Adventures in Lightroom*
*Or, the best $10/month I ever spent
I want to start this by pointing out that I keep calling it Lightshop instead of Lightroom. Photoshop + Lightroom = Lightshop, amirite?
Sometimes I get super lazy when going through my photos, and I'm just NOT in the mood for editing. Which can mean that I don't get around to even looking at photos I took for larger events until several weeks have gone by. (Now y'all know why my facebook photo albums are hopelessly out of date!) This happened recently with Emily's bachelorette party. It wasn't until after her wedding that I even went through them. (I figured I couldn't start editing wedding shots until I'd done the bachelorette). Since I had just signed up for Lightroom I figured there was no time like the present to try it out.
The bachelorette shots were a great way to get going because a. almost all the shots from part 1, spa, were too dark and had harsh light and shadow on people's faces and b. the lighting at Border Cafe was terrible for white balance purposes, so everything was either too blue or too red.
The whole Lightroom process went okay. (If you knew that was a Reddit reference, +10 points). Actually, I found it super intuitive to use (plus the tutorial from Emily's wedding photographer James was very helpful) and much easier for bulk editing than my previous tool, Gimp.
I now present to you the before and after sequences.
BEFORE
AFTER
A couple of important things to note. 1. you may prefer the original shot better than my edit, and that's all right. Some of these are just done based on my preferences, and are not necessarily objectively "better". 2. I was not always trying to make the picture more "true to life". I definitely had some fun with it (for example, the Border Cafe menu). 3. Obviously, I still need more time and practice to get the true hang of it. This was hard. Not every picture (like the SUPER red Kelley and Allie shot, where Kelley's head is melting into the background) could necessarily be "saved", at least not by me, and not yet. But I really enjoyed the process of editing a lot more than I thought I would, and it was interesting to see all the ways you could change the tone and response of a picture with just a few adjustments.
Also, if you think I'm terrible at photoshop, take a look at what some of these so-called professionals did to this poor girl: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/26/photoshop-around-the-world_n_5534062.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000046
Since I'm hoping to finally update facebook (and clearly I have to do blog before facebook), I hope to have some shots up soon taken from our elopement party, our honeymoon, and Emily and Jason's wedding.
I want to start this by pointing out that I keep calling it Lightshop instead of Lightroom. Photoshop + Lightroom = Lightshop, amirite?
Sometimes I get super lazy when going through my photos, and I'm just NOT in the mood for editing. Which can mean that I don't get around to even looking at photos I took for larger events until several weeks have gone by. (Now y'all know why my facebook photo albums are hopelessly out of date!) This happened recently with Emily's bachelorette party. It wasn't until after her wedding that I even went through them. (I figured I couldn't start editing wedding shots until I'd done the bachelorette). Since I had just signed up for Lightroom I figured there was no time like the present to try it out.
The bachelorette shots were a great way to get going because a. almost all the shots from part 1, spa, were too dark and had harsh light and shadow on people's faces and b. the lighting at Border Cafe was terrible for white balance purposes, so everything was either too blue or too red.
The whole Lightroom process went okay. (If you knew that was a Reddit reference, +10 points). Actually, I found it super intuitive to use (plus the tutorial from Emily's wedding photographer James was very helpful) and much easier for bulk editing than my previous tool, Gimp.
I now present to you the before and after sequences.
