Photo Editing
Derek Smith • 21 July 2020
Faststone, Serif Affinity, and Skylum Luminar 4
Before Editing
Photo By: Derek Smith
After Editing in Luminar 4
Photo By: Derek Smith
Photo Editing
Editing of digital photographs is always an emotive subject, and one in which photographers will hold very varied viewpoints.
I was opposed to editing photos to a great extent, perhaps a little crop here, and a bit of contrast enhancement there but that was about it, I still believe fervently that you should concentrate on getting the images as good in the camera as you can, after all if the highlights are blown out, then no amount of software editing will retrieve those.
Now however I quite enjoy photo editing, and like many of our Society members I prefer the “one-off” purchasing model for software.
So, what do I use? Well on my Windows laptop I use a freeware program called Faststone, nothing that I’ve used on any operating system comes close to this for versatility, I primarily use this for reviewing my images for further editing, but it’s a powerful editing tool in itself. The Faststone viewer operates in full screen mode, move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen to see the images in the file that are being reviewed, move the cursor to the right to view the camera information, moving the mouse cursor to the left reveals the editing panel. What makes this software so great, well for me at any rate, are the keyboard shortcuts, use the right / left arrow keys to scroll through the images in a file. The keyboard shortcuts are all listed on the editing panel, so a typical workflow would be: “X” to crop an image, “CTRL + E” for the contrast, saturation, brightness, and colour edits, followed by “CTRL + R” to resize an image, for web use, or club competition purposes.
My next piece of editing software is Serif Affinity, the layers, and masking tools in this software are really easy to use and make this an ideal editor for composite images, the tone mapping, and split toning are also easy to understand and use, it is a very solid piece of software, the tools are easy to use, and there are excellent tutorial videos on the use of the software.
Next, is Skylum Luminar 4, for me personally the AI (Artificial Intelligence) controls are the standout feature of this software. As an example, sky replacement; in other conventional editors time is spent creating a mask getting the “marching ants” just in the exact place, then pasting in the sky, and adjusting the lighting afterwards. In Luminar 4, one click, yes one click replaces the sky, simply select the sky from a drop down list (even better choose your own), and the job is done, fine tuning controls are there to defocus the sky, change the direction of light to match the shadows around the subject, just so easy. One of the features that I really like with Luminar is that it doesn’t create a separate Library of images duplicating everything on your computer, it adds the location of an existing folder of images to the Library. On the “Edit” panel are 6 categories: Layers, Canvas, Essentials, Creative, Portrait, and Professional. A recommended workflow in Luminar 4 could be 1) “Canvas” – crop / straighten. Next, 2) “Creative” – choose Color Styles, and select a style for the image from the Profile, or LUT. 3) Adjust Tone, “Essentials” – adjust the AI Enhance / AI Structure sliders, there is also a conventional “Light” panel with the familiar WB, Temperature, and exposure controls. 4) Apply noise reduction “Essentials” – Denoise. 5) Apply saturation “Essentials” – Color. 5) Apply sharpening “Essentials” – Details Enhancer – Sharpen. I find the “Portrait” category very useful, the AI Skin Enhancer is almost magical, only working on the facial smoothing. In conjunction with this is the AI Portrait Enhancer, all of the sliders in this panel just “work”, move the sliders to make adjustments. For example; to redden the lips simply move the slider, no need to paint in or select the lips with a mask, that is the power of AI.
Luminar 4 also has a set of pre-sets, these are called “Looks”, and can be applied to any image with one click, you can also readily create your own “Looks” pre-set which is what I did on a recent photoshoot, to enable each image to have that certain style, the process is really easy perform all the editing on a single photo of a set of images from the same shoot, save those edits as a “Look” pre-set, and apply to the reminder of the images in a set.
When complete Export the image to the desired location; CTRL / CMD + Shift + E, and a copy of the edited image will be saved, together with the original image.
Enjoy your photography.
