If you’re going to be a crab…..

I love using weird photos to make birthday or thank you notes. This photo caught my eye while I was perusing my library. I knew something good could come of it. Here’s a quick tutorial on turning a bland photo into something worthy of printing off….

While on tour in Louisiana, we were invited to a crab boil. Here is my plate of food. No, I didn’t eat it all. I had some help from a certain Biceps.

 

In Lightroom, I used the pre-set, “Direct Positive”. This tends to add a burst of color, contrast and interest to photos. However, when I’ve used it on humans it makes them look like Oompa Lumpa’s.

 

I slightly increased the red and yellow hues, and added a little saturation to it.

 

Next, I used the paintbrush function and decreased the clarity surrounding the yellow tray.

 

Lastly, I used the vignette function and lens corrected the photo, darkening the edges. Here’s the final photo-ready for action.

Using Presets & Burning in Lightroom

This picture is cute, yes. But, let’s make it cuter.

Using Lightroom, I first made a copy of the photo so that I could mess with it by going to the “Photo” tab and clicking, “create virtual copy”.

I then used the Lightroom Preset, “Creative-Cold Tone”. But if you’ll notice, the sand and the concrete barrier are too bright.

 

I clicked on the “Adjustment Brush”, chose the “-” sign on “brightness”.

 

I increased my brush size to 16, decreased the feather to 75 and the flow to 97. I then “brushed” over the bright spots on the photograph.

 

After decreasing the brightness to -113, the sand and the concrete was now at the correct exposure to match the rest of the picture.

 

Here’s the final picture. Those kids are too dang cute.

Vintage Feel using Lightroom

I love to be creative with my frugality.
I bought a ream of gray paper for $15 and employ its simplicity when making my own personalized stationary.
I print off photos that I have taken to decorate the front of the cards, adding my own weirdo slogan to suit the recipient.

This shot was taken in a bowling alley one evening whilst I played amongst the friends.
I have been reading King James a lot lately. Forgive me.

I used the ‘Cold Tone’ preset in Lightroom to give this photo its vintage edge. I decreased the exposure in order to see the floor and increased the contrast in order to make out the chair pedestals.
I love how worn out and soft the print now appears.

I ended up going with the ‘Aged Photo’ preset. I decreased the exposure a little, but liked how washed out the floor appeared with this preset.
Simple. Cute.
That’s what I’m into and Lightroom is the answer on these occasions. Don’t get me wrong, I love Photoshop. But sometimes, you just want to quickly edit and be done with it.
This was such an occasion and it worked perfectly.

Using Lightroom Presets

Once in awhile on tour, I have just a minute to edit a photo and publish it, or possibly be away from the internet for days. I typically don’t use presets in Lightroom, but they do come in handy in these instances.
Here are a few quick examples of what those presets can do.

This is the original photo.

I like to import most of my photos using the preset, ‘Strong Contrast’. It gives a punch to the color in the photo and offers deep blacks.

This preset, ‘Creative: Selenium Tone’, adds the retro black and white feel with sharp contrast and a hint of blue.

I love this preset, ‘Creative: Direct Positive’.
It’s a nod to high fashion photography: a yellow hue is added to green, both the color and the lighting is intensified, and it strikes a sharp contrast between blacks and whites.

Using the preset, ‘Creative: Aged Photo’, you can turn a modern photo into something reminiscent of the past, but with sharp detailing and deeper blacks.
I like to mess around with my presets-adding color filters or increasing exposure just to see what craziness I can come up with. It’s really fun to do with portraits.
I hope this inspires you to have fun in Lightroom when your time is short and you can’t get into an intense photoshop edit!