Incorporate effective
software fixes
Aswehaveseen,forwardplanningand
in-depthresearchplayacriticalrolein
thesuccessofaphotoshoot,enablingthe
photographertofullyexploitalocationand
getthebestpossibleimages.However,there
aretimeswhennoamountofpreparedness
canpreventconditionsfrombecomingless
thanidealforthecaptureoftheimageswe’d
aimedfor.Forexample,unexpectedweather
changescanintroduceexposureerrorsor
createlightingwhichdoesnotproducethe
levelofdramawehadhopedfor.
Itmayalsopresentadditionalchallenges
forsettingupacamerasafelyandsecurely,in
thepositionswehadpreviouslyidentifiedas
thebestforshootingcalculatedcompositions.
Safetymustalwaysbeapriorityonanyshoot,bothforyourselfandothers,sosettingupon
asteepincline,foranelevated,unobstructed
viewofthelocationmaynotbeasadvisable
inrainyconditionsaswhenthegroundand
vegetationisdry.Inaddition,ifyouhavehad
torelyoninternetresourcestoscoutasite,or
ifyourreconnaissancevisitwasasignificant
timepriortoyour‘live’shoot,youmayfind
thelayoutorterraindifferentfromwhatyou
expected.Ifalenschangewasunableto
provideasolution,anothermeansofaltering
compositionisneeded.Inbothcircumstancessoftwareprocesses
canenableyoutocorrectsomeoftheflawsin
yourscene,tobringyourimagesintogreater
alignmentwithyourexpectations,orifyour
areshootingasaworkingprofessional,the
expectationsofyourclients.Whilethereare
currentlynomethodsoftotallyrecomposing
animagepost-capture,combiningintelligent
shootingpractice,suchastakingmany
redundantframes,withcarefulpost-
processingcanproduceimagesthatmore
greatlyfulfilltheirintendedfunctions.1
Makebasictemperature
adjustmentsOpentherAW
fileincamerarAW,lightroom
orcaptureandadjustthe
whitebalance.Tryselecting
shadefromthePresetlistand
increaseTemperatureandTint
further,tointroduceawarm
cast.increaseVibranceto
improveunderstatedcolours.4
Selectivecolourusethe
selectivecolourdialogue
totailorthebalanceofhues
withineachcolourchannel.
Thiscontrolenablestheuser
toblendcoloursfordifferent
effects,andforthisimageit
hasbeenusedtointroduce
moreyellowandmagentawhile
holdingslightlycoolershadows.2
OpeninPhotoshopManyof
thestepsinthistutorialcan
beconductedincameraraw
butherewewillusethepower
oflayermasksinPhotoshop
toachievemoreinteractive
colourcontrol.Photoshop
alsooffersmultiplecolour
correctionfeatures,whichcan
easilybecombined5
Maskingit’seasytocreate
anunrealisticwashofwarm
colourjustbymakingglobal
changes.Adjustmentlayersare
goodastheycanberemoved
selectivelyusingmasks.To
increasecolourcontrastthe
warmingeffectswerereduced
overthetrunksandground-level
greenmoss.3
Hue/SaturationThefirst
stepistostrengthenthe
globalwarmcast.createahue/
saturationAdjustmentlayer
andmakesmallalterationsto
thehueoftheredsandyellows
intheimage,toemphasisethe
dominanceofthesecolours.
Keepanysaturationchanges
youmakesubtle.6
DodgeandburnTo
introducesomedepth
createaBrightness/contrast
Adjustmentlayerandchange
theBlendModetoscreen.
invertthelayermaskthenpaint
insomeareasoflightwitha
whitebrush.lowertheopacity
ifnecessaryandbuildupthe
effectgradually.Perform extremecolouradjustments
Wherelightingorenvironmentalconditionsarenotasexpected,softwarecanbeapowerfulsolutionLackofcolour
thephotographerhadhopedtocapture
autumnalcoloursinthisforest,butthese
hadyettomaterialise.areturnvisitwas
notpossiblesosoftwaresolutionshadto
beconsideredOutofseasonalcolour
bycombiningPhotoshop’srangeof
colourcontroltools,anaturalmixof
autumnalhuescouldbesimulated,while
retaininganorganiccolourcontrast“No amount of preparedness can prevent
conditions from becoming less than ideal”
When scouting fails to deliver results use
these quick processing strategies
Techniques