What I Am Working On: Cropping and Layers

The file I was working with this morning illustrates how edits can really change a photo, and one of the most powerful tools is the cropping tool:

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/377sec 4.2mm

This first edit was created in the app Hipstamatic using the randomize feature which means that the filters were chosen for me. The second edit was also created in Hipstamatic, but I chose the various filters and it was the version that I added to my Instagram feed:

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Busy. #bee #flowers #thingsiseeonmywalks

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jun 17, 2020 at 7:27am PDT

I go back and forth between these two and I think there are elements to both that I like but that neither is exactly right. This morning’s edit which I created using the original file in Luminar 3 is this one:

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/377sec 4.2mm

This edit keeps the original ratio of the photograph and is more top-heavy than the square version. When I was working on this edit, the crop was the second edit in my workflow. I started with basic edits like luminosity and adjusting the blacks and whites. Then on a separate layer, I did the crop. Then on an additional layer, I added then tweaked a custom Luminar look that I have saved as a preset. It turned out that when I got to that point, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the crop. Because the crop was on its own layer, it was easy to click on and edit just that layer.

So, there are two important points here I think, first is that the crop set to different ratios can really change the photo’s story and second that putting the crop on its own layer can make your editing process much easier.

Your thoughts on cropping in general or in this specific case are welcome below. This post was inspired by the Lens Artist Challenge, One Single Flower.

Cheers!

What I Am Working On: The Road Ahead

So, technically it’s not a road, it’s a path. Also, I’m not exactly on it:

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/50sec 4.2mm

But I do love this spot. A green space in the middle of the city with such gorgeous trees, what’s not to love? I’ve been walking through this park a lot in the last week, it helps me clear my head a bit. There’s a lot going on in the world and in my life. Being near this path reminds me that it is actually about the journey, it’s not important that I don’t have all the details worked out yet. The photo though, I like it, so I edited it a bit:

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/50sec 4.2mm

First was the crop, it helps to bring the path and the trees a bit more into focus. I’ve added a custom vintage film look that I created within Luminar. To me, that settles the image a bit more into the way this setting lives in my mind. It’s a bit more rich and deep in my mind than in real life. That’s me bringing my journey on the path along and placing it in the photo.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome below. This post was written in response to the Len-Artists Photo Challenge, Long and Winding Road.

Cheers!

 

What I Am Working On: Interpretation

While a good majority of my photography is about recording a scene and then editing to show what I saw, it is fun also to interpret a scene. That was the case when I shot this photo at the Rembrandtplein in Amsterdam in the Fall of 2016:

ISO 200 f/2.7 1/200sec 4.3mm

This photo gives you an idea of what the bronze statues around Rembrandt’s statue look like. They are an interpretation and tribute to his painting The Night Watch. I took the first photo as a way of remembering the overall scene. Then I took this photo:

ISO 200 f/2.7 1/250sec 4.3mm

It was a more detailed shot of the statues, as I found their texture to be very interesting. I knew I wanted a few things out of my interpretation. The first was to keep that detail of the bronze as an important element. The second was to use the terribly blown out sky in a creative way:

ISO 200 f/2.7 1/250sec 4.3mm

An adjustment to the detail slider helped bring the clarity I wanted. I used the “small details” only. The Luminar Look, Enigma, gave me the glowing sky I wanted.

Now a word about cropping. The first crop was done in-camera. That was the conscious step of photographing the whole scene and then asking myself what I found most interesting about what was in front of me and then taking a photo of that. That is how the second photo came to be. I often approach photography this way. Particularly when I travel, I find this a nice exercise in being in the moment. It makes for nice memories too, when I looked at these original files this morning, I could remember this moment. The second crop was done during the editing process, that Booking.com building is pretty distracting. When the crop didn’t remove it entirely, I used the clone and stamp tool to take the rest of it out.

The last edit was to set a vignette with the center on the statue. It’s a pretty subtle vignette, particularly compared to some of the other, more drastic, edits.  A bit of a final nudge.

Your thoughts, comments, or questions about my method or the edits are welcome below.

Cheers!

Added to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Cropping the Shot.

What I Am Working On: Subtle Edits

This photo was taken on July 24, 2016. A lovely summer day at the White Cliffs of Dover:

ISO 160 f/6.3 1/600sec 50mm

I pulled it out to edit it this morning. I love this landscape, I find it timeless and calming. I wanted to hang on to those feelings when it came to the edit. What I find interesting is that sometimes subtle edits can be pretty complex behind the scenes. My final edit below has six layers. Separating out edits onto different layers is something that I do frequently particularly with photos like this. The logic behind that being that if there is a particular piece of editing, say the clarity, that was working but now isn’t in combination with other edits applied, it is easier to go back and make that single adjustment if it’s on its own layer. I’ve added the Luminar Look, Touch of Gold Faded, onto this file.  I liked the idea of that particular look, but it was too strong for this particular image so I altered the sliders within that look to something more subtle. That is the beauty of presets, they can be a really helpful starting point.

The edited version:

ISO 160 f/6.3 1/600sec 50mm

Your thoughts or questions are welcome below.

