Creating depth in your images can transform a flat photograph into something visually compelling. Here's how a good Lightroom edit can do that.
Coming to you from Christian Möhrle - The Phlog Photography, this detailed video demonstrates how to turn a series of shots into a single panoramic image and enhance its depth. The process begins in Lightroom, where the panoramic shots are merged using the cylindrical projection method. Following that, Möhrle adjusts exposure, contrast, and color profiles to ensure balance and vibrancy. Keeping an eye on the histogram, he shows how to brighten the scene without losing details in the highlights or shadows, emphasizing small tweaks like lowering highlights and boosting whites to avoid clipping. These foundational steps lay the groundwork for more impactful edits later.
In the next phase, Möhrle introduces masking to amplify the 3D effect. This step focuses on accentuating existing light and shadow. By using linear gradients, the sky is darkened to draw attention to the brighter mountain peaks. Selective adjustments are applied to different sections of the image, ensuring shadows are deeper and highlights remain untouched. The thoughtful separation of elements, such as the mountain from its background, not only enhances depth but also guides the viewer's eye to key areas. His careful adjustments to maintain natural contrasts and brightness make the image pop while preserving its realism.
Beyond masking, the video gets into sharpening, color grading, and finishing touches in Photoshop. Möhrle tweaks luminance and saturation in the color mixer to emphasize tones and create subtle contrast. For instance, he darkens blue tones to add drama and uses calibration settings to fine-tune hues. In Photoshop, he cleans up imperfections, like gaps in the panorama, using content-aware fill. Cropping the image further refines the composition, ensuring a balanced final result. Each step is methodical, aimed at maximizing depth and clarity without over-editing. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Möhrle.
