Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-28)

subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 22 June 2019 33

Rawfileslookveryflat

straightoutofthe

camera,sotogetresults

likethisyouneedto

boosttoneandcontrast

James Paterson

James is as skilled a photo editor as he is a photographer. His

work has appeared in countless magazines and books, and in

2014 he was appointed editor of Practical Photoshop magazine.

His subjects range from portraits to landscapes, architecture

and underwater scenes. For James, Photoshop is more than just

a worktool.Visitwww.patersonphotos.com.

all

Pctures

©

James

Paterson

scapes

I

t’s no coincidence that the best landscape photographs are often the

most hard-won. It’s tough work getting out and about at ungodly hours

for sunrise and sunset; then there’s the carting of heavy gear up and

down hills, the patience needed to wait for the best light, and the

endless creative challenge of crafting that perfect shot. Yet the work doesn’t

stop once the shutter button is pressed. Over the next few pages, we’ll explore

some of the best options and techniques for processing your landscape images

to perfection. We’ll begin by looking at Adobe raw-processing software,

then over the page we’ll explore other excellent options like Luminar 3 and

DXO PhotoLab 2. After all, if you’ve gone through all that effort to get the

shot, then it’s only right that your landscapes receive the finish they deserve.

Wheretobegin

Oneof thebestplacestobeginediting

yourlandscapesis in Lightroom’sDevelop

Module(orPhotoshop’snear-identical

AdobeCameraRawplugin).After

importingtheimageintoLightroom,the

firstportof callwilloftenbetheProfile

BrowserwithintheBasicPanel.Profiles

arestartingpointsfordifferentphotos.

WecanchoosetheAdobeLandscape

Profilehere(aslongasourimageis raw)

whichenhancesthebluesin skiesand

revealsdetailin texturedsurfaces.As

such,it offersanimmediateyetsubtle

boost.Fromhere,youcangoontoapply

further,moretailorededits.

Graduated Filter

The Graduated Filter works wonders over skies

by allowing you to darken the tones, enhance

contrast and boost colour. Simply grab the tool

from the toolbar, drag down from sky to land

(hold Shift while dragging for a horizontal line),

then adjust the tonal sliders to the right to alter

the area covered by the grad.

Remove distractions

The narrow apertures we generally use for

landscapes and the large expanses of sky

included in the frame both mean that we’re

more likely to spot annoying sensor marks in

the image. If so, you can use Lightroom’s Spot

Removal tool to get rid of them, and any other

small distractions around the frame.

Sharpening

The Detail Panel in Lightroom is a powerful

tool for sharpening your landscapes, which

is a crucial step if you want crisp details. The

Amount and Radius sliders are the two key

settings. With landscapes we typically want a

fairly high Amount – around 100-150 – and

a low Radius – around 0.8-1.2.

Maximise tonal range

All raw editors enable you to set a white

and black point. This is a vital step as first

it lets you check for clipped pixels. Areas

that are overexposed to pure white or

pure black look out of place. If you see

clipped pixels try to recover them (not

always possible). We also want to boost

contrast and make maximum use of the

tonal range from pure black to pure white.

By setting the black and the white points

we can ensure we have this. In Lightroom,

hold Alt and drag the Whites and Blacks

sliders for a greyscale view to check for

clipping. You want to push the sliders to

a point just before clipping occurs.