Article, and photos Derek Smith
Editing of digital photographs is always an emotive subject, and one in which photographers will hold very varied viewpoints.
I was opposed to editing photos to a great extent, perhaps a little crop here, and a bit of contrast enhancement there but that was about it, I still believe fervently that you should concentrate on getting the images as good in the camera as you can, after all if the highlights are blown out, then no amount of software editing will retrieve those.
Now however I quite enjoy photo editing, and like many of our Society members I prefer the “one-off” purchasing model for software.
So, what do I use? Well on my Windows laptop I use a freeware program called Faststone, nothing that I’ve used on any operating system comes close to this for versatility, I primarily use this for reviewing my images for further editing, but it’s a powerful editing tool in itself. The Faststone viewer operates in full screen mode, move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen to see the images in the file that are being reviewed, move the cursor to the right to view the camera information, moving the mouse cursor to the left reveals the editing panel. What makes this software so great, well for me at any rate, are the keyboard shortcuts, use the right / left arrow keys to scroll through the images in a file. The keyboard shortcuts are all listed on the editing panel, so a typical workflow would be: “X” to crop an image, “CTRL + E” for the contrast, saturation, brightness, and colour edits, followed by “CTRL + R” to resize an image, for web use, or club competition purposes.
My next piece of editing software is Serif Affinity, the layers, and masking tools in this software are really easy to use and make this an ideal editor for composite images, the tone mapping, and split toning are also easy to understand and use, it is a very solid piece of software, the tools are easy to use, and there are excellent tutorial videos on the use of the software.
Next, is Skylum Luminar 4, for me personally the AI (Artificial Intelligence) controls are the standout feature of this software. As an example, sky replacement; in other conventional editors time is spent creating a mask getting the “marching ants” just in the exact place, then pasting in the sky, and adjusting the lighting afterwards. In Luminar 4, one click, yes one click replaces the sky, simply select the sky from a drop down list (even better choose your own), and the job is done, fine tuning controls are there to defocus the sky, change the direction of light to match the shadows around the subject, just so easy. One of the features that I really like with Luminar is that it doesn’t create a separate Library of images duplicating everything on your computer, it adds the location of an existing folder of images to the Library. On the “Edit” panel are 6 categories: Layers, Canvas, Essentials, Creative, Portrait, and Professional. A recommended workflow in Luminar 4 could be 1) “Canvas” – crop / straighten. Next, 2) “Creative” – choose Color Styles, and select a style for the image from the Profile, or LUT. 3) Adjust Tone, “Essentials” – adjust the AI Enhance / AI Structure sliders, there is also a conventional “Light” panel with the familiar WB, Temperature, and exposure controls. 4) Apply noise reduction “Essentials” – Denoise. 5) Apply saturation “Essentials” – Color. 5) Apply sharpening “Essentials” – Details Enhancer – Sharpen. I find the “Portrait” category very useful, the AI Skin Enhancer is almost magical, only working on the facial smoothing. In conjunction with this is the AI Portrait Enhancer, all of the sliders in this panel just “work”, move the sliders to make adjustments. For example; to redden the lips simply move the slider, no need to paint in or select the lips with a mask, that is the power of AI.
Luminar 4 also has a set of pre-sets, these are called “Looks”, and can be applied to any image with one click, you can also readily create your own “Looks” pre-set which is what I did on a recent photoshoot, to enable each image to have that certain style, the process is really easy perform all the editing on a single photo of a set of images from the same shoot, save those edits as a “Look” pre-set, and apply to the reminder of the images in a set.
When complete Export the image to the desired location; CTRL / CMD + Shift + E, and a copy of the edited image will be saved, together with the original image.
Enjoy your photography.
