PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM 5

PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM 5 INTRODUCTION This material is primarily targetted at the new and intermediate photographers in our club. You have captured an image and used the various factors when taking this image: - appropriate depth of field; - good composition; - appropriate lighting; - captured in the RAW format; and - image is in focus. The two key factors RAW format and image is in focus.s sharpness. RAW file contains appropriate details while a JPG image has been striped of most data making your editing quite limited. Once your image has been captured, you have completed 80% of the work in preparing your image for a photo competition or framing. The remaining 20% will be achieved through a photo editing application. The Adobe Photo Editing software packages are now the standard for most photographers around the world: - Photoshop Elements 13 (functionalities in versions 10/11/12 are very similar with a slightly different layout and interface features); - Photoshop Lightroom 5 (Version 4 is very similar to Version 5. Whereas version 3.5 has fewer features but is still usable); and - Photoshop CS 6 is the cadillac of photo editing. So you are now wondering which of these three packages should I use? 1 of 18

The answer depends on your skills in photography and computer abilities. My suggestions are as follows: BEGINNERS to INTERMEDIATE - Photoshop Elements is the scaled down version of Photoshop CS 6 with many levels of interface. However, the user interfaces are different but they achieve many of the same results as Photoshop CS 6. Don t discount Elements because of its low price - it is a quite powerful program and can address the majority of your photo editing with a range of skill level interfaces such as: Quick Features, Guided Features, Expert (with layers), etc INTERMEDIATE - Photoshop Lightroom - was designed as a photographer s managment and workflow application: where images on your camera memory card are uploaded, viewed, evaluated, rated by yourself, categorized, selected images are saved and edited in the DEVELOP module. Using the SYNC feature in the DEVELOP module, you can apply editing settings to other photographs taken at the same time or under similar atmosphere conditions. INTERMEDIATE TO HIGHLY SKILLED - Photoshop CS 6 - is the cadillac of applications and as such it has a steep learning curve. This product was introduced in 1990 and has grown into a mammoth software application. Individuals usually migrates to Photoshop CS 6 after mastering the skills of Elements and/or Lightroom. Both the Elements and Photoshop CS6 have a wide range of editing features such as: complex editing and masking; blending & compositions, image manipulation; etc These features are not available within Lightroom. With Lightroom, you can edit your image in either Elements or Photoshop CS6 or any third party Plug-in application. For all of these Adobe applications, you can add third party plugins such as: Nik Software, Topaz Labs, 1One Perfect Suite or Photomatric Pro 5 (HDR). In addition, Lightroom Presets are available and costs range from free to $20.00. Each of these plugs streamline certain editing features. If you want more information on these products, you can check them out on internet. WORKFLOW For most beginners and intermediate photographers, you purchase Lightroom 5 and randomly go through the editing features hoping to bring out the best in your image. In so doing, you really don t fully benefit from the full power of the application. In an effort to become more proficient with these products, you turn to available books and courses on Lightroom. However, the majority of books and courses only 2 of 18

provide an introduction to the functionality of the applications. They do not contain suggests to settings or provide a workflow. Therefore, you spend countless hours on a trial-and-error basis to figure out what to do. Many experienced photographers have developed a workflow in editing their photographs and takes advantage of the full power and potential of the software edition applications. By having a workflow, your editing is completed faster and the result are significantly better. Using a workflow is similar to building a house - start with the foundation, framing, roof, drywall, floors, windows, cupboards, paint colour and flooring. I decided to research the topic of Adobe workflow and found very little documentation on the topic. With the information available, I then analyzed the photo editing practises of many experience photographers. My review discovered: 1) there is no standard workflow and everyone s editing practices are slightly different; and 2) there are some commonailities. Based on these commonalities and my review, I find that the following sequence through the different DEVELOP Modules is a good Lightroom 5 workflow: A comprehensive Lightroom 5 Workflow would sequence of panels within the Lightroom Development Module: Camera Calibration Panel Lens Corrections Panel Basic Panel ** Optional - use Plugins here ** Edit in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS 6 Tone Curve Panel Effects Panel HSL/Color/B&W Panel Split Toning Panel 3 of 18

