Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Thanks, Don, but I'm now firmly committed to supporting the lifestyles of Adobe :mrgreen: . I am having enough trouble with the learning curve on LR + PS (CC). I cut my teeth on Elements (2.0, 4.1, and 11) so I am pretty comfortable with full-dress Photoshop, and I'm now shooting almost 100% raw. I think I mentioned jpeg mostly as output for upload to places like Flickr and the 'Hog, but I've also pulled some of my favorite jpegs into LR for a whirl and found that I can do a lot with a well-exposed jpeg. :)

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Thanks, Bob! :D

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

[quote=Boone]Thanks, Boone, and thanks for the compliment! I haven't tried your blue saturation suggestion yet but I will soon! :) I knew about the dehaze filter; I used it to help out this picture of a 1,000-footer (Presque Isle) at extreme range on Lake Superior in a light fog. When I made it you could barely see her at all. I put on a circular polarizer which helped some, but what really helped was the dehaze in LR.

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minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Knew you'd eventually have to do it, Chuck! For those of us who actually enjoy post processing rather than avoid or endure it, the CC package is both good value and good fun. They work well together, they will both work well with any plug ins you want to add in the future (yes, that is next my friend!), and there is no end to what you can do. Though I've been fiddling with photoshop for 2-3 years, I still don't know a fraction of it, but they say learning new things helps keep us old folk wired up better, so ever forward.

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Thanks, Minnie! Yes, I'm noticing that as fast as I watch and learn from one video tutorial, I come across something else. I spend a lot of time simply Googling "how do I..." and investigating from there. I've always been a "plodder." I like to read or watch, then do, mess it up, so go back to the book and so forth. I do enjoy it, but I also fully understand how some folks are put off by it; it can be tedious.

Ever forward! And onward! And upward! :shock: :lol:

Caysnowman Loc: MN & SC

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Chuck: would you mind sharing you LR work flow on the Houghton / Handcock shot?
TIA Bill

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

I'd be happy to, especially since I just did it over because I decided I didn't like the first version. Please bear in mind that I am very, very new at Lightroom, so it's all part of the learning curve.

The original capture was a Nikon raw (NRW in my Nikon P7800). For illustration I zeroed one out which shows that it was really awful blah. The overcast was pretty heavy. There was just no light. Ick. But sometimes I hafta move on and I like to joke that, "Ya takes yer pitcher wiv' the light ya gots." :mrgreen:

The first rework, which I now think is not as great as I first thought, was tinkered with a bunch of stuff.
--I tried out a bunch of Lightroom's onboard presets, finally settling on "punch."
--I worked the highlights and shadows,
--then used the graduated filter on the sky only and pulled the exposure down to "richen" the sky
--and also adjusted the whites, clarity and saturation
--Then I used the adjustment brush to select the water, pulled the exposure down a little and kicked up the clarity.

I thought it was okay (just okay) :? , but I kept looking at it and not liking---something.

The final one below is where I'm at now.
--I started all the way back from from the zeroed version and adjusted overall exposure and contrast
--adjusted clarity, shadows, highlights, vibrance and saturation.

Once I thought I had the overall picture about right
--applied the linear graduated filter again to the sky only
--once again pulled the sky exposure down
--increased the saturation
--and the vibrancy

Then I pulled another linear graduated filter up from the bottom, which is different from what I did before when I only masked the water
--I pulled the exposure down

The idea was to focus attention on the town across the ship canal.

Hope that helps, Bill. Thanks for asking, but do remember that I am a rank beginner in Lightroom; I'm more accustomed to Photoshop. :-D

The zeroed jpeg, as close to the original raw as possible

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The first Lightroom rework, that I thought needed something

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My current favorite, but that could change =D

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Caysnowman Loc: MN & SC

Really like your 2nd effort. I'm in the throws of leaving Aperture and have had a couple of false starts with LR; your much more adept than I am. For some reason I just can't get my arms around that program, even after spending time searching the I Net and attending some classes locally. Just have to push on I guess. With all the attention Adobe & LR are getting recently I hope they can reverse course and not follow the Apple / Aperture path and really mess up a program that is liked by many.

Thanks for help. Bill

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

I've never used Aperture. I started with a copy of Photoshop Elements 2.0 in 2007. The thing is, I was very skilled in black and white wet darkroom, so working in Photoshop felt very comfortable. I was content until this year to work entirely in jpegs and Elements, but I got into raw this year and had to learn Adobe Camera Raw. That led me to try the free version of Creative Cloud and I immediately saw the value in having both Lightroom and full dress Photoshop, plus all the updates, for $10 bucks a month. A lot of people disagree, and that's fine, diff'rent strokes. But I was so immediately taken with CC that I went ahead and subscribed.

I'm a do-read-watch-do-again kind of learner. I couldn't do it without Google. (I'm in my 74th year and can't imagine what I did before the internet! :lol: ) I dive into a thing, run up against something I don't understand or can't do but I'm certain it's just a matter of not knowing how, so I literally Google "how do I..." something or other, such as, "how do I use graduated filter lightroom." I immediately get a bunch of tutorials that can be read, or viewed, or both, some from Adobe, some not. I pick and choose because I've learned which ones help me the most. I like Adobe TV stuff, especially with Julieanne Kost. She is great, very clear. I like Anthony Morganti on YouTube, also very clear. I've seen some that were not as good, went too fast or didn't show enough detail. The main thing is that after I read or watch a tutorial, I go right back and try what I think I learned. If I mess it up I go back and read or watch the thing again. It can be tedious, but for me it's the best way, and if I dive in and get something to work right the first time then I don't need to spend time on a tutorial.

Everybody has their own unique way of learning, but you might try that to see if it helps! :-D