How to do Basic Processing on a Portrait in 5 Minutes Using Lightroom plus 1 more: Digital Photography School

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1 How to do Basic Processing on a Portrait in 5 Minutes Using Lightroom plus 1 more: Digital Photography School How to do Basic Processing on a Portrait in 5 Minutes Using Lightroom Posted: 10 Nov :00 AM PST There s a Triangle of Service that you may have seen before which goes something like this: You have three options available (cheap, quick, quality) but can only choose two. I first saw this on a sign in an automotive shop years ago, but it applies in almost any professional setting where goods and services are produced for consumption, and is especially true in photography. As a photographer you don t have unlimited time, but you and your clients expect quality results, and doing so is not always cheap or easy. Fortunately Lightroom makes it simple to do a basic portrait processing job in only a few minutes, which you can then copy and paste to other similar photos, to make your work even faster. 1 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

2 Before I get too deep into this article I want to make clear that the following steps are a process that works for me, but your unique solution might be a bit different. The important lesson is to find a workflow that is easy to replicate and repeat, so you don t spent all your time doing the same types of edits over and over. As you work with any editing program whether it s Lightroom, Photoshop, Capture One, or even a free tool like Photos or Picasa it s a good idea to find an editing style that matches your photography style. I know the look I m going for when I edit a portrait or headshot, which might be entirely different from what you prefer. Knowing how to achieve my particular style has taken me a while, but now I find that my editing is a lot quicker, because I start each photo with a particular set of steps: White Balance Tone Sharpening Vignette These steps are quick, usually get me 90% of the way towards a finished image, and will often result in a finished portrait with no additional editing required. Let s look at each step one by one: 2 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

3 This original is decent but it needs some tweaks before it s good enough to give to my client. Step 1: White Balance One advantage of shooting in the RAW format is that you can calibrate the White Balance of your images afterwards, whereas shooting in JPG leaves you much less leeway to edit not just White Balance, but most other aspects of the photo as well. Of course, one drawback of shooting in RAW is that calibrating the White Balance can take a lot of time, but much of this can be mitigated by using Lightroom s eyedropper tool (targeted adjustment tool) instead of fiddling with the sliders on your own. To quickly adjust the White Balance, click the eyedropper icon, then find a part of your image that is neutral in color think slightly gray instead of pure white. The eyedropper tool might not get you the perfect overall color, but it will quickly get you close to your target, after which you can adjust the Temperature and Tint sliders to your liking. Another tip to speed things up is to click directly on the Temperature and Tint numbers and use the up/down arrows to adjust their values, or hold down the [shift] key while doing so to make larger incremental changes. Step 2: Tone After you get your initial White Balance set, it s time to make some initial adjustments using the rest of the Basic panel in the Develop module. To get my particular look, I almost always start off with the following values. You can change each one quickly by highlighting the numbers, entering new values, and pressing [Tab] to move to the next set of numbers instantly. 3 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

4 Exposure 0, Contrast 0. I don t change these values until I make the following adjustments you see below. Because they are global, and affect the entire image, that is not usually what I want to do right away. If the image is still too light or dark after doing the rest of the basic adjustments, I ll increase or decrease exposure accordingly, but rarely do I need to adjust contrast and you ll see why in the steps below. Highlights -25. This helps even out the bright portions of the portrait so any spots that are a little bright are brought down a bit. Shadows +20. This is a way of brightening just the dark parts of the portrait to bring out a little more color and definition. Whites +20, Blacks -25. I use these sliders instead of adjusting the contrast because it gives me more granular control over the look and feel of my portraits. I m essentially making the whites and blacks more pure, which helps give the portrait a richer look overall. Some people skip this step and make adjustments to the Tone Curve, but it s all a matter of personal preference, though I usually find the white/black adjustments to be quicker. Clarity -5. Most people bump up the clarity slider which essentially affects edge contrast mostly in the midtones, but I like a slightly more subdued look so I usually start by lowering it a few notches. Vibrance 0 (zero). This slider mostly affects colors outside the normal range of human skin, so it can be useful if you shoot outdoors and want to make the nature colors pop. I leave it at zero as a general rule, and then adjust later as necessary. Saturation +5. I usually like a bit more color to start things off, so I start with a small value increase here, and then go up or down as necessary. I always start with these adjustments, and then tweak as necessary. The whole process only takes a minute and almost always results in an image that is dramatically improved over the initial import. 4 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

5 This image is already more vibrant than the initial picture even though most of the adjustments were very basic. Step 3: Sharpen After the color and tonal adjustments are finished, I almost always apply some degree of sharpening to the image. With portraits, it s essential that the eyes be in focus and sharp, so the next thing after Basic adjustments, is to use the Detail panel to get the sharpening you want. Click the targeting symbol in the top-left corner and then click on your subject s eye to get a zoomed in view, then adjust your sharpening accordingly. I usually start with a value of 50 and then tweak additional parameters like Radius or Detail if I need to, but this basic adjustment is quick and usually gets me right near where I want. I also apply a mask to the sharpening so it doesn t apply to areas like faces. This helps keep the eyes sharp without adding unwanted texture to people s skin. If you hold down the ALT key while you click the Masking slider you will see something like this (below). The white areas are where sharpening will be applied, the black areas will not. Use this to decide how far you 5 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

6 want to take the masking on your portrait. Step 4: Vignette This one is a bit controversial some people like vignettes, and some think they are an abomination unto modern photography, but as I said in the beginning this is all about finding a style and workflow that works for you. I usually add a slight vignette to my portraits, but if that s not your thing then you can skip this step altogether. It s not part of everyone s five-minute workflow but it fits neatly in with mine, which is why I m including it here. I only use a little bit of highlight priority, dark vignette, and try to keep the effect subtle. 6 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