Added to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, All Wet.

Cheers!

What I Am Working On: Whatever it is, It’s all at Home

I look through a fair number of blogs, most are in some way related to photography, but most photographers have other aspects of their lives. Ingrid, over at Live Laugh RV, posted about coffee cake and an eagle. I gave the coffee cake recipe a try, a photo of the result is below. The recipe is here.

ISO 100 f/2.2 1/33sec 4.2mm

Ingrid called her post the “Coffee Cake Debacle” and I could call this editing attempt a bit of a debacle as well. The photo has the Luminar Look, Food Photo Enhancer, added to it. With the look added, the edit was a mess, the little editing voice in my head going, “as if” to the original outcome. With the Clarity taken out and the Vignette tweaked, the edit was much better.

The coffee cake turned out quite nicely, I’ll be hanging on to the recipe.

The Instagram version is here:

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My take on @livelaughrv Blueberry Crumb Coffee Cake. Click over to check out her lovely IG feed, then check her latest blog post for the recipe. #baking

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Apr 30, 2020 at 4:39am PDT

Added to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, At Home.

Serengeti Morning

I was working on some of my Tanzania photos this past week as part of a project I’m putting together with my oldest child. One of our safari drives in the Serengeti was an early morning one that allowed me to take a few sunrise photos. I’ve never really taken a lot of sunrise photos and I think that shows when you compare them with other types of photos that I have taken. This file below though is one that I just revisited and reprocessed that I was pretty happy with:

ISO 2500 f/14 1/60sec 22mm

To me, one of the biggest challenges of sunrise photos is that the real thing is pretty spectacular and that can be hard to capture in camera. I’ll keep working at it though! This particular file was taken in December 2017 with a Canon 50D and a wide-angle lens. Another photo that I processed this week with the same set-up and for this same process I posted here.

Added to Lens Artist Photo Challenge, Morning. This made for a great challenge topic for me this week.

Cheers!

Wordless Wednesday: Simplicity

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/1570sec 4.2mm

Added to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Simplicity.

Cheers!

Even At A Distance

It was almost two years ago that I took this photo:

ISO 200 f/16 1/250sec 21mm

Taken on a drive along the Normandy Coast, this landscape still resides in my mind as one of the more beautiful places I have ever been. I pulled out this file yesterday and this morning created an interpretation of it:

ISO 200 f/16 1/250sec 21mm

I started with some basic edits that included straightening it a bit while I was cropping. I removed some dust spots with a combination of the erase and clone and stamp tools. I added the Luminar Look, Soft and Dreamy Faded. Within that look, which is applied at 100%, I made some adjustments to the filters. On a separate layer I then applied the Orton Effect filter and a vignette.

Your thoughts or questions about the edit are welcome below.

Cheers!

Added to the Lens-Artists Challenge, Distance.

Made with Luminar: A River Runs Through It

This photo, taken from the grounds of Chateau Gaillard, shows the Seine River in the French countryside. It was taken with my iPhone:

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/538sec 4.2mm

A beautiful spot on a beautiful day. I kept the edits on this photo pretty basic:

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/538sec 4.2mm

I did a small crop and other basics with whites and blacks and the detail enhancer slider. I’ve then added the Luminar Look, Sleepy Forest and set that to 58%. Your thoughts on the edit are welcome below and this post has been added to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, A River Runs Through It.

The Made with Luminar Series

This image is part of a project I am calling Made with Luminar. What the images in this series have in common is the software used to edit them, Luminar 3. As with my usual blog posts particulars of the camera settings can be found in the caption below the image. I’ll then explain what other filters and edits have been applied, often mentioning what layer and therefore order that they were applied. The text of these posts includes any Luminar “Looks” that have been applied to the photo. Each look is a series of presets that are applied to the photo. Where applicable I will mention what changes I have made to any of the looks. A full explanation of looks is available here on their website, https://skylum.com/luminar/user-guides/chapter-14-working-with-luminar-looks

You can assume basic edits have been applied. My most common edits are cropping, detail enhancement, and vignette. Specific questions or thoughts on the image are welcome in the comment section below.

What I Am Working On: Two Tools, One Task

I was working on this file:

ISO 320 f/11 1/320sec 24mm

I had done a few steps of basic editing when I saw the flag peeking out from behind the grave marker. Interesting how sometimes details like this can be missed at first. I wanted to remove it from my final edit. The really good news is that removing objects from photos has gotten easier and much more natural-looking over the years. In this case, I used both the erase and clone and stamp tools in Luminar. I find the erase tool is good for removal and clone and stamp works well for the clean up of any mess the eraser leaves behind. I would also suggest that you do work like this on the biggest screen you have and make use of the zoom tool as well so that you can get a really good look at what you are doing. The final edit is this one:

ISO 320 f/11 1/320sec 24mm

This final edit has the Luminar Look, Camden Fade, applied to it. The photo was shot at Luxembourg American Cemetery. It is a beautiful spot, a good place to reflect on the sacrifices of those who fought in World War II. Your thoughts on the edit are welcome below. This post was inspired by the Lens-Artist Photo Challenge, Reflections.

Cheers!