Highlighting the creative magic behind post-processed photos
Reminder: Beginning today, ABFriday (and I) will be on a two-week holiday. But keep your eyes open for a pre-scheduled post next Friday, December 26th, for a fun new monthly twist on ABF beginning January 9th!
Want to join our fun-loving Friday group? We’d love to have you! Take a look at the ABFriday Forum page for all the dates, deadlines, and information.
My submission: This week I’m editing a jpeg I shot a number of years ago while on vacation in Provence. While not a “wow” photo, it provides an opportunity to use Lightroom’s Lens Correction, spot removal, adjustment brush, WB Color Picker, and advanced post-crop vignetting tools. Phew! And the video is much shorter than last week’s!
UPDATE: After finishing my video, as I was making the last edits to this post and saw my “after” image, I realized that using the lens correction tool had removed a bit of the charm of the original photo. While redoing the video wasn’t an option, I did choose to re-edit the image, removing that effect and expanding the crop. I’m much happier with the end result, which now, apart from a few minor tweaks, is pretty close to the original image. 🙂
Submitted by Robin Kent — PhotographybyKent
Robin says: My submission this week is dedicated to several readers who offered some helpful suggestions to the ABFriday post last week and also in Week 27. I have incorporated those suggestions into the image from last week and it now has a new look. Details can be found here.
Submitted by Emilio Pasquale — Photos by Emilio
Emilio says: With this image I first played with Enable Lens Profile in Lightroom, which corrects any lens distortion. I then played with the Horizontal Perspective and cropped it. I then adjusted the highlights, shadows, white and black clipping. Seeing that the color was less than exciting as a monochrome, I converted to black and white.
Submitted by Loré Dombaj — Snow’s Fissures and Fractures
Loré says: My little friends didn’t really need much work, just a little bit of cropping and adjusting colors and temperature. I added a frosty vignette again, because I feel it can only work in December. 😛 For more funny details, you can check my blog.
Submitted by Katie Prior — Drawing with Light
Katie says: I took this photo in a dark area of the wood, where fungi like to grow, so the light was not great. I didn’t have my tripod with me so the shots were dark and perhaps not as sharp as I had wanted. I sharpened it, just a little, and tried to bring out the delicate white colouring of the little mushrooms.
Submitted by Benjamin Rowe — Aperture64
Ben says: Here we are with the last forum of the year. I have been wishing for the warmth of summer, so for this week I have looked back at a picture I took in the summer. My post can be found here.
Submitted by Nic Anderson — Photography by Nic
Nic says: This week was all about trying to fix a photo that was ‘ruined’ by a flash reflection. It took several layers and some finessing, but I think it’s better. After my usual post-processing tweaks with contrast, highlights, shadows, clarity, vibrance, and saturation and then printing the photo out… that white streak in the middle of the flower stood out. At first I thought I had accidentally painted a white line across the image… oh if only (then it would have been an easy fix). But no, it was on the original image on the memory card. Ugh. I don’t know if it’s printable material… but it was a lot of learning to fix this image.
Visit Nic’s post to read about her post-processing.
Submitted by Michelle Lunato — Michelle Lunato Photography
Michelle says: For this week’s photo, I was at the Stone Mountain Golf course in Atlanta, Ga. After signing in, I couldn’t help but take some photos of the decorations they had set up in the lodge. Now that I have started blogging, everything seems to be a photo opportunity. And yes, I even took my camera on the course with me to shoot while I waited for my turn to play. (Does this mean I am addicted?) Thank God I am better at photography than golf! Well, here is the link to my post on what I did to get the ‘after’ edit.
Submitted by Karen Chengelis — KCinAZ
Karen says: This week I am sharing the image that I used for my Christmas card this year. I had wanted to make this card for several years since visiting Central Park in New York and taking the picture. Last year I made a feeble attempt at turning it into a Christmas card but was not happy with how it turned out. This year, after learning much from my friends at ABFriday, I’m finally happy with how it turned out. You can read more here.
Please click on the links of those who contributed this week, to read about their post-processing steps and/or to see what other treasures they have on their blogs. They’d love to have you visit!
So what do you think of the ABFriday forum?
Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section. And don’t forget to view the guidelines if you want to participate. I’d love to have you onboard!
