Dear Reader (2019-04-28),
I know the golden rule of social media is to only show completed work. But hey, it’s my website, my rules. Today I have 4 versions of the same image for you. The photo was captured on Friday’s 2 hour tour. In process order, the images are as follows:
1 – This is the original raw image out of Lightroom with absolutely nothing done to it – not even a colour profile was applied. The light was flat, and the image was captured using a tripod from the side of the road. As per normal for my Nikon D7100, the focus is good, the colours are a little pale, and everything looks soft.
2 – The photo has been cropped, a colour profile has been applied, and various adjustments have been made. It’s now not a bad image at all, and it gets 4 stars on the spd scale.
3 – You know what? This is a perfect image for a black and white treatment. I did what I could within Lightroom. Like my other B&W digital photos processed in Lightroom, the tonal range is there but the whites aren’t quite right, and the texture isn’t quite there. The image remains a 4.
4 – A week ago or so friends we hadn’t seen for a long time came by for food and drink. The meal and conversation were lovely. R has taken to photography, and he some stunning images. We started to babble, and he talked about a world previously unknown to me. There are Lightroom plugins. One collection of plugins is called the “Nik Collection” from DXO, and one of the 7 plugins from that collection is “Silver Efex Pro 2”. Thank you R. OMFG!
What do you think?
Cheers, Sean
Very interesting sequence of photos. The last B&W is great. It really brings out the patterns of the house and gate – well done. You also might want to experiment with Color Efex Pro. In the landscape section, I have found that Pro Contrast, Reflector Efex and Detail Extractor are wonderful tools for colour photos. You obviously are enjoying the Nik Collection.
Thank you for visiting and your kind words.
I sometimes like doing this, going back to the original image to compare to the current final image. There have been a few cases where I wipe out all the editing and start over. I try to keep an open mind about B&W but it’s hard for me. I don’t think that way. As I flicked from image to image, the first B&W looked gross for a moment, since the B&W took on a green shade, then settled down. I like the last version.
I had always thought those programs were stand alone, not Lightroom plugins. Now I need to check them out.
Thank you for visiting and commenting.