep track of the quality of my images. There is no right or wrong way to do it here, you need to find out what works for you. Here is my rating system:

1 star = picture is no good, trash

2 stars = not usable other than for some kind of abstract background, image not in focus

3 stars = image in focus, but nothing special, more of a snapshot, sometimes deliverable depending on client and intent of photographs

4 stars = image in focus, good composition, interesting etc., deliverable image

5 stars = fantastic image, one of my favorites, deliverable image

I use a ‘Pick’ flag for all images that I want to deliver to a client, print, post on my website or blog, etc.

After you initially review your images and rate them, it’s a good idea to revisit the images after a few days to see if you have changed your mind on any of the ratings you choose. This can be a quick look through all of the images again. You may see the hidden potential in an image that you did not notice the first time you reviewed the image.

Turning on the caps lock allows Lightroom to auto advance to the next image which will save you time and energy when reviewing your photographs. By using a streamlined review process for your images, you will become more efficient in post processing as well as be able to spend more time working on the best images from your photoshoot.

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!

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!

Lightroom 5 - Creating Metadata Presets

May 09, 2014 in Lightroom

Metadata Presets

Setting up a metadata preset in Adobe Lightroom 5 is not only a timesaver, but it allows you to easily apply additional metadata information to any image file. What is metadata? Metadata is all of the information associated with your photograph. For example, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, location, capture date/time and more. Creating a preset is easy and only takes a few steps.

In the Library Module, select an image. Look on the right hand side of the screen for a tab titled ‘Metadata’. Expand the tab. Here you see all of the information that is associated with your images. Take a look through all of the fields and fill out the ones that you would like to apply to your images. Generally, the metadata information that I add includes my name, address, email, website and copyright information. Once you have your information filled out you are ready to save it as a preset.

Go to the top of the Edit Metadata Presets dialog box you’ll see the word ‘Preset’. Click the pulldown menu and select ‘save current settings as new preset…’. Name the preset and click ok.

Now your metadata preset is all set up and ready to be used. You can apply the preset on your images as you import them into Lightroom or to images that are already in your Lightroom library.

Thanks for watching!

Lightroom 5 - Creating Import Presets

May 08, 2014 in Lightroom

Looking to speed up your Lightroom workflow? Creating import presets is going to help you do that. Import presets allow you to make all of the choices about how to import your images and where to store them and then save those settings as a preset. Each time you import photos simply select your preset and all of your settings are applied automatically! It’s a great time saver and prevents you from having to make all of the same choices and selections each time you import photos. If you have any questions about setting up import presets in Adobe Lightroom, leave me a comment.

Thanks for watching!

DaVinci Resolve 16 Workflow for Beginners

Sleeklens Presets and Brushes Review

Who is Sleeklens?

On to the review!

Sample Images

Image #1

Image #2

Image #3

Image #4

Image #5

Image #6

Image #7

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

Lightroom Quick Tip - Star Ratings & Pick Flags

Twilight Sky - Before/After

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Before/After - Dandelion in a Bubble

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Lightroom 5 - Creating Metadata Presets

Metadata Presets

Lightroom 5 - Creating Import Presets

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