7 That s it finished Doing these four steps won t always lead you to a finished portrait, but as the title of this article implies, you can usually get to a very nicely-edited portrait in under five minutes with these simple steps. You might have additional adjustments like adjustment brushes, spot removal, or red-eye corrections to do afterwards, but this will get most of the essentials out of the way. 7 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

8 How to do Basic Processing on a Portrait in 5 Mi... Before 8 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

9 After subtle but you can see the differences Save your settings as a Preset One final way to speed things up even more is to create a preset based on your workflow, which you can then apply to all photos on import. If you take this angle, be sure to err on the side of caution and be a bit more conservative with your edits when creating the preset. You probably won t want want to apply the same dramatic alterations to every single photo, but if you do find yourself reusing the same workflow over and over it might be worth your time to do an import preset. Alternatively, you can create a preset and apply it at will after import by right-clicking on any photo in the Develop module, and choosing your preset from the Develop Presets shortcut (or find it in the Develop Presets panel on the left side panel of Lightroom). What quick portrait processing tips work for you? Are there any specific actions you have found that save you a great deal of time? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and any example images of what your finished portraits look like are always welcome. The post How to do Basic Processing on a Portrait in 5 Minutes Using Lightroom by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School. dps Writer s Favorite Lens: Rokinon 14mm f2.8 Posted: 10 Nov :09 AM PST What do you mean it s a manual lens? That is usually the first response I receive when I tell people about one of the favorite lenses I keep in my bag: The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. I understand their confusion. I never dreamed that I would succumb to the seeming devolution of using fully manual lenses. Allow me to attempt to dispel the myth that manual focus/aperture lenses are difficult, and ungainly in the field. In mere months the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 has quickly became a workhorse of my photo arsenal let me tell you why. Grab a tissue, because it is a love story. 9 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

10 When I say that the Rokinon is a fully manual lens, what I mean is that there is no autofocus, and that the aperture must also be selected manually, using an aperture ring. This is a sticking point for most photographers, who have only used fully automated lenses. Personally, I have used fully manual legacy lenses for years, and have come to love the tangible control they require while I m shooting. I really feel connected to the experience, more than I do when using an autofocusing lens. 10 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

11 I will still admit, however, that a fully manual lens is not always ideal for every situation. So what type of photography suits the Rokinon best? The reason I purchased this lens in the first place was because I needed a fast, wide-angle lens, that can function as a main piece of glass for my astrophotography work. I find myself aiming my camera toward the sky more and more, so I really needed a quality lens that could serve as my go-to for most, if not all, of my nightscapes. The wide-angle view, and relatively large aperture of f/2.8, makes the Rokinon ready-made for night photography, but of course, it is also a great tool for ultra-wide landscape shots. Some may find the 14mm focal length to be just a little too wide for a general purpose landscape lens, but it is most definitely capable of filling the role. The most incredible quality about the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 is just that, its quality. For the price, I can honestly say I have never encountered such a well-made lens, that produces tack sharp results throughout its aperture range. My initial test shots surpassed any expectations I could have hoped for from such a budget lens. Reading comments and testimonials from other users of the lens really left me with a healthy dose of, it s too good to be true, doubt lingering in my mind. The quality of the build, and the subsequent image sharpness, are virtually on par with lenses which cost literally ten times as much as the Rokinon. I m not suggesting that a lens with an average cost of $324 will be exactly the same as a lens costing $1,300 but the gap between price and performance is, for lack of a better word, incredible. The aperture ring is comfortable to use, and produces a click at each f/stop, marking that is solidly satisfying. Something that I really like about the Rokinon is the focusing ring. I has a very long travel when acquiring focus; meaning that adjusting occurs relatively slowly. This allows you to achieve tack sharp focus while shooting with the lens wide open at f/2.8, and makes honing in on stars very easy without over or under focusing. 11 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

12 A common point of discussion concerning the Rokinon, in regard to its suitability for night photography, is the extreme low occurrence of coma when imaging the stars. Coma refers to an optical phenomena called comatic aberration (not to be confused with chromatic aberration). Coma is the distortion of small points of light when the light rays enter the lens at sharp angles, which makes small points of light, such as stars, appear to look like comets with small tails. Coma is amplified by imperfections in the lens geometry itself, or in the lens elements, and usually gets worse the further you move from the center of the lens. Yet strangely enough, the Rokinon excels in low coma aberrations, even to the point of OUTPERFORMING higher priced lenses of the same focal length and aperture ranges. The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens is one that I have grown to love in a relatively short time. The majority of my work revolves around landscapes, and shooting at wide-angles, often in low light. The Rokinon fills the requirements of my shooting needs, and then some. 12 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

13 How to do Basic Processing on a Portrait in 5 Mi... The full manual functionality of the lens could be odd if are not used to shooting that way, but for me I find it in no way slows me down, or hinders the quality of my images in fact quite the opposite. The build quality, sharpness, low-light performance, and low coma are bundled together at a price that hovers in the $320 USD end of the pool. In my opinion, if you are looking for a great landscape and astrophotography lens, or if you re just wanting to get creative with wide angles, look no further than the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. What you ve all been waiting for here are some images shot using the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8! All images shot with a Sony A7r and processed using Adobe Lightroom CC. 13 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM

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15 The post dps Writer s Favorite Lens: Rokinon 14mm f2.8 by Adam Welch appeared first on Digital Photography School. You are subscribed to updates from Digital Photography School. To stop receiving these s, you may unsubscribe now. Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States delivery powered by Google 15 of 15 11/11/ :04 AM