Visual Venturing 
Great demonstration of the power of the lens correction tool. I see what you mean by the after image had removed the charm of the original with the architecture being naturally slanted.
Hope you have a great New Year and can’t wait till the ninth.
LikeLike
Hi, Ben! Finally beginning to get caught up on WordPress! Yup, the lens correction tool can definitely work wonders. It was a good lesson for me (and I hope others as well). Happy New Year to you as well. The 9th is quickly approaching 🙂
LikeLike
Looking forward to more ABFriday in the New Year! This is a great selection–my favorite is Emilio’s drastic transformation.
LikeLike
Looking forward to your continued participation, Sabina! I just love seeing everyone’s transformations 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have a happy Christmas. Looking forward to the twist!
LikeLike
I love how the British say Happy Christmas 🙂 Thanks for the wishes, SC. Sending them back to you!
LikeLike
Great Video, Stacy. I really liked the addition of light on the flower pot, I wouldn’t have thought to do that, but it makes a big difference. Also I like the slightly askew door better too. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks, Nic! The light on the pot actually came from Emilio – he has used the adjustment brush to simulate suniight in a number of his recent images. I realy liked the idea and thought I’d see if it would work here. Glad you like it — AND the skewed door 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Even though I feel like we are pretty much on the same level with Lightroom (don’t ask me why I think that way) I always learn something new from your tutorials. Thanks, Stacy! With this image I think you have stayed subtle and improved the shot. I would probably have gone overboard with saturation and texture and light effects. I have to learn that sometimes a light touch is the best approach.
LikeLike
Emilio, I’m delighted I could show you something, especially given that I used your idea of the adjustment brush to shine a little light on the flower pot! I had actually worked on this photo many months ago, but just didn’t think it was worth posting (even though I loved the scene in person). It just didnt translate as well as I had hoped. As a result, my first attempt was one with a much heavier hand. And I ultimately realized what I loved about the scene was its rustic simplicity – which led to a re-edit and ultimately to reincorporating the skewed door. As you intimate, just because we can doesn’t mean we should; sometimes a light touch is all that is needed! Thanks for a wonderful comment!
LikeLike
I had to laugh because I’ve done that too – gotten all the way done and realized I had gone a little too far and needed to redo something. Of course, it’s all part of the creative process. We aren’t making widgets that are identical one after another! Each photograph is different and it’s hard to step back and realize we made a mistake halfway through. I had a great photograph for the weekly photo challenge, twinkle, but it’s got a mistake that I have to redo. So I’ll use it for another post someday soon.
Although mistake is a big of a strong word. Maybe the better way to express it was mis-judgment. Or better yet, I tried it and it didn’t work. Oops. Which is a technical term, even in accounting (I’m a CPA by day).
Nancy
LikeLike
Ha! Thanks for your comments, Nancy. I like the technical term “oops” 😀 Have fun revisiting your twinkle photo. I’m sure we’re our own worst critics and we wouldn’t even notice your “mistake”!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought it was okay, but my husband the perfectionist did not. He was right, but I don’t think I notice a big enough difference for all that extra work. But he’s trying to help me improve, so I keep my mouth shut and do it.
LikeLike
Ah, now that’s a conundrum, isnt it? But, as you say, it’s all in the interest of improving. I’m looking forward to the post!
LikeLike
I really enjoyed this video, Stacy. I haven’t used the WB and will give a try. The last step of adding some light on the flower pot is brilliant! Thank yo for taking so much time to explain the processes step by step. 🙂
LikeLike
Glad you liked the video, Amy. I’d never used the WB picker either. In fact, I never even realized it was there until it popped up on my screen – I must have inadvertently chosen it 😉 It’s a good tool to know about – as long as you pick the right neutral. As for the light on the pot, I have to give credit to Emilio. He has used this technique in the past, which was an ah-hah moment for me. I thought it might work well here 🙂
LikeLike
I love all of those. I am so going to join in for the new year. That will be my one resolution for 2015. Lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mary, we would love to have you! Keep your eye out for next Friday’s post. You may enjoy participating in what’s coming on January 9th 😉 Thanks so much for reading ABFriday and for commenting!
LikeLike