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To all of you that have submitted photos for the Your Photo Our Look series… man, oh man… do you make it tough to choose photos to work with. There are so many good ones you have sent in. I stuck with our monthly theme and chose three photos featuring water in some way, shape or form. All of the processing is entirely in Photo RAW.
In the first photo of a very cool looking sailing ship, you’ll see how to use the Perfect Eraser to eliminate distracting elements from a scene to better showcase your subject. Composing for symmetry and some masking are on the menu for the second photo taken under a pier. The video wraps up with a chat about exposure challenges in snowy scenes and some targeted color adjustments to play warm and cool tones against one another.
So there’s some ON1 tools stuff and some general photography stuff in here. If you have a quick question or comment about anything in the video, please leave it below. If you have a more detailed or in-depth question about the tools or techniques in this video, Plus Discussion Forum and either ask the coaches or take the conversation to the community as a whole.
On March 23, 2017 at 12:31 pm David Price wrote:
Hi Scott
Three really good choices for your photo our look. Nicely demonstrated and subtly done.
Best wishes
David Price
On March 23, 2017 at 1:27 pm Scott Davenport replied:
Thanks David, happy you enjoyed it. And I am considering changing my middle name to “Subtle” :-)
On March 23, 2017 at 1:49 pm Bruce Wagner wrote:
Scott – have you had any problems with the perfect eraser and retouch brush not being maintained when you export? That is a major frustration of mine that when I bring up a saved photo – what was supposed to have been gone – reappears.
~bruce.
On March 23, 2017 at 1:56 pm Scott Davenport replied:
Hi Bruce… I personally haven’t, although I’ve seen reports from others that have. I’ve also been informed recently (via ON1 Plus) that the engineering team has a pulse on a fix for those issues. I must defer to ON1 to offer a timeline for the next update release.
On March 23, 2017 at 5:40 pm Jennifer Stepanski wrote:
Scott, I love your edits, especially that you used the dynamic contrast for the wood beams on the pier and masked out the water to keep it smooth. I’m still trying to learn shortcuts, and I appreciate the tip on the red vs black mask. Thank you!
On March 23, 2017 at 6:30 pm Scott Davenport replied:
You’re welcome, Jennifer. And yes, both the red and grayscale mask overlays have their place. I’ll often use both modes while masking. (And if somone hasn’t already asked for a hotkey to toggle the mask modes in the Photo RAW project, I’d vote for that one!)
On March 23, 2017 at 6:07 pm Stephen Director wrote:
Scott – well done as usual. I am still unsure though as to the difference, if any, between using local adjustments in Develop and local adjustments in Effects. Are the results the same? Also – if you make changes in Develop, say color adjustments, the go into Effects and make additional color adjustments, can you see one complete layer stack the contains both layers created in Effects and the Development layer(s)? Thanks.
On March 23, 2017 at 6:43 pm Scott Davenport replied:
Hi Stephen,
That’s a good question. Two, actually.
Let’s talk about Local Adjustments vs. Effects + a mask. At the 10,000 foot level (or 10km, depending on your continent :), the results will be the same. Let’s go deeper.
First, Local Adjustments only control a few things: tone, color (basics), and detail. So if you’re using a “specialty” filter like Sunshine or Bleach Bypass, there’s no true comparison. To draw rough equivalents, the “tone” section of a Local Adjustment is akin to the Tone Enhancer. And the “color” section to the upper portion of a Color Enhancer filter. If you’re sticking with basic slider adjustments (no tone curves, no individual color range tweaks), the Local Adjustment and the aforementioned Effects’ filters are equivalent.
Why have both? Well, one thought is for basics in color and tone, I can do both with a single Local Adjustment. Another is how you want to adjust your photo. Local Adjustments are an “opt-in” model – I use the masking tools to *add* adjustments to the scene. Effects filters are “opt-out” – by default, a filter is applied globally and then we mask it away from areas. (And yes, I know there’s the Invert functions, but we’re talking defaults here.)
So… when to choose between them? All depends on what you need to do. My workflow tends to be Develop, then Effects, then Local Adjustments. The Local Adjustments are finishing touches. That implies a relatively straightforward processing session… and if you’ve seen my other videos, you probably know that’s not normally the case for me. :-)
To your second question about multiple color adjustments across Develop and Effects, no… there’s no single view with both Develop and Effects changes in a single filter stack.
Sorry that got a little long… great question. I’m going to note the Locals vs. Effects for the Live Q&A next week. I suspect that’s an area of confusion for many.
-Scott
On March 24, 2017 at 5:42 pm Stephen Director replied:
Thanks Scott. This is very helpful.
On March 23, 2017 at 7:47 pm Rick Valasek wrote:
Dave, thanks for showing how to make a photo more dramatic by using small adjustments especially liked using the “before” and “after” views as you applied quite subtle effects. I’m also an advocate of “sweetening-up” the image by applying tiny enhancements!
On March 23, 2017 at 7:48 pm Scott Davenport replied:
Sure thing, Rick!
On March 30, 2017 at 8:46 pm Scott Jones replied:
Adjustments.
Scott, I use a hammer. You use a foil.
I need to soften my editing approach.
On March 31, 2017 at 6:28 am Scott Davenport replied:
Some depends on the photo, too. Some scenes call for stronger looks. And here are personal styles and tastes.
If I’ve inspired you to explore another way of processing your photos, that’s goodness. Have fun exploring :-)
On March 26, 2017 at 5:40 pm Bill Scott wrote:
Scott – Sorry about a late Thanks for selecting my photo for “Your Look”. I just today got around to looking at your segment, and was pleasantly surprised when I saw my photo on the screen. When I brought the shot into ON1, I just started playing around with the Exposure and Effects sliders in various Adjustment filters and eventually did something that you might consider an extreme way of editing and reset the clock to give the shot an late evening, bright moon light effect. You can see my version here:
www.flickr.com/photo…/lightbox/
Your opinion would be appreciated.
On March 27, 2017 at 9:40 am Scott Davenport replied:
Hi Bill… I like your rendition, too! I don’t think it’s extreme. A suggestion to try out… add a bit of dodging to lighten and add warmth to the building at the end of the path. The warm orange/brown tone on the right railing is inviting. Invite your view to complete the journey and visit the little house.
Great stuff. Keep it up!
On March 28, 2017 at 7:27 am Bill Scott replied:
Thanks, Scott. I like your suggestion. It came just it time because I planned on making a print this week for my photo club display.
On March 27, 2017 at 5:06 am Mark Sweeney wrote:
Another very useful and informative tutorial, Scott. You really bring home the need to keep adjustments subtle. In total, with all the develop and effects changes, you create a very pleasing image without going “over the top”. I have seen my post processing take this same path over the years but need to always keep in mind that little adjustments add up to significant improvements.
On March 27, 2017 at 9:36 am Scott Davenport replied:
Thank you, Mark. I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s especially tough at times to resist boosting contrast and color too far. The more images we process, the more our eyes grow accustomed to the punch and saturation.