Ansel Adams did it, so why shouldn’t we? We’re talking about selective adjustments. In recent years, Adobe has perfected selective masks in Lightroom. The possibilities are enormous and diverse. But it hasn’t necessarily become any easier. In this BLOG/VLOG, I provide an insight into editing with selective masks. See for yourself.
Tonight will be a piece of cake. All weather models are predicting a beautiful sunset. I arrive on site in good time and am pretty sure what I want to photograph and how. My tripod, camera and filters are set up in no time, and the sunset is already looking really great at sunset. Now I just have to wait until it really kicks in. But wait a minute, has it already faded a little between the last two shots? Yes… what now?
Oh man, what’s wrong with my timing? Phenomenal golden light shines on the landscape in front of me. I look at my car’s speedometer. I’m already going a little too fast. And there are speed cameras everywhere here in the Netherlands. Two more turns. Damn, another red light. Maybe it’ll stay red for another 10 minutes, who knows. Just a few more metres and I’ll reach the car park, but then the great light was gone. But the clouds look promising. Don’t give up too soon, I thought to myself, and we set off along the path past these beautiful windmills in the Netherlands.
I recently spent a few days travelling with my family in the Netherlands and discovered a lovely little forest with some interesting trees close to the beach. However, the weather during those days was a bit unpredictable. It was either pure sunshine or pouring rain. Neither of these conditions encouraged me to go outside and take photos in the forest. How could I still get some great shots? Then I had an idea. I’ll go when the sun isn’t bothering me. Blue, diffuse, mystical. In this blog/vlog, I’ll show you why the blue hour is an underrated time for forest photography.
FOMO – Fear of missing out. I think we all know what that is, right? Sometimes it’s really bad for me. When the weather is great and I have to work or I have other plans, I get it – the fear of missing out on the perfect shot. That’s why I quickly expanded my lens collection. It ranges from 16 mm to 400 mm. Now it even goes up to 600 mm. With a teleconverter, that’s actually 1200 mm. I usually have everything with me so I don’t miss a shot. What happens? Sometimes you miss the shot anyway. Changing lenses takes time. Setting out with only one focal length helps creativity; it’s limiting on the one hand, but it gives you freedom on the other. If I had to give up all my lenses except one, which one would I keep?
Phew… I worked up a sweat again. I had already realised that the conditions were going to be fantastic that evening. I had scouted out a spot, but hadn’t had time to check it out yet. It should actually be fine if I get there early and have a look around. However, I hadn’t reckoned with my children and so — as a father of two — I ended up with less time than I had hoped. But see/read for yourself.
Skylum had asked me if I knew Luminar? Yes, I said, of course! But so far I’ve only ever used it for one or two effects as a plugin in Photoshop. Personally, I think the color harmony function is brilliant. Luminar has changed a lot in the last few years. Can it also prove itself as a “stand-alone” in a complete image editing workflow? And has it really become as fast as promised? Let’s find out in this BLOG/VLOG!
It is the only filter that cannot be imitated using other photographic techniques or image processing skills, which is why it is probably the only indispensable filter in landscape photography: the circular polarising filter, or CPL for short. You can find out about its effect on photos and how to use it correctly, especially in relation to forest photography, here. Also: when it’s better to leave it out. Have fun reading.
Oh, it could just have been the perfect morning. The mood of the light, the presence of the perfect amount of misty haze, the spring green and me standing in the biggest sea of wild garlic to take pictures. But the world isn’t perfect and so it is that some places full of wild garlic fell victim to the forestry work in winter and the otherwise perfect morning didn’t coincide with the peak of the wild garlic blossom. A pity really. Nevertheless, some great pictures were taken and I have a very basic tip for you in this BLOG/VLOG!
Maybe you’ve been there: You’re on a holiday that you’ve been saving up for for a long time and you capture your experiences in pictures. Afterwards, you’re a little disappointed because your pictures don’t even begin to reflect what you saw. If you have photographed in JPG, you won’t be able to do much about it, and some of the pictures might just be for the bin. However, if you have saved the RAWs at the same time, your chances of getting something out of the images increase significantly. This BLOG is all about what is possible with modern image processing using the RAWs of today’s cameras. PS: Without sky replacement or adding atmospheric elements!
Obwohl ich im Winter für den Sonnenaufgang wesentlich später hätte aufstehen müssen, als jetzt, wo es schon bald Frühling wird, bin ich kaum zum Fotografieren unterwegs gewesen. Aber heute habe ich mich überwunden, denn ich wollte eine träumerische Aufnahme an einem See mit Morgenrot aufnehmen. Also raus aus den Federn, solange die Familie noch schläft und los zu einem nicht all zu weit entfernten See.
Oh man, I wish I’d just stayed in bed. Now I have 30 minutes of hiking uphill in complete darkness through the Palatinate Forest and over an hour’s drive behind me and I’m standing here in the middle of the fog soup instead of above it as planned. And yet the weather models were all in agreement. Fog level, dawn, everything should have been fine. What now? Turn around, go home and give up or pull through and see what you can get out of it with a little creativity? In this BLOG/VLOG, I finally get to grips with the automatic focus bracketing of my Sony a7IV, go in the direction of B&W fine art with my images, show you how to get black and white images quickly and easily in LR/PS and prove to you that giving up is not an option and that you can always find something photographically interesting!
EN