Lightroom Video – Before and After Travel Photography
This week I’m going to a very popular video series I did a while back called “Before and After”. Basically, I click the Reset button on one of my photos in Lightroom and take you through the entire editing process, from start to finish. In the end, we can see the before and after and you’ll see exactly how everything unfolded in between. This week’s photo is one I tool while teaching in Dubai last year. Exposure-wise, it’s pretty straightforward, but you’ll see that we’ve got some perspective correction to do that requires a little more than Lightroom can swing, so we’ll need to jump to Photoshop as well. Enjoy!
Ahem, actually I wouldn’t recommend to CROP your images BEFORE retouching unless you want to spend extra time fixing your image from parts that you run out of “original footage”. If you need to use Photoshop to your images use it from the start to finish, then save and return to Lightroom to do the final calibration.
Duplicate Layer : Use guide lines or hit Ctrl + Asterix (Grid) : Filter -> Distort -> Lens Correction : Dont Crop : If image is this simple, use the warp/free transform tool only in the section you need the effect so you don’t accidentally distort the whole image : Erase/fade out the un-retouched parts : Crop : Save : Enter Lightroom.
Well, it’s great to know what Joni recommends. Glad we got that cleared up 😉 Think I’ll stick with matt’s workflow though 🙂
How do you unlock a key, as it says in your tagline? I thought keys was what you use to unlock locks…
Nice tutorial.
That’s a REALLY good point. It should be “The Key to unlocking….”. Oh well. It’s already printed. Maybe on the reprint 🙂
Dale Mead, just right click on the vid and toogle to fullscreen 😉
Thanks Matt for this great tut 😉
Hi, Matt. This discussion probably isn’t the place to ask my question, but I don’t see a “Contact Me” link to reach you; so this will have to do.
Is there some way to make your video full screen? I don’t see a button for that. The window is so small I can’t read the text such as menus you’re showing. If I’m missing something, feel free to “e” me instead of cluttering up this thread. If I can work this out, I want to review more of your videos.
Excellent tutorial. Why do you prefer to do sharpening in Photoshop? I don’t see a lot of difference between USM in PS and Sharpening in Lightroom. On an image like this I would kick in Lightroom’s masking option on the sharpening to mask out most of the sky so that the sharpening won’t bring out any dust spots or other weird stuff in the sky. Of course you can mask in PS as well but LR makes it dead simple. Plus Lightroom sharpening is non-destructuve.
Will a Kindle version be released around the same time as the book? That would be great! I don’t do any compositing, but would like to learn how.
Cheers,
Kev
Shut the front door. Seriously. I knew that LR + PS was powerful, especially after watching my post-production friend in advertising work magic in PS on a daily basis, but this tutorial kind of blew me away. I just made my 6YO son watch it with me, but he wasn’t very impressed. Sorry. He’s into Harry Potter right now and it’s certainly nothing that Harry couldn’t do with his magic wand, I suppose. Thank you for sorta blowing my mind this morning. I think I’ll go have a doughnut, now.
Matt
Great tutorial, as usual. Why can’t I get your videos to expand to full screen? My aging eyes like to see things bigger.
Matt,
When you went to PS to further edit your image, couldn’t you have gone into the crop tool and selected the Perspective option? I have found it a pretty good way to straighten one side of an image while leaving the other alone (most of the time anyway).
Thanks for a great site.
Randy
Thanks for that Matt! Some nice tricks on the Lens Correction 🙂 Buying your book as well! It’s on!
Visit my website!
http://www.samueljoubert.ca
Have a nice day 🙂
Great tutorial video Matt. I’ll take a look at your book, too.
Because you have such a passion for what you do, you make things easy to learn! Many thanks!
Great tutorial Matt. You always make things look so easy! Disgusting, really! And, of course, I’ve already pre-ordered the book :-).
Thanks Nikki 🙂
Matt,
I pre-ordered the book as well. Even though I’ve seen a ton of tutorials, you always manage to add some fresh insights or techniques. Your writing style is as concise and lucid as your videos and I’m certainly not one to dole out easy praise.
Even if ‘Compositing’ turns out a refresher, it will still be fun to wade through. Can’t wait!
Wow Matt! Thanks for sharing this tutorial from the beginning to end! I just recently purchased Lightroom 3 which I have wanted for a long time. So I will be learning from you (no pressure there!).
Have both of your Layers books and love both of them! Looking forward to your Photoshop Composite book coming out soon! Any special discounts for NAPP members and an autographed copy?!
Hi Rita. Thanks. Check out http://www.kelbytraining.com/product/photoshop-compositing-secrets.html
NAPP members get a discount. And I’ll be signing ALL pre-orders if you order from Kelby Training’s website. Take care! 🙂
Drat: If I had just held out one more month before signing up to 1 year of KelbyTraining. Love the training though.
Thanks for the tutorial! I’ve learned a lot from this video alone. 🙂 hopefully your book reaches Malaysia or Philippines. 😉
Thanks Matt. I am a PSE user and am currently switching from the Organizer over to LR3. This was a great help by seeing a photo actually being processed in LR. I am using Scott’s Lightroom book for my text. AND I have pre-ordered your new book.
This looks familiar
http://lightroomktips.wpengine.com/2010/video-lightroom-before-and-after-travel-photo/
(Just showing that I’ve followed this blog for a while!)
Ha! Too funny. I knew it felt familiar but I couldn’t find another video with it. Guess I didn’t search hard enough 🙂
Haha, yeah I literally went up to the top of this post to double-check the date. Knew I’d seen the photo before (along with the fixes), but then you were talking about your new book, so I was a bit confused. Glad it wasn’t just me! 🙂
Thanks for this great tip. Thanks. Oh and I’m so gonna get the book.
Great mini-tutorial! Thanks!
Oh, what an AWFUL presentation!
OK, now that I have your attention… Yes, Matt, this was a really great lesson and terrifically presented as well. I always enjoy your explanations and input, and this was one of your best.
Thanks for your efforts.
Ron
Ron, I HATE YOU!!!!! JERK!!!
Now that I have YOUR attention, thanks so much for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed it 😉
– Matt
Thanks for another great video!
Based on the quality of your online materials and the Layers book, I just pre-ordered Compositing Secrets as well.
I’m happy to support a job well done 🙂
🙂 Thanks!
Fantastic tutorial, Matt! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome tip can’t wait to use this for some of the work we will be doing in LA!
thanks Matt… simply you guys are the best…