Digital Camera World - UK (2019-12)

RAW WAR

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com DECEMBER 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^83

FINISHED IMAGE

3

Boost colours to add warmth

The image was now looking good, but I wanted to give a

bolder sense of warmth, and to make the most of the blue

and orange colour palette present in the scene. To do this, I clicked on

the Hand Tool to exit the Graduated Filter, and clicked on the Split Toning

Panel. This is typically used for black-and-white images, but it’s great

for enhancing colour pics too. In Highlights, I boosted Saturation to 50,

then moved Hue to 35, where it accentuated the natural colours in the

sky. I did the same with Shadows to enhance the blue hues, and settled

on 224 in Hue and 40 in Saturation. To get the right blend of the dual

tones, I moved the Balance slider, and decided on +20. The final

step was in the FX Panel, where I darkened the frame edges

with Post Crop Vignetting Amount set to -20.

2

Use grads to
balance exposure
and enhance mood
To boost the drama, I selected the Graduated Filter and clicked the minus
icon to the left of the Exposure slider. This sets the value to -0.50 and
also resets all the other sliders. I dragged the grad down from just above
the lighthouse to the top of the pier. This added weight to the sky; to
reinforce it, I dragged down a second grad with the same settings to cover
the colourful area of the sky. I then added a thin, third grad at the very top,
just to give a dark band and hem in the image at the top edge of the frame.
To brighten the foreground, I used a new grad with Exposure set to +0.50,
and dragged this up from the bottom to reveal detail in the pier. I also set
Texture to +50 on this fourth grad, to add bite to the foreground.