In the past decade, there has been one major insight: Skilled editing won’t make an average picture into a good photo.
A little expert processing can transform a good photo into a powerful image. If you go too far, the image will be distorted, and the original scene will not be recognizable.
In that case, I will admit to being the first guilty party. Over the years, I would push and pull photos in Photoshop to make them look nothing like what I saw. I would look at photographers such as Marc Adamus and Enrico Fossati, who are able to create images that are deeply moving.
What about me? Now, I want to maintain a certain level of integrity in my portfolio. I want viewers to be able to see ‘imperfections,’ and still feel the brushstrokes in nature.
Your interpretation of integrity may differ from mine. It is a subjective and malleable idea.
Here’s a rule of thumb I use: If you were standing where I was under similar conditions, then you would recognize my photo as a true, even if partially idealized, representation of the scene. This means that you can’t clone or warp pixels. Distracting leaves and rocks can be reduced by using other techniques.
Here’s my 3-step process for polishing landscape photographs.
1) CONTROL THE VISUAL FLOW IN THE SCENE
Start by balancing the exposure and contrast of your photo.
Often, when I am working with scenes that are backlit harshly, I will increase the dynamic range and reduce the contrast. This means raising the shadows and lowering the highlights. When the sunset is intense, I will blend in a darker frame to overexposed areas.
RAW files are flat and lack impact for scenes with more even lighting. When there is a narrow histogram, I will often increase the contrast. I use the black and white sliders in Lightroom to fine-tune the contrast boost on the high and low end.
After the exposure is good, I try to find subtle ways to create depth and control the flow of the scene. You can emphasize this, as I have written previously, by enhancing.
Here’s an overview of the dark-to-light transitions.
Many landscape photographers use vignettes, dodging/burning and leading lines to create their images. Why? Why?
Darkening the edge of the image will lead us to brighter areas of the image.
Cool-to-warm transitions can enhance a similar principle:
The white balance and temperature of sunlight are warm, while shadows tend to be cooler. Like with the dark-to-light transition, cooler areas will tend to recede in the image while warmer ones will tend to come forward.
What can you do to manage the flow? You can make local adjustments across zones/subjects (using a brush, a radial filtration, or a radial blending filter).
- To enhance depth, lighten the background shadows.
- Darken the brighter areas at the front of your frame
- Cool down the closer subjects before moving on to the warmer background.
2) CREATE HARMONY AND BALANCE
After the image has been exposed in its entirety, you can now evaluate the different elements and how they complement or contrast each other.
What is the best way to evaluate harmony? Color theory. Color theory.
You don’t have to include all the colours in a rainbow just because you can.
We are attracted to areas with high saturation. A kaleidoscope can be distracting to the viewer and reduce the impact of light and form. To draw attention to specific subjects, high saturation should be applied to certain areas.
A wide range of colors in an image can clash and compete for our attention.
Three color harmonies are easy to recognize and understand:
- Similar: Colours that are similar on the color wheel. Imagine a scene of lush foliage and verdant waterfalls or a seascape with magenta-wispy clouds.
- Monochromatic: To create monochromatic color harmony, a group of colors with different brightnesses and saturations is used to emphasize light and form. Think of a golden dune or a silhouette of a sunset in scarlet.
- Complimentary: The color wheel has complementary pairs that are opposite each other and contrast well. What is the classic example? The classic example?
Applying the theory to an example. You have a scene of ferns and mossy and sunlit trees in a forest. To create a more analogous harmony (green and yellow, in this example), you could:
- Reduce the saturation of sky-blue patches
- The trunk colors of red and orange can be pushed to yellow
- Reduce the saturation and brightness of magenta leaf litter
Subtlety is the key. It’s not necessary to change or remove every color. A slight change in hues or saturation can create a lot of harmony.
Consider the distribution of brightness as you would color. What is the balance of areas of light and dark across the frame?
I often brighten shadowy areas in Photoshop using a luminosity filter so that the viewer’s eyes don’t become stuck. In the same way, I darken the bright areas in the frame’s periphery to keep viewers from drifting away from the center of the image.
This second stage is essential: Does the combination of colors and luminosities enhance or distract from the viewing experience?
3) LET THE PHOTO SIT–THEN MAKE IT POP
It’s only natural to want to share a beautiful sunrise on the day that you see it. I can’t remember how many times I have seen a spectacular sky and then returned home eager to share it on Instagram. Didn’t the sky look spectacular this morning?
In our haste to publish the photos, I am all too aware that we can easily rectify processing errors. The white balance could be too warm. There are also too many bright colors around the main subject.
We are more focused on the brightness of the sky and less aware of subtleties in light and color.
To avoid this, I have a rule that I follow: Never take and share photos on the same day. I may make initial edits (such as global color and contrast tweaks) on the same day, but I will let the scene rest.
You can now look at the picture with fresher eyes. What parts of the photo would you like to make less noticeable? What colors can you use to balance out the scene?
This slower process is key to noticing–and then neutralizing–distractions that steal attention from your subject. Search for distractions, such as stray branches or yellow seaweed that clashes in the background (these will pull viewers away from the image).
Let your image rest for a while to see if it still needs some final pop. (Or toning down, too.)
You can enhance the contrast of the midtones while preserving the blacks and whites. You can also increase the brightness of the image while darkening its edges. A simple vignette is Photography 101, but it’s effective for a good reason.
Final Thoughts
My processing approach is based on subtle local adjustments that are layered over each other. (Instead of global, strong ones.). Start small if you want to implement the concepts discussed here.
Observe the different hues and luminosities. Consider how they complement or clash. Then, observe the effects of each adjustment before moving on to the next. Do not apply editing techniques (such as the Orton Effect, heavy vignettes, or similar) just because you read or saw an article or video on processing.
Some images may only require a few discrete steps of processing. Complex exposure blends and focus stacking require greater finesse.
Each RAW file has its unique challenges and possibilities. Take the time to determine which elements need to be balanced. Then, try different techniques to achieve harmony and authenticity.
Processing is, to me, classic problem-solving without a correct approach or “perfect” outcome. The process is the key.
You can improve your landscape photography skills by following my eight essential guides and lessons. You can learn a lot from my eight essential guides, which are packed with useful theory and practical tips.
