Retouching a Seascape Photography from Start to Finish using ONLY Lightroom on the iPad.
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There’s something special about heading out with your camera (or iPhone as it was for me) when a storm is brewing. It’s that mix of excitement, unpredictability, and the chance to capture nature at its wildest and recently, I had the chance to photograph two big storms—Storm Bert and Storm Darragh.
First up was Storm Bert on the seafront at Lyme Regis with my good mate Steve Healy.
Lyme’s one of those places that looks stunning in any weather, but during a storm it really is next level.
The wind and rain was relentless, whipping around us as we walked along the seafront. The waves were smashing into the harbor wall, sending spray high into the air. At one point, I got completely drenched from the knees down (see photo below) by a rogue wave, but hey it’s all part of the fun, right?
I used my iPhone 15 Pro Max with the Lightroom Camera app, and honestly, it was spot on. The light was constantly changing, but using the phone to capture it was a breeze (no pun intended).
We took some time out for a bit of shelter and grabbed a coffee in the seafront Café, SWIM and it just so happened that on ther next table were a couple of people who had a dog, and well …
I couldn’t resist grabbing a photograph with my iPhone
I edited the portrait quickly in Lightroom on my iPhone and then showed the owners, who loved it and asked if I’d send it to them.
This again showed to me how powerful a mobile workflow is; being able to take a photograph and immediately edit it and sent it, I find so bloomin’ exciting!
A few days later, Storm Darragh rolled in, and this time, it was off to West Bay with my friend Brian Dukes.
If you know West Bay, you’ll know those golden cliffs are absolutely stunning, but throw in a storm and it’s a whole different scene.
Brian and I spent most of the time trying to keep our footing while scouting for the best angles but oddly the sea wasn’t as rough as we’d expected it to be and we actually spent more time on the other side of the harbor.
Here’s the thing about photographing storms: it’s not just about the pictures. It’s the whole experience—being out in the elements, feeling the wind batter you, hearing the roar of the waves, and just soaking it all in (sometimes literally!).
For me, it’s also about the people you share it with. Steve and Brian are brilliant company, and there’s something about laughing at each other while dodging waves that makes the day even better.
If you’re thinking of heading out to photograph a storm, do it. Just make sure you’re prepared (waterproofs are a must … as I have well and truly learned), keep an eye on the tides, and embrace the chaos. The photos are a bonus!
I’m really happy with the keepers from both Storm Bert and Storm Darragh but honestly, the best bit was just being there watching the storm do its thing.
Can’t wait for the next one. Bring it on!
Watch the recording of this LIVE Broadcast as I chat with Brian Matiash (Software Quality Engineer , Lightoom Desktop) as we discuss his approach to Photography, Anxiety, his Go-To Kit, Social Media and Photography, and also Retouching Images in Lightroom PLUS showing some hidden features in Lightroom Desktop / Classic.
Brian Matiash website: www.matiash.com
Brian’s Lightroom Everywhere Course: ( LINK )
Brian on Instagram: @brianmatiash
BorisFX Optics - Photoshop and Lightroom Plug in (FREE for October): ( LINK )
My How to Print Course: ( LINK )
Watch the recording of this LIVE Broadcast as I chat with Rob Sylvan, Photographer, Camera Expert, Canon Product Educator and Author.
A writer for Lightroom Killer Tips and known as The Lightroom Help-Desk we discuss all things Photography and Lightroom … PLUS tips for keeping your Lightroom organised and optimised.
Rob’s Website: robsylvan.com
Lightroom Killer Tips: lightroomkillertips.com
Rob Sylvan on Instagram: @sylvanworks
How to Print Course: ( LINK )
Omnicharge Portable Power Solutions: ( LINK )
Watch this recording of a LIVE Broadcast following the launch of my long awaited HOW TO PRINT course for a Behind the Scenes look at what went into making the course content, tips, additonal learning and Q&A
Well my HOW TO PRINT course has officially launched, and I don't care whether it's right or wrong to say this but ... "I'm Bloomin Proud of myself"
As of today the course has over 7 hours of content which, I hasten to add, is the least amount of content that there will ever be as I'm looking forward to keeping this well and truly up to date for everyone that has and does enroll.