External Plugins Detail Panel Local Adjustments EXPORT TO PRINT OR SAVE TO COMPUTER. However for this presentation, we are only demonstrating and explaining the Basic Panel and the Detail Panel. As beginners and intermediate photographers, I would suggest: - familiarizing yourself with the basic functionalities of Lightroom 5. You can either purchase a book on Lightroom 5 (i.e. Scott Kelby s book entitled Lightroom 5: Book For Digital Photographers - cost $52.99) or an ebook (i.e. Andrew Gibson - Mastering Lightroom 5. There are five ebooks - however you may only need to read Book One and Book Two to give you the basic information - $7.00 for each ebook) or video some free internet videos (i.e. Anthony Morganti s Adobe Lightroom 5 Training Videos); and - following the workflow outlined below. As you become familiar with the workflow and Lightroom, you can adapt or modify the workflow. The scope of this Lightroom 5 Workflow is limited to only the Basic Panel and the Detail Panel. The remaining Panels can be incorporated in a future expanded Lightroom 5 Workflow. The Workflow STEPS are outlined below and are in a specific sequence. Step #1 - Capture your image in the RAW format and insert your memory card into your computer; Step #2 - Open Lightrooom 5. While in the LIBRARY Module select the image you wish to edit. Next select the DEVELOP option on the top right menu or press the letter D on your keyboard. In so doing, the following drop down menu will appear on the right side of your selected image. 4 of 18

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STEP #3 - Double click your mouse on BASIC and the following drop-down menu will be shown. This image to the left contains three major components: - histogram at the top; - customization bar (includes: cropping, spot removal, red eye correction, graduated filter, radial filter and adjustment brush) which will not be discussed in this workflow; and - Basic Panel sliders. The histogram reflects the distribution of colours in your image. Throughout this workflow, you will see how your adjustments are reflected in this histogram. Ideally, you don t want the histogram to have any colours showing in the extreme left or extreme right. White Balance - examine your image and see if there are any bright blue or red areas in your image. The histogram reflects the distribution of colours in your image. Throughout this workflow, you will see how your adjustments are reflected in this histogram. 6 of 18

Ideally, you don t want the histogram to have any colours showing in the extreme left or extreme right. The bright blue indicates areas where are under exposed and the bright red for the over exposed areas. Your actions undertaken in Steps #8 & #9 will address these two issues. Let us not get ahead of ourselves. Continue with the details of this step and subsequently steps. White Balance - (as shown above) has a drop down menu with the following options: - As Shot; - Auto; - Daylight; - Cloudy; - Shade; - Tungsten; - Fluorescent; - Flash; - Custom. Select each one of the first eight options and determine which option best represents the image you wish. If none of these selects meet your desire, select the eye dropper and its position is indicated below on the Basic Panel. 7 of 18

With the eye dropper activated, a rectangle box will appear over your image as shown below. The eye dropper will appear just above and to the left of this box. Move the eye dropper around touch areas that are white or medium gray. As you do so, notice the setting at the bottom of the box. R is for Red, G is for Green and B is for Blue. What you want is to select a white point area where the values are relative close to each other. When you click your mouse, Adobe will select this as the white balance point of reference and the image will change its colours slightly. Use this eye-dropper to try different white and gray areas in your image and select the one that best compliments your image. You can fine-tune the white balance by adjusting the Temperature and Tint sliders. Temperature is used to add warmth of colour to your image. Move the slider to the right or left to a position which best compliments your image. Sometimes setting the warmth with the Temperature slider may not be enough. Adjust the Tint slider to the left if your image seems to have a purple tint and to the right if it seems to have too much green. 8 of 18

STEP #4 - Next, we move to the Tone portion of the Basic Panel. To begin with, press the AUTO - its position is circled in red below. This features is Adobe s assessment of your image. If you like the settings created by the Auto feature then advance to the Detail Panel & Step #15. If no then press the Default option to the right of the Auto option. Default resets the settings to the default setting with zero values. 9 of 18

In the tone portion of the Basic Panel, there are nine sliders. Specific slider relate to specific components of the histogram. The illustration to the left provides an indication of which sliders impact the corresponding area in the histogram. The next following steps (#5 to #13) leads you through each of these sliders and provides suggestions on appropriate settings. STEP #5 - EXPOSURE slider - is extremely useful in correcting any kind of over or under exposed image. Use your eye to adjust to best exposure which best compliments your image. STEP #6 - HIGHTLIGHTS slider - move to the left (-60 to -100) to recover the details in the highlighted area. As you move the slider to the left, notice highlight peaks diminish and are spreads out in the histogram. Notice how your image changes. Refine the adjustment slightly as needed. STEP #7 - SHADOWS slider - affects the tones on the left of the mid-point on the histogram. This slider is used to recover details in the darker portions of your image. Move the slider to the right (+60 to +100). Examine your image and move the slider to the left while examining your image until you achieve the appropriate effect you want in your image. 10 of 18

