Have you ever wondered how portrait and family photographers get those wonderfully rich cinematic tones in Lightroom? Check out this video for a few simple but effective methods.
In this video, Pye Jirsa from SLR Lounge has teamed up with Adorama to show us how to create a warm mood from a well-shot, daylight-balanced raw image. Because it was shot around about midday, the tones are quite cool and relatively unwelcoming. Not at all unpleasant, but due to the nature of the subject — a father and daughter sharing a happy, candid moment — a warmer tone would certainly help the overall feel. And with a few extra tweaks, it can also help to draw the viewer's eye towards the pair, who were placed in the far corner of the photo.
One of the most important things to take away from this — especially if you're a beginner to portrait photography — is that Jirsa starts off with a well-composed and well-lit image. Getting it right in camera is something that is repeated ad-nauseam and for good reason. Regardless of how powerful cameras and raw processors are these days, nothing can fix a poorly lit and composed image. Once you have that keeper of an image, though, the Lightroom techniques described in this video can really help to create something that little bit extra special so that it stands out from the crowd.
