What I Am Working On: Lots of Layers

I have a small Canon Powershot that is a bit older and doesn’t work as well as it once did. One of the situations where I still find myself using it is outings on rainy days. So, it is the camera I had with me on a visit to Blenheim Palace:

ISO 200 f/2.7 1/125sec 4.3mm

I liked the rain on the window and the table and chairs just waiting to be used. When I shot this photo though, I thought that I would really like to see it in black and white. So, that is what I have created:

ISO 200 f/2.7 1/125sec 4.3mm

Now while I was sure I wanted to make a black and white version, what I wasn’t settled on in advance was what type and style, would it be stark or dreamy? tint or not? Because I was very aware of my indecision, I made my various edits on different layers. This image has five layers: 1. Basic edits including luminance and sharpening. 2. The crop. 3. A black and white filter. 4. My custom vintage look filter. 5. Vignette.

I think a fair question, particularly if you are new to using layers, would be why bother putting things on separate layers? Two reasons, first it makes single effects easier to control. I could tweak the vignette confident I wasn’t disturbing the other edits for example. The second reason is that when you are working with layers, each layer has it’s own eyeball icon, making it easy to hide the effect of the layer. That makes it easy to compare your edit with different combinations of edits applied. For example, once I had applied layer 4, I could turn off layer 3 and see how I liked the edit that way. So, the short answer is flexibility, that is what working with multiple layers get you.

An additional tip? Name your layers. In Luminar 3 you do that by double-clicking the text and typing in what you would like. In this case, layer 3 was called “B&W” and layer 4 “Custom vintage”. Doing this helps you keep straight what edits are on what layer.

Your questions and comments are welcome below.

Cheers!

Added to Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge, Table & Chairs.

What I Am Working On: Editing the Sky

When you live in England, chances are you are going to want to edit the sky in your images. I was working on some images shot in the Peak District including this file:

ISO 800 10mm f/20 1/200sec

There is a lot about this landscape image that appeals to me. It’s going to need some help to pop a bit though. About a week prior I had watched a video that included a bit about sky enhancements in Luminar. The technique is explained starting at 15:41. I liked the tip as a starting point, and so I modified it a bit to suit me. First, I edited the photo in general, I’ve boosted its luminance, boosted the details, and adjusted the white balance. Then I watched the video bit again. Here is my final edit:

ISO 800 10mm f/20 1/200sec

I liked the sky tips from this video enough to create a workspace for it in Luminar, here is a screenshot of what that looks like:

The filters applied to the sky

The video does not mention making the sky edit its own separate layer, but that is what I have done here. By creating this set of filters as a workspace, I can add a new layer and then set this workspace for this layer. This allows for the flexibility of just modifying these edits, instead of trying to manipulate the whole image.

Do you like the final result? Have questions about what I chose to do? Feel free to comment below.

Cheers!

Final edit added to my Picfair portfolio here.