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/60th, ISO-1600, 50mm The bride-to-be (well, Mrs. Cervone as I write this) |
AFTER
 |
| What I did: (Keep in mind, I was an idiot and didn't take notes so this is all from memory) Obviously, I exposed it more, lightened shadows as well, and softened the picture. I also changed the white balance so Emily was a little less red. Looking at it now, she's a little too soft now, so maybe I was going for a heavenly angel thing? |
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/125th, ISO-1600, +1 exposure, 50mm |
AFTER
 |
| What I did: Clearly, I cropped out the nail stylist since the poor thing had a demonic look on her face . I also decided to get a little more intense with contrast and highlights, to really bring out the colors in her hair. This picture is still hella yellow though. |
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/200th, ISO-1600, +1 exposure, 50mm |
AFTER
 |
| What I did: Normally, I love intense color, but I decided the red was too red in the shirt, so I lessened saturation, got rid of shadows, and softened the picture. |
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/160th, ISO-1600, +1 exposure, 50mm |
AFTER
 |
| What I did: More softening, less shadows. Couldn't quite get rid of the gross sweat glistening off my cheeks. |
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/6th, ISO-400, 50mm |
AFTER
 |
| This photo was simultaneously my most and least favorite. I love the girls' expressions, love the bright red, hate how it threatens to overcome their heads. What I did about it: I strengthened the blacks and the whites , so they would pop out of the red background more, and reduced color saturation and vibrancy. Their skin is a little too blue from my white balance adjustment but overall I like my edit...even if they do look like their heads are melting into the background. I would go back in there and work on it more if I had the energy. |
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/15th, ISO-1600, +1.3 exposure, 50mm |
AFTER
 |
| What I did: This is when I really discovered "vibrancy". It is a little different from the color saturation button. Instead of losing color, we just lost some of its intensity. I played around with that one a bunch so I could lose some of the pink on their skin without losing the beautiful red in Sarah's hair. I did a mix of the vibrancy, color saturation, and highlight features to get this picture like this. Of course, it makes them look super pale but if you know them in real life you know they ... are kinda pale :-P Beautiful, pale ladies. I also kinda love that my edits make it look like we're having lunch in the middle of a bright sunny day instead of eating dinner late at night in a noisy, colorful restaurant. |
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/30th, ISO-1600, +1.3 exposure, 50mm |
AFTER
 |
| What I did: Clearly, had some fun. I mean, there weren't people in this shot that I had to make look good so why not play? I upped the vibrancy a lot (HELLO FUSCHIA) while also upping the white to make the Border Cafe part pop. |
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/25th, ISO-1600, +1.3 exposure, 50mm |
AFTER
 |
| What I did (besides an obvious crop): This picture was highly problematic for me. I really, really, really wanted Sarah to not have blue hair. I also did not want her to have really pink skin. Nothing wanted to change, so this was the best I could do. Luckily she's lovely so her expression saves this shot, regardless of the weird blue highlights I had to leave in her hair. Fun fact: If you have very red hair, it's hard to fix the white balance on a shot without making your hair bluer. |
BEFORE
 |
| f/1.8, 1/25th, ISO-1600, +1.3 exposure, 50mm |
AFTER
 |
| What I did: Clearly, had some more fun with vibrancy and saturation. Decided to lose some saturation while keeping it as vibrant as possible. However, if you go too vibrant while losing too much saturation, you can get some weird grey spots. I also changed the white balance and softened the image somewhat. Those are NOT the right colors for our drinks but I didn't care, I liked this look better :) |
A couple of important things to note. 1. you may prefer the original shot better than my edit, and that's all right. Some of these are just done based on my preferences, and are not necessarily objectively "better". 2. I was not always trying to make the picture more "true to life". I definitely had some fun with it (for example, the Border Cafe menu). 3. Obviously, I still need more time and practice to get the true hang of it. This was hard. Not every picture (like the SUPER red Kelley and Allie shot, where Kelley's head is melting into the background) could necessarily be "saved", at least not by me, and not yet. But I really enjoyed the process of editing a lot more than I thought I would, and it was interesting to see all the ways you could change the tone and response of a picture with just a few adjustments.
Also, if you think I'm terrible at photoshop, take a look at what some of these so-called professionals did to this poor girl: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/26/photoshop-around-the-world_n_5534062.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000046
Since I'm hoping to finally update facebook (and clearly I have to do blog before facebook), I hope to have some shots up soon taken from our elopement party, our honeymoon, and Emily and Jason's wedding.
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