Article, and photos Derek Smith
Louth Photographic Society
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a local PDI competition, Wildflowers and Open, there were some very good entries and especially well done to Keith Rossington who was placed first in both categories. The results are on our website. Thank you to Dave Turner who judged the Open, the first time he had judged live, and he did an excellent job with plenty of helpful comments and some good advice as regards processing our images. That was the last meeting at Church House until September as we now begin our summer break. There is however an LPA Battle, third round at Cleethorpes camera club next Tuesday, It is at 7.30 in their clubroom which is between 49 and 51 Reynolds Street DN35 7TU. Parking is best by the tennis courts. Regards Graham
Last night we held our last competition before our summer break. The PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition had the categories of "Local Wildflowers", and "Open". As this was a members competition, Dave Turner judged the "Open" category, this was his first time judging a competition, he had previewed the images, and made notes, and he gave some excellent critique, which will help members when submitting images in future competitions. After the break, Graham Harrison judged the "Local Wildflowers", a couple of the submitted entries were excellent, but unfortunately did not meet the category criteria so lost some points, flowers always make a good subject for a competition, and Graham had quite a task in judging the images. It was a superb evening with some amazing images, Keith Rossington took first place in both categories, the images he submitted show how much time, and effort he takes with his photography, well done Keith.
Good Morning All Last Sunday I went to the Armed forces day at Cleethorpes, there were not so many people about as I think most wanted to see the Red Arrows on Saturday. There was an excellent display from a group of first world war re-enactors who were mounted and in the uniform of the Lancers as well as a limited air display the highlight been the Spitfire. Last week was also the run for life in Louth, Sam from Colorgrafix did the run in memory of Paul Malley and raising money for cancer research. Sam asked the club for sponsorship so we sent her a donation from us all. Last Friday 21 members and partners enjoyed a meal at the Royal Oak, Cawthorpe, it was good to be able to socialise with each other with a few drinks and a very good meal. I hope everyone had a great night. This week, Wednesday 9th July, we are holding a PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition, with the categories of "Local Flowers in Their Environment (25 miles limit)" and "Open". I am going to judge the Flowers with Dave Turner judging the Open. Regards Graham
Most people are aware of “writers block”, where a writer sits staring at a blank page, and can’t think of a story to write, well photographers suffer from a similar affliction, with a camera sitting on a shelf, and we can’t think of anything to photograph. I believe that change in one way or another can invigorate our photographic creativity, one of our members renowned for his seascapes, has begun taking photos of birdlife, creating some stunning images. My favourite photographic genre has been in fashion and portraiture for the past 6 years, but I’ve lost the “joy” in the genre, so now I want to take more landscape, and macro photography, varying my style. I have just changed my camera system, and now I’m excited to try out the new lenses and watching endless YouTube videos to learn about the new camera system, as well as getting out, and trying the new techniques, these are some of the images from my new camera system. Another method of invigorating your photography is to start a project, think of a subject, and build a portfolio of images, watching how your photography improves as you take each image over time. Joining a camera club is another way to invigorate our photography. Many of our members have stated that their photography has improved since joining, being inspired by the talks, workshops, and regular competitions. The competitions are important both from a learning perspective, but also from the challenges in the subject matter. Recently I was dashing around trying to photograph “Wildflowers in the Environment” for our next competition, a lot of the roadside verges had been mowed reducing the wildflowers locally. Next, I tried some churchyards, there was some “Ladies Bedstraw” flowers in Scrivelsby churchyard, but it didn’t make for a convincing photo, I found some wildflowers along a footpath that did work. I did find another convincing photo in a local church yard, but still I had only two out of three photographs, and the deadline for competition entry submission was fast approaching. Driving out of Horncastle I spotted an ideal wildflower candidate, so quickly turning the car around, parking on the verge, and laying flat on the ground I was able to take one of the best images of the three, and with a lens that I wouldn’t normally associate with this style of photography. In conclusion, dust off that camera, take some photographs, and rediscover the simple joy of photography.
