Post-Processing Magic: Enhancing Your Photos With Lightroom

The final stage in any photography workflow is post-processing, where you can make the difference between a photo that simply documents a scene and one that truly interprets it. By leveraging the power of Adobe Lightroom, you can turn any photo into compelling visuals for a variety of applications. Lightroom is designed to be an end-to-end solution for photographers, providing everything from image management to standard adjustments and a variety of file formats for printing or web use. It allows you to rate and categorize images for a more efficient workflow, work with albums and collections, use the Discover Interactive Edits feature to find inspiration, create custom presets and do batch editing (including the ability to whiten teeth, reduce red eye and remove blemishes).

It also supports the use of masks to edit specific areas of an image. Unlike Photoshop, it uses non-destructive editing, which means that the original file is saved to a separate catalog and all edits are made on a copy. This allows for a greater flexibility and the ability to easily undo any changes that you don’t like. It also includes a range of adjustment tools that allow for a more precise level of control, such as curves and tone-mapping, radial filters and linear gradients and the ability to create masks using either pixel or luminosity selection. In the example of our book cover below, the following edits were used to enhance the overall look and feel: The first radial filter was an inverted one around the text to draw attention to it; the exposure, highlights, shadows and whites were all increased for a richer, more vibrant effect and the clarity and dehaze settings were reduced to create a soft and dreamy look.

A slight vignette was added to create more drama. A second inverted radial filter was applied to the top half of the image to add a bit of a glow, with some warmth and clarity added for good measure. Whether your images will be used for e-commerce, real estate or personal portfolios, it is important that they are well edited to ensure that they deliver their intended impact. This is where a professional service like Dropyourimage can really help. The team of trained editors are able to deftly correct color imbalances, enhance textures and expose images with great precision.

The key to successful post-processing is to avoid overdoing it. It is easy to get carried away when working with new techniques and can result in unnatural looking photos. It is important to take a step back from the screen and consider the image with fresh eyes or ask someone else for their opinion before proceeding. If you are not already using Lightroom, the best way to get started is to sign up for a free trial from Adobe. This gives you seven days to test drive the program and decide if it is right for you. If you’re happy with the program, you can then choose to convert to a subscription.