I have had a lot of enquiries about how I work, how I process my images, and what software I use etc… and a few recent comments via facebook prompted me to have a little think about it all.
So, after spending a few days with things rolling around in my head, I have an image I wish to share with you. The reason I chose this image is because it gives a clear example of how I work, from start to finish, and has already been well received and much commented !!
The final image - You might recognise Marble from a resent Engagement session.
So, the process starts with a subject and a camera… and we go from there, photography is a balancing act, there are upsides and downsides to every decision, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
The first thing I did was swap lenses, I needed all the reach I could get. Then with the 70-200mm on the camera I shot a couple of test frames and checked the result.
I switched to manual mode to keep a consistent exposure, then upped the ISO from 400 to 1600 as I needed a fast shutter speed to capture marble at full throttle with out him blurring. I set the camera to 1/2000 sec @ f/2.8 and shot another test frame. A quick check showed I could drop my shutter speed to 1/1000 to brighten the whole image, allowing me to get the maximum amount of overall image detail and still retain detail in the highlight areas. The main area of concern, of course would be marbles white back.
Now with everything set, I just concentrated on keeping the camera on Marble while he raced about having fun. It took me 7 frames, but I got the shot I wanted.
Step 1 - The image straight from the camera.
Even though it is deliberately brighter than “normal”, its actually not a bad image.
Step 2 - Adding a Vignette to darken the edges
That certainly makes Marble stand out a lot more.
Step 3 - Cropping the image a little off center.
I did this for 2 reasons -
Firstly, he is a little small in the original so needed to make him a little larger.
And Secondly, the crop is off center so that Marble still has plenty of room to run !!
Step 4 - Lowering the Saturation to Zero
I have one click presets to do a great deal of different colour conversions, black and white included, but marble is a little different and I knew I would have to adjust a preset anyway. Lowering the Saturation to Zero is the starting point of creating a black and white image “free-hand” so to speak.
I have a thing for black and white at the moment, and I knew when I shot the image that Marbles white-ness would really stand out against the tones of the grass.
Step 5 - adding a gradient to the sky area to darken it a touch
I think I could have made the sky a little darker again, but thats just me being fussy, right?
The next 3 steps I will often do in a random order, depending on the image.
Step 6 - Bumping the Contrast slider up 30 points
Making the whites whiter and the darks darker.
Its getting closer, but the whites are not as white as I want.
Step 7 - Upping the exposure by0.63
This takes care of the fact that marble was darkened by the gradient I applied to the upper half of the image.
Step 8 - moving the "black clipping" slider to 21
This brings the darker tones back down again and really makes Marble POP !!
Step 9 - Adjusting the crop angle by +0.66
To straighten a slightly leaning horizon line, its the small things that count.
There you have it, an image from start to finish and it now looks exactly like I wanted it to.
It may seem like a lot of work, but I did this in well under a minute.
© 2009 Robb Duncan
