Beginner Basic / Generic Processing

[DeadpanDodo]

Trying to get to grips with post processing using lightroom 4 (and also with the free Perfect Photo 9.5).

It is mainly trial and error, and often the results look overdone, and rarely better than the original image.

How do you determine what needs to be done in PP for a particular image? Am I correct in thinking that many people apply a standard set of actions to a whole batch of images once imported, e.g. sharpening, contrast adjustment, etc.? Is there a recognised starting point or preset? Or do people tend to individually adjust on a photo by photo basis?
How do you create a particular processing style?

I've read the Adobe Lr4 pdf guide and started to watch a series of online tutorial videos but I still feel I'm failing to make it click.

All suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Orange Elephant]

Are you shooting in RAW or JPG? If shooting in JPG, there's not a lot you can do apart from cropping & some tweaks here & there.

 

[Phil V]

It might sound trite, but it depends on your starting point and where you want to end up.

Also, how much practice have you had? It took me about 5 years to get comfortable with Photoshop, I'm in my 2nd year of Lightroom and I feel like I'm starting to understand the workflow.

Using 2 different packages will slow you down too. Particularly if one of them is basic and easy to use, you'll lean on it and fail to learn to do things properly.

 

[russellsnr]

Hi, if you get it right in camera then PP should be minimal.

Too much tweaking here and tweaking there just degrades an image.

One of the hardest things I found to do was use the DELETE button on images that where not what I expected and tried to make better only to find that the opposite occurred.

Have a look at

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lRkB7oGl80


I do this in Lightroom but hold my hands up did not no about the third option.

Russ

 

[DeadpanDodo]

Thanks for the replies.

Nick, I've been shooting in JPEG (max resolution and lowest in-camera compression) rather than RAW, not really being able to discern any significant improvement in image quality, at least when viewed on a monitor. I realize that I am throwing away data so may change to RAW. (I am a massive music fan, and everything is ripped to lossless FLAC on my server for distribution around the house for listening, rather than high bitrate lossy MP3s, so I know I should follow the same principals for images too).

Phil, I've only been using LR4 for around a month. I agree that practice is everything, but along with learning classical guitar or learning to drive, bad habits become easily learnt and ingrained and are then difficult to unlearn, hence my desire to follow any established basic principals as a good starting or reference point (if such exists) early in my PP education, before trying further experimentation.

Russell, I agree entirely. Good in-camera images are a necessary starting point. You can't polish a turd (although you can sprinkle it with glitter)! Most of my processed images appear overdone, and I want to get to grips with the principals of subtle enhancement. (Creating more good images to start with would also help)! Will have a look at the video when I get the chance. I've also been viewing some of the tutorials here - http://en.elephorm.com/tuto-lightroom-4-complete-training/lightroom-4-introduction.html?html5

So what 'm asking really, is does anyone as a matter of course always sharpen everything, or add a little vibrancy, increase contrast, etc. on import, and if so, how much, is too much? I'm finding it hard to critically assess. Part of the problem is I think that I expect to be able to easily discern the effect of each change, and the combined results then look synthetic.

 

[chris malcolm]

When shooting in jpeg only, or RAW plus jpeg, hoping the jpeg is all that I'll need, I usually set the camera to low contrast, low sharpening, reduced saturation, and noise reduction low. That gives me the largest scope for post processing changes to the ex-camera jpeg without hitting over processed artefacts.

You must develop your own eye for what you're doing to your images. It takes practice and methodical experiment. One of the first rules i learned was that if i liked the result of a particular change, to pull it back to half of what i liked before carrying on to make other changes. A curb to ever processing enthusiasm.

Most of my images these days get about 10 seconds of post processing. If they turn out to be worth spending more than a minute on I'll usually go back to the RAW.

 

[omens]

I've been using LR5 and have started learning a few things. Like you, I've been watching videos online and been looking at Anthony Morganti and getting a feel for things. One of the first videos to inspire me to start postprocessing was a video on B&H or Adorama where they PP'd some audience photos and it really showed me how much could be achieved with lightroom.

As others have said, it's a very subjective field. One person might feel a certain image is overprocessed and another might feel it could benefit with some tweaks. So far, the only PPing I do is cropping or straightening an image, and maybe adjust exposure/contrast a little. All images get lens-correction applied but this shouldn't be an issue if you're shooting in JPG since the camera has already applied its own PP.

 

[Graham W]

With Lightroom (and I suspect other programs) It's a good rule of thumb to go to the develop module and work your way down the list from top to bottom, making adjustments, or not, as you see fit.
Though straight away I'm going to contradict myself and say don't adjust the exposure slider (one of the first ones) unless you really have to as I find the Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks give a much more subtle and controlled effect.

 

[juggler]

How do you determine what needs to be done in PP for a particular image? Am I correct in thinking that many people apply a standard set of actions to a whole batch of images once imported, e.g. sharpening, contrast adjustment, etc.? Is there a recognised starting point or preset? Or do people tend to individually adjust on a photo by photo basis?

So what 'm asking really, is does anyone as a matter of course always sharpen everything, or add a little vibrancy, increase contrast, etc. on import, and if so, how much, is too much? I'm finding it hard to critically assess. Part of the problem is I think that I expect to be able to easily discern the effect of each change, and the combined results then look synthetic.

Raw files can often look a little flat compared to jpegs as the in-camera jpeg engine tends to add a bit of vibrance, contrast, warmth and sharpening - though this can usually be configured to be more neutral. My default LR import present uses a calibrated camera profile and adds a little vibrance, clarity, contrast noise reduction, sharpening and lens correction though I may back all of these off a fair bit. The only time I do any batch processing is to set white balance on images from a set; something you can't easily to do jpegs.

Hi, if you get it right in camera then PP should be minimal.

That depends very much on the sort of stuff you shoot and the intended audience.

Very often the import preset is all I'll do to an image. However for images which are more than a grab shot then I'll try to plan for processing - I'll often have some idea of what I'm going to do to an image before I release the shutter. In those cases PP can easily take an hour or more between LR, PS and some third party tools, or a might use a LR present or PS action which takes 2 minutes. It's about working out what drew me to take a particular photo in the first place, and then enhancing those qualities.

I used to use LR and Color Efex Pro, no photoshop, but found that it was (a) slow and (b) I could never quite get what I wanted out of it. What sort of stuff do you shoot? And what do you do with the results? If you're serious about processing then you're 90% likely to end up subscribing to photoshop sooner or later.

How do you create a particular processing style?

I assume you mean how do you develop your own style rather than any one particular style?
I could extend the question: how do you develop a photography style (not just a processing style)?

The answer is endless practice. Personal projects really help as you then have to try to create sets of images which work together. I still tend to overdo things; yet I sometimes see very over-done toning on an image, or totally crushed blacks, and it still works.