We had a really good turn out for the visit to Rimac last night and the weather was fantastic for taking wildlife photographs. There was plenty to photograph from moths and butterflies to many different birds, there were also plenty of wildflowers as well. I think we all took plenty of photographs so the competitions should have plenty of entries this year. We spent just over two hours photographing and walking round then some of us visited the Prussian Queen in Saltfleetby, where we were made to feel welcome and quenched our thirsts.
Paul Malley, a gentle, genial, giant of a man sadly passed away recently after a long illness. Paul had been a longtime member of the Louth Photographic Society, and had served in several roles, Treasurer at one time, and latterly as a stalwart active member on the Committee. Always ready with helpful knowledge, and advice, Paul was calm in a crisis, and insightful, able to understand both sides of a discussion, and suggest a compromise. An outstanding photographer, dedicated to his craft, he produced some excellent images, some of which are shared here. Rest in peace my friend, you will be much missed by Pam, family, friends, and members of the Louth Photographic Society.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our monthly print competition, there was a good entry of just over 40 prints and of a very good standard. Tony Gaskins won the subject, Britain's Coastline with an excellent photograph of Whitby and Dave Tuner was 1st in the Open with an excellent misty morning photograph at Buttermere. Thank you to all that entered, and all the results are on our website. This week, Wednesday 25th June, we are going to Rimac near Saltfleet, I have heard there is quite a bit of wildlife there at the moment, let's hope we are lucky. If we meet in the car park at 6.30pm and set of as a group though we usually get stretched out as we go. I have attached a map, but if you are on a corner and there is a track going towards the sea at the area shown on the map you should be ok. Regards Graham
Our print competition with the categories of “Britain's Coastline”, and “Open” was held last night. Gail Wrigg, the LPA President, was the judge for the evening, and there were some stunning prints submitted into the competition to review. The images were judged fairly, majoring on the technical imperfections of the images, depth of focus, composition, elements within an image that could have been removed, and improved cropping of an image. Gail always connects with the audience with her critique of the submitted competition entries. It's surprising how the print medium looks, and feels so different from an image viewed on a screen, just very alive, and tactile. The competition results have been updated on the Competition page of our website.
Good Morning All, I visited Welton-Le-Wold nature reserve the other evening, a bit like a small Red Hill, there were a lot more wildflowers there than Red Hill but again not many insects, it may be better in the daytime? It is only about two miles from Louth as well. Last week was the LPA battle at Scunthorpe, only Dave Turner went taking our prints with him, not a good result for Louth, 1st Grimsby 258, 2nd Scunthorpe 245 and 3rd Louth 236, quite a difference from the first round but that's LPA battles. The next round is at Cleethorpes, it would be good if a few more members could attend. It will soon be our annual dinner at the Splash, any more deposits this week please and menu choices by midnight Wednesday please, otherwise you may go hungry. This week, Wednesday 18th June, we hold our monthly print competition, with the categories of “Britain's Coastline” and “Open” there has been a good entry so should be a good night. Regards Graham
Good Morning All Last week we visited Red Hill nature reserve, a very good turnout, but the wildlife didn't seem to know we were going, it's quite worrying though the lack of any butterflies or any other insects of any sorts. Hopefully we all got some photographs before we visited the Three horseshoes at Goulceby. I did photograph an unusual caterpillar but couldn't manage to identify it? This week we are away in the LPA Battles at Scunthorpe, for anyone planning to attend it is at the Pavilion, Bramley Crescent, Bottesford DN16 35N this Wednesday 11th at 7.30pm. I don't think I will make it due to work but hopefully some members will attend. There will be no meeting at Louth this week as members will be a way at Scunthorpe. The following week, Wednesday 18th June, we are holding the monthly print competition, if you can email your titles to Dave Turner by midnight Wednesday 11th if you have not already and bring your prints in on the night by 7 pm as no one is there to collect them this week. There are still a few deposits for the meal to come in yet, but in two week's time will be ok. If you can send your menu choices to me if you are attending by midnight 0n the 18th June please, as they need typing out and sending to the Splash two weeks in advance. Well, I think that's all, Regards Graham
