Photography and Writing by A. Cemal Ekin
Sometimes it may be necessary to make a set of images darker or lighter, more or less contrasty, or otherwise change their appearance but retain their relative appearance. Lightroom has the ability to make relative adjustments on a selected set of images to facilitate that. Look at the following images, for instance. They convey the …
In the previous post, I pointed out a few Lightroom tips that may make working in it a little more comfortable. Let me continue with a few more tips and time sinks. Lightroom Calibration Panel I wrote an article on creating a camera profile for different lighting conditions using a ColorChecker Passport. It may still …
Sometimes we overlook the simple things that may be right in front of us because we get used to them. But there is no real reason to stay that way, especially if there are easy ways to make them fit our way of doing things. In this mixed bag post, I will share a few …
I have made a series of presentations on this topic at area photography clubs, from Connecticut to Maine. After the first presentation, I connected with Red River Paper who sponsored the rest of the presentations. A few years back, when I made the presentation at the Photographic Society of Rhode Island I decided to have …
Another Way to Save the Highlights Lightroom has many adjustments and in general, they work reasonably well. I bet the most widely used sliders are the Highlights and the Shadows sliders. There seems to be a general tendency to make sure that the highlights are not blown and the shadows are not blocked. I would …
The last week or ten days have been very hot and humid. Frequent threats of rain kept the clouds overhead almost all the time. When they were not totally covering the sun and creating a dreary sky, the clouds were very puffy, huge, varied in shape against the blue sky. When the humidity and the …
Many image editors offer a button “Auto” to quickly adjust your photographs, but most of them generally fail and grossly misadjust the image. The latest version of Lightroom does a pretty good job, but I want to introduce a new piece of software in case you have not heard about it. Automated image correction by …
Lightroom has had some weaknesses when it came to processing infrared images like channel swap and white balance. The primary problem has been and continues to be the range of white balance options not being wide enough into the blue end of the slider. That has had a fix for quite some time which I …
At a very broad level, we can say that most adjustments in Lightroom are local because they affect certain parts of the image. When you use a slider, say Highlights, you are affecting change only in those areas of the image that fit the tonal range for highlights. You control the amount, Lightroom controls the …
As all are gathered for a festive dinner with family and friends, somewhat exhausted after days of shopping and gift wrapping, I wanted to send a simple gift to all: A few pieces of knowledge. Lightroom information that may help you work more efficiently in Lightroom. Movable Guides Lightroom has a grid that can be …
A little over a month ago, I received an e-mail from a representative of Sleeklens, saying “I am writing to you today because I really like your landscape shots and would like to propose something for you. We sell professional workflows to photographers who are looking to cut down time editing their photos and get better …
I have always considered a print to be the ultimate representation of photography. It provides unencumbered enjoyment of the work and the photographer’s commitment to a particular vision in print. It can be expensive for sure, but holding a print in hand and enjoying the tactile feeling of the paper is something else! I have …
Lightroom has come a long way since its original beta version. In many ways, the changes have been for the better, bar a few that changed the nature of some of the tools. There are countless tutorials, tips, tricks that will produce “epic spectacular” images. What I will share with you today will not do …
Embedded metadata in image files is not limited to EXIF recorded by the camera. You can, and more often than you think, you should embed simple information like your name, copyright notice, the title of the image, and the caption. Depending on the operating system and the photo editing software you use there are simple …
In the previous installment of this two-part post, I explained how you may attempt to reduce or remove the haze in your photograph using a simple Photoshop tool, Layer Blend Modes. In this second part, I will show a more flexible, albeit slightly more complex process to deal with unwanted haze in a photograph. This …
Since Adobe Lightroom 6 CC introduced the “Dehaze” slider, there is a new dehaze-craze. The slider has gained the status of Merlin’s wand to cure many ailments. Like all the other adjustment tools, “it is a tool” and not a particularly new one. A process that I will outline in this two-part post and its …
During some of my presentations, I get asked about the work environment for editing digital photographs. I also get individual inquiries about the subject. In this post, I will address those questions with some workspace examples including my own. Vision, the perception of luminance and color are generally relative. If you want to validate this …
One of the neglected, and often violated element in photography is the mood. Sitting in your living room on a bright sunny day look around and notice how dark the interior looks compared to the bright outside. Our visual system, being extremely adaptable to brightness, allows us to enjoy the bright view from the window …
The long-awaited update to Lightroom 6 is finally here. Software updates create anticipation and excitement fueled by the new features added to the new release, and Lightroom has had its share of anticipation. There has been a lot of hype and fanfare and a day-long webcast tirelessly done by Kelby Media Group. I have Adobe …
Lightroom presets are nothing more than saved adjustments made to an image. They become one-click adjustments that bring back the saved settings. They are mainly for efficiency in your workflow rather than aesthetic purposes. For inspiration for the latter, to get some photographic ideas, look at more photographs and try to understand what appeals to …
From the early days of computing, saving keystrokes, and being able to repeat certain tasks with ease have been very popular. In those days, software programs would offer simple “macro” capabilities, which later became almost a programming language in their own right. Look at Excel, which now uses a derivative of Visual Basic. There was …
Would you say the above photograph has any compression artifacts? Compressed too much, not enough, or just right? What exactly is “just right” anyway. This post will explore the concept of compression, why and how do we do it, and how aggressive should we be in either reducing the file size or increasing the image …
A well thought out workflow is essential in digital photography editing. There are many tools in software and we need to learn where to start, what tool to use, and in what sequence. In general, whether in Photoshop or Lightroom, the workflow goes from global to local. Fix the issues that impact most of the …
Last couple of months I have been quite busy. Gearing up for the Collaborations event on October 5, 2014 and the event itself kept me busy for a while. Here are a few photographs from the hanging of the Ballet Off Stage exhibit at Festival Ballet Providence studios where Jim and Greg did the hanging, …