The support I've had has been incredible from close friends and people across the industry being willing, sometimes at short notice, to open their company doors and allow me in to do some filming and also them jumping on to a video conference to record an interview covering a certain topic relating to printing.
SPECIAL THANKS goes to Dominic Gurney from Epson UK who as well as freely sharing his vast knowledge has driven considerable mileage (more than once) to pass on some kit for me to use.
Everyone at Permajet for their constant support from Day 1 when I was planning this course. Inviting me into their offices, filming, lunch, paper, interviews and so much more. Outstanding!
Dr Chris Bai from BenQ whom I'm proud to call a friend and everyone at BenQ; always there and always willing to help and provide support. When I first met Dr Bai he said that his purpose was to educate me about colour and display technology and he sure has!
The BRILLIANT people at Digitalab who invited up to their offices for 2 days when I first started working on the course. Nothing was and is too much trouble for them and for that and all they do I am so incrediby grateful.
The great folks at Calibrite for helping out in so many ways providing kit, promotion, technical advice and information and always reaching out to see if I need any support.
Trevor Williams of West Street Picture Framing who opened his shop on a day it was ordinarily closed just so that I could do some filming of him showing how to correctly add a print onto backing board and add them into a mount for display.
MASSIVE thank you to everyone that has Pre Ordered the Course so far. I'm genuinely blown away at the response but also at the trust placed in me to provide a course that you're willing to hand over some of your hard earned money for. It is VERY much appreciated. (your course content will be available from 6pm UK today)
... and finally my wife Anne who does everything she can to make it easier for me to get on with getting on. Because of her support I don't have to think about anything other than getting this done and hand on heart I wouldn't have been able to get it finished and produced what I have without her.
This might sound a bit dramatic ... I mean it's 'only' a course that I've put together but heck, I've worked hard on this. I wanted to make this THE go-to course for printing so that others can get their share of the pleasure I get when seeing an image that you took the time and effort to get out and capture, retouch and finally hold in your hands.
"The ART doesn't end at the EDIT"
I’m currently trying out a new portrait style for me using a different lens focal length than what I’ve used for a while now, and also adding in an additonal light to my usual one-light set up.
For some time I’ve used the Sony 85mm G Master lens with my Sony A7RIV and have and still do love it for the quality and sharpness of the files it produces. However I’m now going to be using a 55mm focal length … my Zeiss f/1.8 Prime Lens.
It’s hard to put into words what I’m really liking about the look the lens gives … it’s just different. Some would say that it gives a much more realistic ‘as the eyes see it’ look but I guess that also depends on how close to the subject you position yourself.
I also like how the focal length means you’re much closer to the subject, making the portraits much more intimate and revealing of the person being photographed ... if that makes sense.
I’m also, like I said, using an additional light with this new look I’m working on; both of which are LED Constant lights.
I’ve been using the 60W Westcott L60-B COB LED for a while now but a few days ago I received the new 120W L120-B COB LED; a slightly bigger unit with the advnatage that no adaptor is needed to fit any of my light modifiers.
So the portrait of my friend Anthony above, I took using one of the grey walls in my office as the background; here’s the set up showing the positon of the lights …
Westcott L60-B COB LED fitted with a square Westcott Pocket Box Softbox rear and camera right and positioned so that it added both a bit of light onto the background but also a hint of light onto the camera right side of Anthony’s head.
