Recent Post Production Articles
How to Make Your Photos Looks Cinematic in Lightroom
Cinema has perhaps the most thoughtful post-processing workflow of any visual medium, and so there is a lot that can be learned from it. In this video, learn how to make your photographs look more cinematic using just Adobe Lightroom.
A Natural Light Tip That Will Have Strobists Selling Their Lights
One of the most noticeable differences between portraits taken outside using natural light as opposed to artificial light is the background. Images using artificial light tend to have darker backgrounds. This is crucial in catching the eye of the viewer and allows him or her to focus on the subject. This article is a guide in achieving this look using natural light only.
Does Gear Really Matter? 30 Mind-Blowing Images Taken With Entry-Level Gear
When someone tells a photographer that “their camera must be really good,” chances are the photographer will respond with an eye roll. The debate surrounding gear verses skill in the photography world is a tired albeit consistent discussion. Let’s not kid ourselves, gear does in fact matter. However, does a photographer need top of the line equipment to produce mind-blowing images? Take a look at this collection and decide for yourself.
The New Mac Studio M1 Max: One Photographer's View After 5 Days
I've had a lot of Macs over the years. I remember the old PowerPC Macs, which performed OK against Intel-based PCs, but did have some heat issues under heavy loads. I went along with the transition to Intel in the Mid 2000s, and had a Mac Pro Intel-based machine, which replaced my identical-looking PowerMac G5. That served me well for many years because it was so upgradeable, but eventually, that machine no longer supported the latest versions of macOS, so reluctantly I bought an iMac in 2019, sporting a 3.6GHZ 8-CORE INTEL CORE I9 chip, and 8GB of memory. Like many...
Victoria's Secret Revealed - Unretouched vs. Retouched Photos
A few months back Victoria's Secret accidentally released a dozen unretouched photos from a shoot with supermodel Doutzen Kroes. We shared those images in a post on Fstoppers and it caught the attention of many of you. The retouched versions of those same photos are now out. Let's compare the results!
The Cinematic Look – How To Make Your Photographs Look Like Films
I recently noticed that a handful of photographers were producing images that had a look as if they were stills captured from films. A couple of the most well known photographers of this genre are based here in New York so I got them together and challenged them to not only come up with a dynamic personal project on the fly incorporating this cinematic look, but to share with us how it is achieved. Read on to find out how it all went down...
Secrets Of The Best Levitation Shots Shared
The first time I saw a levitation shot, I stared at it for 15 minutes in astonishment. I could not conceive how the image was captured; I was captivated by the story it conveyed, it was surreal, magical and awe-inspiring. Conceptualizing the image and executing it can prove to be rather difficult and meticulous. Thankfully, photographers who have mastered the techniques involved in levitating have decided to share their secrets with us.
How Photos Were Edited in the Darkroom Days
Years ago the only way to print a photo was to make test strips, make a test print, go back and dodge and burn details, make more test strips, another test print and so on and so on until you got the result you were after. In these photos released by Magnum Photos in New York, you can get a closer look at the process followed by their master printer, Pablo Inirio.
A Makeup Tip I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Started Photography
When I began photography I didn’t understand the importance of lighting and the difference makeup has on an image. Looking back, if I would have first understood and attempted to master the techniques behind makeup, I would have understood the proper way to light my subjects when photographing them.
The Secret to Crafting Stunningly Sharp Images and Preserving It Across Media
You probably know that getting your uploads to look sharp on screen, in print and on social media goes beyond resizing. Now, resizing is incredibly important in order to retain the optimum quality for sites such as Facebook, but there is an element far deeper than that and it is not often discussed. This is the secret to getting your images looking “sharper” no matter the medium.
Photographer Colorized Old Photos While Adding Beautifully Surreal Narratives
It takes a lot to motivate me to reach out to a photographer for permission to feature their work but a lot is exactly what Brisbane-based photographer and digital artist Jane Long provides with her latest series, "Dancing with Costică”. Colorizing, compositing and creating content for images she sources from the Costica Ascinte Archive, Jane is able to deliver beautiful, imaginative and surreal narratives to each of her final images.
Justin Bieber Supposed Major Photoshop Treatment in Latest Calvin Klein Ad Appears to Be Fake
Justin Bieber is no stranger to the being in the media, whether it’s for any of his numerous tasteless stunts or even his interactions with photographers. This time it’s his most recent photoshoot for Calvin Klein that has the celebrity blogs buzzing, where an allegedly leaked, unedited photo shows major differences in muscle mass and body hair among other altered features. However, the question still remains: is it real?
Why Your Gear Might Be Holding You Back From Being A Better Photographer
Have you ever found yourself thinking: “If only I had <insert expensive camera body/lens/lighting gear>, I would be shooting better images/be winning bigger jobs/get better and higher paying clients”?
If you’ve never had this thought, congratulations, skip this article and move on because you’re already part of ‘The Enlightened’ few.
Top 5 Children Photographers and Their Secrets
What are certain photographers doing that make them popular? Surprisingly enough, things like gear, location, social media skills and post production have very little to do with it. Believe it or not, it's something far more important and it's not often discussed. Here is the common secret all five photographers shared that makes their work stand out.
The Fastest Way To View And Cull Thousands Of Raw Photos Is Now 100% Free For Fstoppers Readers
Lightroom has become the industry standard for editing images quickly but when it comes to viewing and culling images, it's still incredibly slow. On1 has recently launched Perfect Browse 9.5 as the fastest way to burn through hundreds or thousands of raw files and then import your favorites into Lightroom for editing. Oh, and did I mention, it's totally free for Fstoppers readers right now.
