20 Replies Latest reply: Jul 13, 2010 1:27 AM by Nick Walker RSS

    How can I do something similar with Lightroom

    Robert Eckerlin Community Member

      With the combination of the Editor of "Photoshop Elements" (PSE) and of the KODAK SHO Professional Plugin (which runs as a "filter"-plugin in the PSE Editor environment), I can often fixd photos which-

      - have both bright and dark portions

      - and which show poorly details in the bright portions.

       

      But (probablay because I have not sufficient LR expertise), I do not understand how to achieve similar results (or: better results) with Lightroom.

       

      Is an experienced LR user aware of a relatively ***simple*** way to achieve something similar (or, even  to achieve better results) with LR and is willing to explain her/his solution to me? Thanks very much in advance for it.

       

      Now, I need to explain in detail, with one concrete example, what I can do with the combination of PSE and KODAK SHO.

       

      A concrete example of a Photo that I need to edit follows (continuation of the description of my problem/questions follows in the next Post).

       

       

      DSC_0409a_Original.jpg

        • 1. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
          Robert Eckerlin Community Member

          The Result of my editing with the combination of PSE and KODAK SHO Pro is shown below (the detailed description of my problem/questions follows in the following Posts):

           

          DSC_0409b_edited_edited-1.jpg

          • 2. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
            Robert Eckerlin Community Member

            The details of how I edited my photo with the combination of PSE and KODAK SHO Pro follows below (in this post and in the posts that follow).

             

            1) First I use "LEVELS" of the PSE Editor to shift the Mid-Point Slider" to the right. This is shown in the following Screenshot.11 - Screensnapshot - PSE  Editor - After Levels Adjustments.jpg

            • 3. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
              Ian Lyons CommunityMVP

              In Lightroom, try increasing the Basic panel Fill Light slider until shadows are lifted to appropriate level

              • 4. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                Robert Eckerlin Community Member

                The use of LEVELS shown in the previous Post results in a photo that shows much more details and has more contrasts in the bright portion of the photo. But unfortunately, use of LEVELS resuilts also in darks that become much too dark.

                 

                2) To address these "too dark darks", I then use the KODAK SHO Professional plugin as follows:

                15 - Screensnapshot - PSE Editor - Kodak SHO  Threshold Slider Settings.jpg

                2a): I use the "Threshold slider" of the SHO plugin, to select that range of dark that I want to make brighter. This (=the range of darks that shall become brighter) is the "black" portion of the "Black and White" Preview section in the previous screen snapshot.

                 

                2b) Then I use the "Shadows slider" of the SHO plugin to decide by how much I shall make the darks brighter (I typivcally also need to adjust the "Saturation slider" of the SHO plugin to avoid an unreasonable oversaturation of the darks that become brighter)

                 

                This is shown in the next screensnapshot.

                 

                16 - Screensnapshot - PSE Editor - Kodak SHO  Shadows and  Saturation Slider Settings.jpg

                • 5. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                  Robert Eckerlin Community Member

                  The result of what the Edit that i have done so far with the combination of PSE and KODAK SHO plugin is described below.

                   

                  DSC_0409b_edited.jpg

                  • 6. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                    Robert Eckerlin Community Member

                    The combined use of PSE "LEVELS" and KODAK SHO PRO that I have shown above is something that I do very often with photos containing both dark and bright parts.

                     

                    Sometimes, I need to do some additional editing editing. For example, in the example shown in these Posts, I did the following additional editing after my use of "LEVELS" and "KODAK SHO Pro", because the resulting photo was too dull:

                       - I increased the contrast

                       - and i then increased the vibrance.

                     

                    I will appreciate very much to learn from an expereinced LR user, how something similar can be done with LR.

                     

                    ---

                    I am now done with my multi-post questions/descriptions (but I still need to verify the details of my posting)

                    Thank you very much in advance

                    Robert Eckerlin

                    • 8. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                      Jonathon LeFaive Community Member

                      As Ian said, the fill light will bring up the shadows. exposure will bring down the highlights. Then use curves to add contrast aftwards. you can also use the contrast slider in place of cuves if your looking for SIMPLE.

                      • 9. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                        pbelarge

                        Have you tried the brushes yet? Possibly do some global editing with exposure and then use the brushes.

                         

                        Not to advertise, but NIK plug-in for LR has control points with their software that makes this type of editing a  little easier and very precise.

                        • 10. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                          Robert Eckerlin Community Member

                          Thanks Ian for Your answer.

                           

                          But unfortunately the proposed action does not help me sufficiently.

                           

                          With my concrete photo, I can shift the "Fill Light" slider only to the right ....and this does not help at all to show more results in the "bright" portion of my Photo.

                           

                          If after shifting the "Fill Light" slider, I decrease the Brightness and/or the Exposure, I can increase the amount of details in the bright portion of the photo.... but i am not able (the blame can be on me) to achieve comparable results to what I can achieve with the combination of PSE and KODAK SHO Pro.

                          • 11. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                            Lee Jay-ZyZk56 Community Member

                            Yes, I also use -exposure and +fill light for this, sometimes with +recovery as well and/or some fidding with the tone curve if necessary.  Sometimes a lot of fill-light will result in the need to add +blacks as well.