Westcott L120-B COB LED fitted with the 24” Rapid Box Switch Softbox
Westcott 2-in-1 Reflector (silver and White) with silver side uppermost
*NOTE: If you’re looking to invest in Westcott Kit, then give me a shout and I’ll pass on a Discount Code
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/60sec
ISO: 1250
When taking Anthony’s portrait I was experimenting with different apertures to see hat I prefered for this new look; f/2.0 , f,4.0 , f/5.6 and actually liked the look of f/40 as with the 55m lens it gave a great depth of field with the tip of the nose in foucs and then from the ears losing focus.
However, I mistakenly left the camera in f/5.6 so during the retouching in Lightroom I used the Lens Blur to convincingly fake the depth of the field.
The portrait I retouched using only Lightroom and I’ve added it into my Lightroom Community Profile Page …
When you go to my Lightroom Community Profile Page, click on the portrait and this will then take you to where you can see all of the retouching steps I did to the ‘out of camera’ file. You can also save the settings as a preset to use on your own images and even click on Remix to get access to a Smart Preview of my original file and have a go at retouching it yourself.
How to QUICKLY and EASILY create the Coloured / Gel Lighting Effect in Lightroom using Masks …
Watch the recording of this LIVE Broadcast when I was joined by Adobe Lightroom Product Manager and Photographer, Katrin Eismann as we discuss her process for capturing stunning Travel Photographs, her Personal Projects, kit and also take a look at Lightroom’s latest technology for Photographers and some hints and tips for best results.
Katrin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrineismann/ ( @katrin_eismann )
Lightroom Academy: lightroom.adobe.com/academy
Adobe Community Forums: https://community.adobe.com/
Marc Muench Photography Workshops: muenchworkshops.com/workshops/
So today (Tuesday 21st May 2024) Adobe made available some fantastic updates and enhancements to both Lightroom v 7.3 (including Mobile) and Lightroom Classic v 13.3 which amongst other things sees the integration of Adobe’s AI, Adobe Firefly and (finally) tethering support for Sony amongt others things.
So, here’s a run through of the changes from today in this recording of a LIVE Broadcast I did on the day of release, and also below I’ve written down all the detailsincluding useful links…
In addition to some bug fixes and stability improvements across all platforms, you’ll also notice a speed increase when using Denoise.
Also in addition to the updates and additions detailed below Adobe also mention …
HDR Optimisation
Instant Access to Photo Libraries in Lightroom Mobile and Desktop apps
Lightroom’s all new mobile editing experience streamlines the mobile toolbar to prioritise the most popular features, whilst making it faster and more intuitive to edit.
It’s now possible to show images in a slideshow from within Lightroom Desktop.
To start a slideshow you access it via the View > Start Slideshow
On release, the controls and the look of the slideshow are very limited with the images playing at full screen and being able to adjust whether the slideshow loops and adjust the speed of the slideshow to be Extra Slow, Slow, Medium and Fast.
Until now it was only possible to have cloud based albums in Lightroom Desktop, but with this update that all changes because from now, we can make Albums available and viewable offline just like Collections in Classic where we could sync them to the cloud or not.
To do this simply right-click on an Album and choose Make Album Available Offline …
It’s taken some time but finally Adobe have worked closely with Sony and as a consequence, Lightroom Classic now supports Sony Tethering.
Sony Tethering in Lightroom Classic offers full control over main camera settings, capture and LIVE view
CURRENTLY SUPPORTED SONY CAMERAS …
The process for tethering to Lightroom Classic with a compatible Sony camera is a very simple process, working exactly the same as it does for other compatible brands.
• Note: Camera needs to be in Remote Shooting or PC Remote mode via USB Connection settings.
A full list of ALL cameras that are supported (not just Sony) can be found here: LINK
I’m not someone that edits video within Lightroom but I know that there are many that do, so the addition of Tone Curve in Video for Lightroom Desktop is going to be a very welcome update.
