“You’d be surprised at how the viewer picks that up.” “I like to use a very light approach that emphasizes the details-not only details in terms of high frequency details, but details in terms of the things that the eye is going to see and appreciate,” Rodriguez said. Subtle changes are often better than drastic changes. “I like to use snapshots when I come to a fork in the road, meaning I’ve gotten to a spot in my processing where I’m not sure which way I want to go,” said Rodriguez. Taking a “snapshot” before you make any crucial decisions gives you an easy place to revert back to if needed. Unlike Photoshop, Lightroom does log an extensive adjustment history for each image, but sifting through the various steps to find a specific edit can be time-consuming. Use Snapshots to log important adjustment stages. He also provides at least five other useful overarching principles to keep in mind during Lightroom editing. Throughout the aforementioned video, Rodriguez demonstrates and explains his general process while encouraging each photographer to develop his or her own unique process. He allowed his vision of showing the rhythm between the sky and the rocks to guide his editing and lead the viewer’s eye there from the foreground.Īfter incorporating these three principles into your workflow, it then becomes important to understand how and why to use the various tools in Lightroom. “I’m going to try to draw the viewer’s attention towards certain things in the image that are essential to whatever it is that I’m trying to convey.”īefore he captured this photo, Rodriguez knew that he would keep it in color. “I want the viewer to see what it is that I’m seeing and experiencing,” said Rodriguez. Lead the viewer to see why you took the photograph. “When you sit down to edit, you should have a vision in your mind already,” Rodriguez said, “Then the tools become a lot more accessible to you conceptually because then you know what tools you need to in order to accomplish what you want to accomplish.” 3. “Your workflow starts ,” said Rodriguez, “because that’s the moment when you feel the impulse to press the shutter button… that’s when you should start to really form in your mind what you want the image to say how you want it to look.” 2. Workflow starts in the field, not in Lightroom. To that end, Rodriguez offers three principles that guide his own workflow process. In this video, landscape photographer Robert Rodriguez explains his creative workflow process in Lightroom, with particular emphasis on showing the “why” behind each step and providing tips for developing a personalized workflow that maximizes efficiency, flexibility, and accuracy:Īn effective workflow is one that is flexible, efficient, and accurate as it works towards the goal of realizing the photographer’s vision for a particular photograph. However, without an effective workflow, even Lightroom can become needlessly time-consuming.
While Adobe Photoshop CS6 equips all manner of visual artists with tools for their various crafts, Lightroom is a streamlined processing software tailored to photographers who need advanced image editing and management capabilities without unnecessary clutter.
Check out the video above for the full rundown from Ianiro.More and more photographers are turning to Adobe Lightroom 5 as their choice post-processing software. In fact, this is something to think about whenever you have a photo with an large area of uniform color and texture. You will often have wide swaths of smooth bokeh in such photos, and you will want to avoid sharpening these areas, both to draw more attention to your subject and to prevent any artifacts from appearing. One tip that can really add to the quality of your final result is using the masking slider when sharpening your image. And just like any other genre, the edit offers you the chance to really put your personal touch on the photo. I have always been so amazed by the ability of good bird photographers, as it is a genre that takes a lot of patience, a sharp eye, and fast reflexes. This fantastic video tutorial offers over 20 tips and tricks for editing bird images in Lightroom.Ĭoming to you from Stefano Ianiro Wildlife, this excellent video tutorial discusses a wide variety of tips and tricks for editing bird photos in Lightroom. Bird photography is a genre that requires great technique and a heck of a lot of patience, all backed up by good editing skills to create the best possible image.