                            • 12. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                              Robert Eckerlin Community Member

                              Thanks P. Belarge for your answer.

                               

                              With the "NIK" plugin are refering to the VIVEZA Product of NIK? Or are you refering to another product?

                              • 13. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                                pbelarge Community Member

                                Viveza2 is just one of the products. I blindly purchased the Complet Collection for LR. I had no idea what I was doing when I did it, all I knew at the time was it made $$ sense, as the collection (5 products) was cost effective compared to purchasing 1 product. Now several weeks later I am very happy I did purchase the collection - very much worth the investment - why? I am not an editing whiz and this product makes it a lot easier.

                                 

                                **Note:

                                Have you tried bracketing for better results when photographing a high dynamic range situation?

                                • 14. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                                  Robert Eckerlin Community Member

                                  Thanks Lee and Jonathon for your assistance.

                                   

                                  Even if what you mention somehow help: I am not able to achive with them results that are comparable to what I can achieve with the combination of PSE "LEVELS" and Kodak SHO Pro.

                                  • 15. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                                    Robert Eckerlin Community Member

                                    P. Belarge

                                     

                                    Last year I started to use bracketing. But unfortunately, this is problematic with moving subjects.

                                     

                                    My current camera (a NIKON D 5000 that I love) has an ADL feature (Active D-Lighting) that is helpfull in situations with high-contrast.... but unfortunately there are still a lot of cases, where ADL is not sufficient.

                                    • 16. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                                      ssprengel Community Member

                                      In your example picture, the haze over the mountains adds depth and helps set-off the subjects from the more distant background; therefore, it is not necessarily a bad thing.

                                       

                                      LR does not have pixel-level masking so if you insist on that you would want to use Elements + Kodak plug-in as the Edit In editor for LR.

                                      • 17. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                                        web-weaver Community Member

                                        The Fill Light slider brings the shadows up and the Recovery slider brings the highlights down.

                                        Also, in LR3 the Curves is different from LR 2 in  so far as you now can pull up or down both ends of the curve vertically. This was not possible in LR 2.

                                        Grab the little circle at the left / bottom end of the curve and pull it up vertically. That will lighten your blacks / shadows. Grab the little circle at the right / top end of the curve tool and pull it down. That will darken your highlights. This process will make your image look a bit flat; if so, increase contrast by giving the curve a gentle S-form.

                                        Directly below the curves tool you have the option to choose between "linear', "medium contrast', or "strong contrast'. If you choose one of the latter two, the end points of the curve will snap back to zero but the curve will have a curve (no pun).

                                         

                                        Also, in case your image does not have enough contrast, instead of using the contrast slider, you can pull the end points of the curve horizontally.

                                         

                                        Apart from these image-wide changes you can make local changes with the adjustment brush or with graduated filter. I often use the gard filter to give a little "ooomph" to the sky by setting exposure (for the grad filter) to -0.66. Similarly you can lighten the shadows with a grad filter by giving it an + exposure and/or increasing brightness. Make sure that the grad filter doesn't give you a color toning - unless you want it. With a color toning you can make your shadows less blue (by choosing yellow toning) and your sky more blue (by choosing a blue toning). Naturally you'd need 2 different grad filters for that; you can't have 2 different settings in one grad filter.

                                         

                                        ErnstK

                                        • 18. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                                          Robert Eckerlin Community Member

                                          Thank You very much Ssprengel and Web-Weaver

                                           

                                           

                                          At this time, I do not yet have LR 3 (I only have LR-2). But I will remember to try the new LR 3 curves, once I will have installed LR 3.

                                          • 19. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                                            b_gossweiler Community Member

                                            Robert Eckerlin wrote:

                                             

                                            P. Belarge

                                             

                                            ...

                                             

                                            My current camera (a NIKON D 5000 that I love) has an ADL feature (Active D-Lighting) that is helpfull in situations with high-contrast.... but unfortunately there are still a lot of cases, where ADL is not sufficient.

                                            IIRC, be aware of the fact that Active D-Lighting only affects the JPEG written by your camera, not the RAW.

                                             

                                            Some Nikon shooter might be able to confirm/deny this.

                                             

                                            Beat Gossweiler

                                            Switzerland

                                            • 20. Re: How can I do something similar with Lightroom
                                              Nick Walker Community Member

                                              I can confirm from my own testing that 'active' D lighting (ADL) does affect the RAW data - either on the sensor or in the Expeed processor to lock-in the information in the RAW file - Lightroom tests. I understand, although never tested, that earlier generation D lighting (D2X) was a software only after affect.

                                               

                                              ADL is useful for jpegs but I wouldn't use it for RAW unless I had a heap of RAW files to produce that were all mundane shots where supplementary lighting was not allowed or practicable.

                                               

                                              ADL requires much testing. At higher settings it noticeably clips highlights (RAW - often recoverable) in comparison to the same camera settings (manual settings) that expose to within minus 1/10th of a stop ETTR.

                                               

                                              ADL will also slightly increase noise in the shadow areas.