STEP #8 - WHITES slider - is used to reduce the amount of over-exposure in your image. Press and hold down the OPTION key (on a Apple Computer) or ALT key (on a Windows Computer) and use your mouse cursor to touch the WHITE slider. Your screen will go black. While still holding down your OPTION or ALT key and cursor on the WHITE slider - move the slider slowly to the right or left slowly until all the you see slight indications of red. Then slide back until there is no red showing. When this is achieved release the OPTION or ALT key. If you still see red highlights then move the White slider to the left until the red highlights disappear. STEP #9 - BLACKS slider - is used to reduce the amount of under-exposure in your image. Press and hold down the OPTION key (on a Apple Computer) or ALT key (on a Windows Computer) and use your mouse cursor to touch the BLACK slider. Your screen will go white. Slide the Black slider to the left until black areas start to appear. When this occurs, you can release the OPTION/ALT key. In the event there is still bright blue highlights, move the Black slider to the right until the bright blue disappear. STEP #10 - CLARITY slider - mostly effects the transitions between light and dark portions of the image. It boosts the mid-tones by moving the slider to the right. CLARITY setting can transpose a dull image to one with more contrast. CLARITY slider also reduces haze in your image. However, if your image is that of a women, you want to move the slider to the left to de-emphasize wrinkles and blemishes. Increase CLARITY slider for architecture or landdscape to add punch. CAUTION: Many new photogaphs to Lightroom have a tendancy to crank up the CLARITY setting to the high settings suchj as: 50 and above. In so doing, you will introduce significant amounts of digital noise. SUBTLE TOUCH IS OFTEN THE BEST - It is suggested that the slider should not exceed +45. HOWEVER: if you only want to add CLARITY to a certain area of your image only then leave the CLARITY slider in the middle and make the adjustments later in Lightroom as a Local Adjustment (i.e. Graduated Filter, Radial Filter or Adjustment Brush). STEP #11 - VIBRANCE slider - moving it to the right increases the intensity of weak colour (i.e. blue and greens) before stronger colours. This slider has more subtle effect than using the SATURATION slider. NOTE: One added benefit of slightly using VIBRANCE is that he smooths out noise in your image. A setting of 69 dramatically reduces noise. 11 of 18

NOTE: If your colours are dull, you may wish to increase the VIBRANCE slider. NOTE: CLARITY and VIBRANCE sliders are usually worked in conjunction with each other to emphasize texture, lift contrast and reducing colour saturation. NOTE: For buildings, you can try CLARITY +77 and -66 VIBRANCE then move the SATURATION to bring back the colour. STEP #12 - SATURATION slider - should only be used to make very minor adjustments to slightly enhane or dull colours in your image. Suggest not having a setting higher than +5. In many cases, experienced photographers rarely use this slider and instead use the CLARITY and VIBRANCE sliders. STEP #13 - CONTRAST slider - use your eye to adjust to best highlight your images. It is suggested not to exceed a +35. STEP #14 - Go back through STEPS #5 to #13 above at least once or twice before advancing to the DETAIL panel. By doing so, you ensure that your image has been optimized. Practise with different images to become comfortable with these steps. DETAIL PANEL You advance to the Detail Panel by selecting the double triangle in the icon just below the histogram. See the top red circle as shown in the image below. 12 of 18

As we have seen is some recent competitions, the judges have commented on the details of images as being tack sharp. There are many things that contribute to tack sharp images such as low ISO (to minimize noise); using a tripod; etc. The DETAIL PANEL permits you to minimize noise and adjust sharpness. One of the difficulties for new photographs is a tendency to over sharpen and is quite noticeable by judges. Characteristics of over sharpening are: creates harsh images; visible lines on edges and around object; and makes the image appears textured. With over sharpening, you also create more digital noise. The workflow steps below provide a systematic approach to reducing image noise while at the same time not over sharpening your image. STEP #15 - Locate the magnification button on the left side of the word Sharpening and clip on it. In so doing, your image will be magnified to a 1:1 ratio. A hand cursor will appear on your image. Use this hand to move around your image to select the are you want to examin the noise in your image. The image below illustrates the position of this magnification button. 13 of 18