As a wedding photographer, I tend to shoot thousands of images at a time. Before I can edit anything, I need to go through each image one by one, delete the bad ones, and figure...
6 Loathsome Retouching Mistakes That Drive Editors Insane
Part of building a professional looking portfolio is in learning to retouch your photos in a way that gives them an elegant, high-end polish. However, I unfortunately encounter dozens of images on a daily basis that were quite strong to begin with but ended up looking bewilderingly amateur because of one or two very easily solved retouching mistakes that drags their quality to abysmal depths.
Photography is About to Change Massively, Here's What it Means for You
There's a new change happening in the photography world and you may not even be aware of it. Let's see how it'll pan out and learn how it might affect you.
New Blur Filter in Photoshop Works Incredibly on Portraits
Some of Photoshop's most recent updates have added some incredibly powerful editing tools. This new blur filter not only works amazingly well on landscapes images, it is stunning on portraits as well. See how to use it here.
Here's How a Photographer With 200,000 Subscribers Uses Saturation in Lightroom
When it comes to post-production, many photographers often get a wee bit trigger-happy on the saturation and vibrance sliders. But how does an extremely popular photographer approach saturation in Lightroom?
I Didn't Believe the Hype Until I Tried AI Noise Reduction Myself
As a landscape photographer, I don't usually deal with too much noise in my images unless I'm shooting nightscapes. Once I started shooting more wildlife during my time in Alaska, I decided to give it a try and I was absolutely blown away with the results.
Here’s Why You Need To Invest in This AI Photo Editing Software
AI retouching software is becoming increasingly more popular among photographers. The key benefits are that these kinds of software perform complex tasks quickly and to a relatively high standard. This effectively saves a great deal of time, and it's that time benefit that can end up being extremely valuable.
Are You Making These Lightroom and Photoshop Mistakes?
If you're like me and primarily use Lightroom Classic for your photo editing, you probably occasionally edit a photo in Photoshop. If you do, you might be making the same Photoshop file mistakes I made.
Watch How a Photographer With Nearly 200,000 Subscribers Edits in Lightroom
Watching how others work is one way to improve. Watching how extremely successful people work is an even faster, better way to improve. In this video, watch how a very popular photographer edits images sent to him.
How Bad Is JPEG? Surprising Encounters in Landscape Photography
After a recent landscape session in the rain, I was shocked. Reviewing the files at home, I found that I accidentally shot in JPEG. Is all lost now? Let’s take a look at this very underrated format.
The Most Important Setting in Lightroom is Set To Off By Default
"Trevor, I have been editing this wedding for the last few days and now my Lightroom catalog says it is corrupted! When I opened a new catalog and reimported the photos from my hard disk I can't find any of my previous edits I worked so hard on. I am so frustrated! What did I do wrong?" Keep this from happening to you by having Lightroom automatically save your changes, but this setting is off by default. I'll show you where to turn it on.
Are Your Photos Over-Edited? Use This Little-Known Lightroom Tool to Find Out
In the post-production process, it's very easy to get carried away and go a little too far with our edits. But sometimes, it's hard for us to tell if we've actually overdone things. This under-used Lightroom tool is great for exposing over-edited images.
Is the Arsenal 2 for Advanced Photographers?
You may remember my 2019 review of the original Arsenal hardware. It was a block box you attached to your DSLR or mirrorless camera and it automated many of the tasks photographers face on a regular basis. The Arsenal sold quite well. While it had some good points that could speed or improve a photographer's workflow, it left a lot of buyers unhappy and it seemed to wind up on a lot of shelves and in a lot of drawers, rather than in camera bags. Now we've got Arsenal 2.
Three Things You Shouldn't Do in Lightroom
There are many articles and videos on how to do certain things in Lightroom, but how often do you read about something that you shouldn't do? Let's cover a few of them.
Before and After Post-Processing of Travel and Fine Art Photography
Peter Stewart is an internationally published photographer that specialized in travel and fine art photography. To understand how to take awesome scenery photos, you must know the three basic qualities of light: intensity, direction, and color. Check out how a master does his work.
A Guide To Black and White Portraits
There is an old quote that says, “If you want to shoot fashion, shoot in color, but if you want to shoot emotion, shoot in black and white.” I don’t know who said it, but I tend to agree. I do love myself a good black and white portrait. There is something special about black and white imagery which has the ability to cut through all the baggage and display both the inner beauty and turmoil which can be so easily hidden away by color photography.
Frequency Separation Rehab
Although there have been countless articles written on the subject of Frequency Separation - including several here on Fstoppers - the current state of retouching has me somewhat concerned about its use. Its widespread adoption, use and overuse has brought us to the point where frequency separation is fast becoming the number one culprit for poorly retouched and cringe worthy work. While I’m not convinced that we need to ban it outright, I do feel that the way we approach it needs to fundamentally change.
Lightroom: You're Doing It All Wrong
There's this nifty piece of software called Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and in my time as an educator in the craft of photography I have seen its use frequently abused and mishandled. The issues affect beginners and pros alike, and stem from multiple issues, everything from technical oversight, all the way to a fundamental misunderstanding of what Lightroom is meant for. Read on for an overview of common misconceptions and mistakes with regards to this immensely powerful photo editing system.
You Shouldn't Be Using Lightroom for That
I'm the first to admit I love Lightroom. Sure, it has its issues, like occasionally slow performance on good hardware and an admittedly aging interface, but I'm comfortable with it. There are a number of tasks, though, that you just shouldn't be using Lightroom for. Want to know what they are?
If You Want Razor-Sharp Images Every Single Time, You Have to Use This Technique
There are many different techniques for getting consistently sharp images, but I think this one is the best of them all. Take a look to find out why.