Adobe state that …
You can now edit the Tone Curve when editing video in Lightroom Desktop
These edits are viewable across Mobile and Web
Videos now supports Presets with Tone Curve information
The Lens Blur Effect is finally out of Early Access and available to all, and Adobe states that its release also brings with it …
Copy and Paste Support
Added focus slider in Mobile
Support for Presets and New Adaptive Presets
Improvements to the subject detection and complex edges
Lens Blur
NO Lens BLur
With Visualise Range turned on to show which areas of the image are in and out of focus
Lens Blur Adaptive Presets
Adobe have now integrated their Adobe Firely AI as Early Access into Lightroom Desktop, Mobile, Web and Lightroom Classic for the purpose of … Removing distractions and unwanted objects from your photos
Found in the Remove section amongst the exisiting Remove Tool, Heal Tool and Clone Stamp Tool (and Red Eye Removal) you use it in conjunction with the Remove Tool by simply ticking the Generative AI checkbox …
Maximum Resolution of the ‘Removed’ area is currently 2K, so a very generous starting point considering this is to be used purely for removing unwanted distractions and objects …
To use Remove with Generative AI simply brush generously over whatever it is that you want to remove.
You can then Add or Subtract from this area to refine it …
3 variations are then given and you can click through to see which you prefer OR simply Refresh to try again until you get a result that you’re happy with …
There is also an Object Aware checkbox which Adobe state is to to be used to Preserve Background Details whereby the AI will analyse the initial selection you made and identify what it is you want to remove without having to fill in the entire selection, meaning you could just brush around the outside.
So for example in the picture below, let’s say that I want to remove the cardboard box and string that the little boy has over his shoulder …
I’ll use Generative AI Remove but also use Object Aware, so then rather brush to select the entire box I’ll just quickly brush around the outside including the string …
The AI then looks at what I’ve drawn around to ee if it can identify the main object, and looking at the selection it made below it did a pretty good job …
I then use the Add option in the Refine section to brush over the string that was missed, so that it’s included in the remove …
… and this is the result
As with all features and tools there are ways to use them to produce more pleasing results, so here’s just a few for Generative AI Remove …
There a couple of differences when using Generative AI Remove in Lightroom Desktop and Lightroom Classic and I show those in the LIVE Broadcast recording at the top of this page
Finally (for now) keep a look out for some more videos coming soon where I take a deeper dive into some of the new features, but in the mean time here’s a link to the official news release from Adobe ( LINK )
Cheers,
Glyn
On Wednesday this week I was at Cardiff and Vale College in South Wales, having been invited to speak to a group of Photography Students for a couple of hours.
It was so good to be amongst people who were clearly excited about their Photography but also in particular about the possibilities with their retouching using Lightroom .
During my time with them I first of all went through some tips and techniques for Portrait Photography, focusing (no pun intended) on the ‘people’ side of things as opposed to the technicals, and all with the intention of helping the person in front of the camera to relax.
After a short break I then went through retouching a portrait using ONLY Lightroom and going through my new workflow which shows how I am now doing tasks such as Dodging and Burning, my 2010 Technique and Lighting Effects, which up until very recently I would have only ever done by using Photoshop.
“Had a great time at Glyn’s lecture yesterday. I had been researching about how to take good portraits. What Glyn shared about techniques (with just one light!) was really encouraging. I was still using Photoshop for my editing, but the techniques demonstrated in Lightroom were amazing. I must sign up to his channel!”
“Thank you Glyn for yesterdays photography workshop. Your expertise and passion made it a truly enriching experience. Looking forward to applying the new skills I’ve learned. Many thanks for your valuable time.”
“Yesterday I attended a talk/presentation hosted by Glyn Dewis. This presentation was not only hugely informative but presented me with a number of questions to ask of myself. If I were to make comment on one thing from the presenter/presentation it would be the unswerving passion for the subject and inspiring others to achieve of their best. ”
HUGE thanks to everyone for making me feel so incredibly welcome and for my great friend Anthony Crothers (College Staff / Tutor) for inviting me in.
© Glyn Dewis 2024