STEP #16 - LUMINANCE slider - we start with the noise reduction first prior to the sharpening. This slider affects the brightness of pixels but not the colour. The default setting is zero. With your image to the left zoomed into a point you best reflects the digital noise in your image, move the slider slowly to the right while noting the gradual diminishing of the digital noise. Continue to move it but try to keep the setting at 25 or less. Setting beyond 25 introduces artifacts which should be avoided or minimized. NOTE: The Luminance and the Sharpening Amount settings are inter-related. Several photographers use the Staying Within 100 rules when addressing noise 14 of 18

reduction and sharpening. With this rule, the Luminance is not set higher than +25. Any setting above 25 will introduce artifacts into your image. With the staying within 100 rule, if you set Luminance at 25 then the (Sharpening) Amount should not exceed 75. While other photographers use this same rule but avoid having a Sharpening Amount above 60. By using this rule, you avoid over sharpening your image. STEP #17 - LUMINANCE DETAIL & LUMINANCE CONTRAST sliders - brings back some details lost when using the Luminance adjustments. Be careful not to adjust too far as it will introduce artifacts. In the majority of cases, these sliders should only be moved very slightly. Examine your image as you make adjustments with these sliders. STEP #18 - Noise Reduction - COLOR & COLOR DETAIL sliders - move to the right to remove colour noise if it is detected. Only use minor adjustments. Many experience photographers don t touch these settings. STEP #19 - Sharpening AMOUNT slider - has a default value of 25. Now use the magnification hand on your image and move to the area of your image that you want the image to be its sharpest. Move the Amount slider slowly to the right and see the sharpness increasing in your image. NOTE - As mentioned in STEP #16 - there is a co-relationship between Luminace and the Sharpening Amount slider. By using the staying with 100 rule minimizes digital noise and over sharpening. Therefore, you use the number 100 subtract your Luminance slider setting and you achieve the MAXIMUM value for your Sharpening Amount setting. This setting can be less but not more. STEP #20 - Sharpening RADIUS slider - increases the size of teh sharpened details in your image. Move it too far to the right and you wil lose detail. Move it too far to the left and sharpening isn t as effective. Radius makes edges and lines sharper. The default setting of 1 seems to work well for most photographers. Others suggest to never have a value over 1.5. NOTE: If your images contains small detail then you should lower the number slightly. When your image has larger details - you can increase the setting slightly. SUGGESTION: Photos with small detail should be set to a lower number while photos with larger details can tolerate a little higher Radius setting such as 1.5. STEP #21 - Sharpening DETAIL sliders - will increase sharpeness and intesify the edges of your image. Moving the slider to the right increases texture detail and creates halos and unwanted grain in the sky. 15 of 18

NOTE: move the slider to the left softens the scene and removes the noise or move to the right to reveal more details. SUGGEST: Stay below 50 as a higher setting increases noise. FOR BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY: With a slider setting of 0, only the edges of thick feathers will be sharpened while a larger number about 50 woud bring out and sharpen even the thinner feathers. STEP #22 - Sharpening MASKING slider - provides you the opportunity to sharpen specific areas within your image. Press the OPTION key (on a Apple computer (or) ALT key (on a Windows computer) and use your mouse cursor to touch the Masking slider. In so doing, your screen will go white. While still holding down the OPTION or ALT key, move the Masking slider to the right and you will start to see black areas appearing in your image. The white areas will be the only portions of your image that will be sharpened based on your settings in the Sharpening and Noise Reduction sliders. You can move the slider all the way to the right and only the areas that remain in white will be sharpened. To see the results just release your finger on the OPTION or ALT key. 16 of 18

Sharpening Masking slider set at 16. Sharpening Masking slider set at 84. 17 of 18

STEP #23 - You may wish to go through STEPS #16 to #22 to fine-tune your settings and/or go back to the Basic Panel settings (STEPS #5 to #13) to re-adjust these settings. STEP #24 - Now you are ready to advance to the Elements main editing areas where you will proceed with: local adjustments; sizing; cropping; leveling your image; spot removal; dodging & burning; printing the image; sending the image; saving the image. Double click with your mouse cursor the button labelled OPEN IMAGE (located in the lower right hand corner of the Camera Raw screen. CONCLUSION With the workflow proivded above, you will have the necessary knowledge to realize the full benefit of taking your photographs in a RAW format and truly take your image to the next level. As noted, this workflow is only a starting point and you can refine it as you so wish. Good luck in your photo editing. Sheldon Boles 18 of 18