RAW WARhttp://www.digitalcameraworld.com AUGUST 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^87
2
Light and clouds
Now that the main image is sorted,
we’re on to the sky. The sky is still
a tad bright, and very blue. I drag a Graduated
Filter down to the horizon, holding the Shift
key so it stays straight. To bring the sky down,
I drop the Grad’s Exposure down to -0.24.
Often a small amount makes a bigger difference
than you’d think. To counteract the blue,
and give more overall colour in the
cloud, I set Temperature to 10.
The foreground is a little bright, so I click
New, then drag another Grad over the bushes.
I set Exposure to -0.21, enough to allow the
eye to be pulled to the waves. This allows
the eyes to wander through the photo
more, making for a more satisfying photo.
To add light to the fields, I create a Radial
Filter that just fits over each field. Set to
an Exposure of +0.52, this adds a little
pop of light to them.
3
Cleanup and cropping
Using Dehaze has made the sensor
dirt a little more obvious, so some
Spot Removal is required. Press Q, or select the
circle with an arrow icon in the toolstrip under
the Histogram. Change the Size slider, or use
the square bracket keys [ and ], to match the
spot. For hairs or long spots, set it slightly
larger than the width and draw over the
spot. You can also use the Visualize Spots
tool (shortcut A), to create a black and white
inverted image which helps show the spots.
My final task is that 4x5 crop I spoke about
before. It looks way better on social media, and
takes some of the length of the photo. It’s also
a standard traditional print shape as well.
Press R, or click the Crop icon at the start of the
toolstrip under the Histogram. From the Aspect
dropdown, choose 4x5/8x10. A centred version
of the crop will show. As I want to minimise
the foreground, I drag the image down, which
moves the crop up to give my final look.
FINISHED IMAGE